Central Recap | Round 6 Sunday

Feature images supplied via NBL1.com.au / @picture_itsportphotography 

Round 6 of the Mitsubishi Motors NBL1 Central concluded with the white and blue of the Panthers taking two for the afternoon down at the ARC against the spirited Norwood Flames in two entertaining matches. 

Here are the results of this afternoon’s Sunday games:

Gardiner’s guide Panthers to win over Flames            

The duo of Kiera and Hannah Gardiner combined and proved to be a problem for the Norwood Flames as their South Adelaide Panthers pulled away 65-82 at the ARC in Campbelltown.  

The Flames debuted their new import that arrived on Friday to cover for Emily Saunders in Slovakian Piestanske USA recruit Ke’Shunan James immediately impacted with nine first quarter points as the Flames went on a 13-0 run to open the score up. The Panthers hit back hard though through the Gardiner’s as they essentially levelled it at 20-18 after one term.

The second term belonged to the Panthers as the Gardiner’s notched 16 points between them to lead them to their own 0-13 run - some helpful hits from the Flames imports Amanda Paschal and James brought it back to 34-46 at the main break. The size of Kiera Gardiner caused all sorts of problems for the home side with 13 points and five rebounds leading to 12 second chance points. 

A tight first half of the third term saw defence move up a step with Uzc Mont blocking incoming Panther traffic - the Gardiner’s however continued to wreck havoc getting into the lanes with drives and finding corner shots on catch and shoots to have them up by 15 points. The margin was cut slightly via the outside shooting of Brooke Silby (six points for the term) but the Panthers bounced back out through their bigs for a 52-69 lead with one to play. 

The Panthers stayed in front the remainder of the afternoon as they grinded the Flames into the ground in a defensive dour final term - but importantly got a valuable win that puts them into the top five for the first time this season. Kiera Gardiner (19 points and 15 rebounds) and Hannah Gardiner (18 points and seven rebounds) combined for 37 points and 22 rebounds between them and along with guard Hatti Cox (10 points, six assists and five rebounds) and captain Ash Spencer with 11 points and seven rebounds helped secure the victory.              

The Panthers have dug themselves out of the bottom five - can they pounce their way even further up the table? Find out this Saturday night when they take on the Forestville Eagles at 6:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. 

NORWOOD FLAMES 65 (James 22, Paschal 10, Akuen 9)

SOUTH ADELAIDE PANTHERS 82 (K Gardiner 19, H Gardiner 18, Spencer, Stasinowsky 11, Cox 10)

Kubank on the Panthers taking the win over the Flames         

A Tom Kubank led opening half banked the win in more ways than one for the South Adelaide Panthers 76-85 over the Norwood Flames at the ARC in Campbelltown.  

Kubank and Christian Brandon landed triples early with import Kaleb Warner’s two handed slam (Nine points, six rebounds and five assists) cementing a 3-11 start. Another set of triples to Kubank from deep area code distance saw the Panthers skipper push his side out to 9-19, Trey McBride pushed the momentum back the Flames way temporarily with a triple then finish in transition but sustained a right hyper extension of his knee from the contact on a third consecutive attempt - forced into missing the remainder of the match. Kubank’s 13 opening quarter rush leaving the Panthers with the lead after one stanza 13-23. 

The young duo of Oscar Sabine getting his second start of the season and David Rinaldi rose up in place of Trey as they pulled off a 9-3 run to open the second to force an early timeout to the Panthers 22-26. The bigs in Anthony Green and Brandon went at each other throughout the afternoon in spurts at either end of the floor as a stalemate was hit - but Green got one back on his fellow big against the backboard.

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An on cue Kubank on the buzzer in every sense of the word gave the Panthers a 34-42 lead at the half.

The Panthers pounced out of the half with a 4-13 run led by Brandon and Kubank again. Jonty Smith jumped upstairs for the two handed finish - but Osborne went one better with the one handed floater to beat the three quarter time hooter but the Panthers prowled their way to a 17-29 term to take a twenty point lead 51-71.

The Flames closed it to 15 points 70-85 thanks to some red hot shooting from veteran Daniel Webber (16 points with four triples) while Cooper Osborne (22 points with four triples, nine rebounds and five assists) continued to make things happen with ten points in the final term. Brandon made a couple of key finishes down the stretch as they held off a mini-fighback from the Flames to claim the victory and set up next week’s Saturday night blockbuster. Kubank finished with five triples at 55 percent with 19 points, with Brandon best for the Panthers across four quarters with 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

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The stage is set, the script was written in the preseason and the popcorn at the ready - the Forestville Eagles will take on the South Adelaide Panthers in the Grand Final Rematch of 2024 which is a little more than just a rematch. Find out why this Saturday night at 8:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App.  

NORWOOD FLAMES 76 (Osborne 22, Webber 16, Harrap 14)

SOUTH ADELAIDE PANTHERS 85 (Brandon, Kubank 19, McVeigh 13)

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