The womens’ Player of the Week goes to Shanavia Dowdell from the Rockhampton Cyclones, for her impressive performance in the Cyclones’ win over the Gladstone Power. Dowdell shot 35 points in Saturday’s game, at 52 percent in the field and 100 percent from the foul line, and also took 14 rebounds in the 84 to 73 point win over the Power. Only spending three minutes on the bench, Dowdell dominated inside the paint, contributing to Rockhampton’s 50 points shot under the basket, and 46 rebounds to Gladstone’s 32. The win for Rockhampton saw them shake the Power out of their undefeated streak, and pushed the Cyclones up to fourth place on the ladder. 

The Rockets’ win over the Gladstone Power this weekend sees the mens’ Player of the Week award go to the Rockhampton’s Ryan McDade. McDade shot 18 points at 69.2 percent in the 33-point win over the Power, but it was on the boards that gave him the edge to take out this week’s title. The 201cm American racked up 24 rebounds for the Rockets, just under half of the total team tally. With 16 of these being defensive rebounds and the Power only managing to score six second-chance points, the 31 year old’s efforts under the basket at both ends undoubtedly played a strong hand in the win for Rockhampton. The win kept Rockhampton undefeated and at the top of the QBL ladder.

Shanavia: 

Hailing from Alabama, it’s the 186cm forward’s first season in the QBL, moving south to Rockhampton during her off-season with the WNBL’s Townsville Fire. Dowdell had a strong season for the Fire, leading the points for her team with 15.9 points per game in the 2011/2012 season. She was named the Fire’s MVP and was included in the WNBL’s Second All Star Team, and named the WNBL Import of the Year, all in her debut season in the league. Dowdell was snapped up by Townsville following her recruitment to the San Antonio Silver Stars in the WNBA as a fringe player. Prior to this, the 24 year old spent the 2010/2011 season in France playing for Toulouse Metropole Basket, averaging 10.9 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game, during 18 matches for the club. Her introduction to professional basketball began with a pre-season stint with the Washington Mystics in 2010, following four successful years in the NCAA with Louisiana Tech University, where she averaged 18 points per game and 12 rebounds per game during her final season in 2009/2010.  The 2009/2010 season saw her win the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) tournament with Louisiana Tech, named All-WAC Player of the Year, WAC All-Tournament MVP, and named in the WAC All-Defensive Team.
Honourable mentions around the league for Round 4 include Bundaberg’s Yvonne Turner for her 39 points against Cairns, after taking on Townsville the previous night, and teammate Hayley Munro who shot 25 against Townsville and 18 points and pulled 13 rebounds in the game against Cairns. Nadeen Payne shot game-high points in both of Ipswich’s double-header losses against Brisbane and the Gold Coast, with 24 and 23 points respectively, while Emma Randall made the most of her 15 minutes on the court for the Capitals, with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Taylor Lilley put some huge points on the board for Northside in their win over South West, contributing 34 points, while Kisha Lee was again impressive for Toowoomba, her 29 points helping the Mountaineers to secure their first win in three years. Jess Bibby and Rebecca Haynes both scored 22 points in Gladstone’s loss to Rockhampton, Haynes also bringing down 11 rebounds.

Ryan: 

McDade has spent a considerable portion of his career overseas, the Seattle native attending college at Northern Arizona University, where he averaged 18 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in his final season in 2002/2003. Post-college, McDade travelled to Europe, first playing for Darussafaka Istanbul in the Turkish league in 2003/2004 and averaging 7.7 points and 5.9 rebounds a game, before moving into the Dutch league in 2004/2005, playing for Dutch Eredivisie for 21 games. In 2006/2007 the forward took to the court with Porvoon Tarmon in the Finland-Korisliiga, averaging 13.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game over his 42 games with the team. A move to Sweden for the 2007/2008 season for Boras Basket saw him play 23 games and average 12.5 points per game. In 2008 McDade played his first season for Rockhampton, averaging 15.2 points and 11.2 rebounds a game, before returning to Sweden for another season with Boras Basket, improving his averages to 16 points and 13.3 rebounds a game. In 2009/2010 he again returned to the Finnish league, this time for KTP Basket Kotka, shooting 13.1 points and taking 12.2 rebounds per game. 2010 saw him come back to Rockhampton for the Rockets’ championship win, averaging 15.7 points and 15.2 rebounds per game. At the end of the 2010 QBL season McDade played 36 games for Spanish team CB Promobys Hoteles Tijola, before again returning to Finland in 2011/2012, where he won the Finnish league championship with Nilan Bisons Loimaa. His 2012 statistics in the QBL currently see him sitting on an average of 13 points and 15.3 rebounds per game.
Other notable performances this week around the league include McDade’s teammates Travis Reed with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Peni Nasalo with 19 points at 70 percent in the field with just 25 minutes on the court. Brendan Teys had a stellar game for South West Metro, with 27 points at 66 percent, and hitting six-out-of-six at the three-point line, with no turnovers. Bundaberg’s Willie Shackleford pulled some big numbers despite being in a losing side twice on the weekend, with 22 points and 19 rebounds against Townsville and 30 points and 25 rebounds against Cairns. Ipswich’s Shaun Gleeson also managed to back up during a double-header round, with 27 points against Gold Coast after shooting 14 against Brisbane. Michael Demertze put up 23 points for Townsville in their win over Bundaberg, while Steven Kluck shot 18 points and took 15 rebounds during Toowoomba’s loss against Maroochydore.