IT IS very rare the Minecorp Rockets are reduced to the second billing when they play at Hegvold Stadium but even coach Neal Tweedy was forced to concede Saturday night belonged to the Cyclones.

Tweedy said the crowd had witnessed one of the finest games of women's basketball, certainly seen in Rockhampton and possibly the WQBL.

Unfortunately, through no fault of the Rockets, the men's fixture against Gladstone Power could not match it.

Gladstone was out-muscled, out-thought and out-pointed by a Rockets team that really could have won by more than the 33 point margin at the end of the game.

From the tip-off it was clear which team would win as it became a matter of whether the Rockets would continue to pile the points on the board.

It is games like this one where coaches like to give the bench players a run and Tweedy used his bench well with most of the starting five gaining plenty of rest time.

Having posted the first two points of the game through Mitch Philp after about 20 seconds, it became a procession as the Rockets were well into the teens before the Power got on the scoreboard.

By quarter time, the Rockets led 28-17 but the feeling was that the Power had been allowed to get into the match and had not forced their way back into the game.

The Rockets controlled the tempo of the match and with the Power managing just eight offensive rebounds compared to the Rockets' 21 defensive rebounds, the victory was never in doubt.

If the Power was looking for any on-court successes it could take some satisfaction from the work done to limit Brad Williamson's scoring from the three-point line.

Williamson has been in great form in recent weeks, taking the big scores at will. But on Saturday he was limited to just five attempts and was successful with one.

However, the Rockets are too good an outfit to have just one player capable of chipping in with three-point shots and both Mitch Philp and Peni Nasalo were successful at that range.

Coach Tweedy was not completely happy with the Rockets' performance.

"We lost intensity," he said. "I thought they competed with us in the first half."

Tweedy could see why his players took the foot off the pedal but for him it was still unacceptable.

Brad Kann was given extended court time, getting into the action as early as the second quarter.

In the end, Kann played 16 minutes while Tony Campbell and Aaron Glazebrook had fractionally less time.

Tweedy was not concerned about some low percentages from some players at the free-throw line, saying Nasalo, Mitch Philp and Williamson all shot well when they got up there.

Despite the one-sided result, Tweedy, the perfectionist, was not happy to see the Rockets surrender some soft points due to defensive lapses.

The Rockets are at Hegvold Stadium again next Sunday, tip-off at 2pm, when the visiting team is Ipswich.

QBL ROUND 4

Minecorp Rockets 96 (Travis Reed 22, Mitch Philp 20, Peni Nasalo 19, Ryan McDade 18) defGladstone 63 (Todd Meyerding 15, Kevin Gaines 14, Zach Silverman 13)

Townsville 88 def Bundaberg 71

Ipswich 80 def Brisbane 71

South-west Metro 90 def Northside 71

Maroochydore 82 def Toowoomba 73

Cairns 83 def Bundaberg 63

Ipswich 93 def Gold Coast 73