NBL1 Central Recap | Saturday Women's Round 5

It was quite the Round 5 Saturday night showdown in the NBL1 Central Women's competition with Jasmin Fejo and Alex Wilson combining for 75 points in a win for the West Adelaide Bearcats over the Norwood Flames.

That was just one of five fascinating match ups as Round 5 got underway in the 2022 NBL1 Central Women's competition.

The Saturday night Round 5 action got underway at St Clair Recreation Centre with the Forestville Eagles defeating the Woodville Warriors 78-58. Sam Simons was stunning for the Eagles with 31 points while Emily Winter had 19 points for the Warriors.

The Sturt Sabres defeated the Southern Tigers 79-72 at Morphett Vale Basketball Stadium with Mikayla Williams putting up 21 points for the Sabres. Mollie McKendrick produced 32 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for the Tigers.

It was a thriller at St Francis de Sales Community Sports Centre with the North Adelaide Rockets defeating the Eastern Mavericks 72-69. Samantha Defrancesco top-scored with 17 points for the Rockets with Brigitte Lefebvre- Okankwu putting up 17 points for the Mavericks.

It was a big road win as well for the South Adelaide Panthers who defeated Central Districts 93-71 at STARplex. Ashleigh Spencer put up 32 points for South Adelaide and Casey Samuels 33 points for Centrals.

The West Adelaide Bearcats also beat the Norwood Flames 104-95 at The ARC. Jasmin Fejo was stunning for the Bearcats with 39 points with Alex Wilson delivering 36 points for the Flames.

The Round 5 action will now conclude on Sunday afternoon with the Sturt Sabres hosting the Eastern Mavericks at Springbank Secondary College from 1.30pm.

NBL1 CENTRAL – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 5 – SATURDAY NIGHT

WOODVILLE WARRIORS 58 lost to FORESTVILLE EAGLES 78

The Forestville Eagles were able to score their second win of the NBL1 Central season at the expense of the Woodville Warriors on Saturday night.

Both teams came into the game at St Clair Recreation Centre hunting either their second or third wins of the 2022 season and it was Forestville starting strongly despite being away from home.

The Eagles continued on with the momentum from there with another 22 points to 15 in the second quarter, 23 to 15 in the third and they cruised to the eventual 78-58 win to leave both teams on 2-2 records after five rounds this season.

Woodville managed to pull down more rebounds than Forestville including 16 offensive boards to nine, but couldn’t take advantage. They took nine more field goals but shot just 32.9 per cent from the floor opposed to 47.5 per cent.

The Eagles also knocked down 8/16 threes compared to 7/24 from the Warriors.

Sam Simons had a monster game for Forestville as well finishing with 31 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals on 13/23 shooting including 4/6 from downtown.

Rachael Hines added 17 points for the Eagles, Katia Stamatelopoulos nine points and two assists, and Maddy Freer nine points, four rebounds and two assists.

Emily Winter top-scored for Woodville with 19 points, 11 rebounds and six assists with Regan Turnour-McCarty adding 15 points, eight boards and six assists, and Deanna Troia seven points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists. 

 

SOUTHERN TIGERS 72 lost to STURT SABRES 79

The Sturt Sabres had to fight hard but kept their winning start to the NBL1 Central season rolling on Saturday night away to the Southern Tigers.

The Sabres had won their opening two games of the 2022 season before heading to Morphett Vale Basketball Stadium on Saturday night to take on a Tigers team hunting a third win of the campaign.

Sturt started well with 22 points to 17 in the first quarter before only narrowly stretching their lead to six points at half-time and eight points at three quarter-time.

The Sabres from there held on for the 79-72 victory to improve to 3-0 on the season with the Tigers falling to 2-3.

Three-point shooting wasn’t the order of the night with the Sabres going just 4/22 and the Tigers 3/27, but overall Sturt shot 43.7 per cent and Southern 37.7.

Mikayla Williams finished with 21 points and seven rebounds for the Sabres while Kayla Mathews contributed 14 points, Meg Prosser 13 points, four rebounds and two assists, Zoe Walker-Roberts 11 points, nine boards and four assists.

Mollie McKendrick was outstanding for the Tigers with 32 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and three steals on 12/18 shooting with Demi Skinner adding 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Morgan Yaeger 13 points, five boards and five assists.

 

EASTERN MAVERICKS 69 lost to NORTH ADELAIDE ROCKETS 72

The thriller of the night took place at St Francis de Sales Community Sports Centre with the North Adelaide Rockets holding out the Eastern Mavericks.

It was a slow start from the home team with the Rockets leading 13-6 by quarter-time and North Adelaide was still in control going into the half-time break leading 33-26.

However, the Mavericks worked their way back into the contest and suddenly when Emily Dawe scored early in the last term, scores were all square.

Olivia Bradley ended up giving the Mavericks a four-point lead with three minutes on the clock, but the Rockets were able to respond firstly with a three ball from Samantha Defrancesco.

Eventually a 10-2 run from North Adelaide turned the game back in their favour for good and they held on for the 72-69 victory.

Samanta Defrancesco ended the night for North Adelaide with 17 points and four rebounds while Lauren Badenoch delivered 14 points and six boards.

Tayla Corrigan added 12 points, five rebounds and three assists, Peyton Taylor 11 points, 10 boards, four assists and three steals, and Rayven Thomas nine points, 11 rebounds and three assists.

Brigitte Lefebvre-Okankwu delivered 17 points and nine rebounds for the Mavericks with Olivia Bradley adding 13 points, four rebounds, four assists and three blocks, Oksana Gouchie-Provencher 11 points, 15 boards and five blocked shots, and Emily Dawe 10 points and six rebounds.

 

CENTRAL DISTRICT LIONS 71 lost to SOUTH ADELAIDE PANTHERS 93

The South Adelaide Panthers continued their undefeated start to the 2022 season with another impressive performance to beat the Central District Lions on Saturday night.

South Adelaide put their unbeaten record on the line at STARplex on Saturday night and it was a tight opening quarter with them only leading 16-15 after one.

The Panthers then pulled away in the second quarter with 26 points to 16 to go into half-time up 42-31. They went on with the job from there to win 93-71 and improve to 4-0 on the season while Centrals are 0-4.

Ashleigh Spencer was outstanding for South Adelaide with 32 points, four rebounds and three steals while shooting 10/19 from the floor and 4/6 from downtown along with 8/8 at the charity stripe.

Olivia Levicki added 22 points and seven rebounds for the Panthers, Jade Johnson 15 points, four boards, four assists and two steals, and Hannah Stewart 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Casey Samuels had an impressive night for Central Districts with 33 points, four assists, three steals and three rebounds while going 6/13 from beyond the arc and 9/9 at the foul line.

Raynisha Washington added 15 points and 11 rebounds.

 

NORWOOD FLAMES 95 lost to WEST ADELAIDE BEARCATS 104

The West Adelaide Bearcats withstood a last fightback from the Norwood Flames to come away with the strong road win on Saturday night.

The Bearcats started strongly at The ARC on Saturday night putting up 31 points in the first quarter and another 29 in the second to go into the half-time break leading the Flames 60-40.

West Adelaide extended their lead to 23 by three quarter-time but Norwood put on a massive 36 points in the fourth period to bring the final margin to nine in favour of the Bearcats.

West Adelaide collected 43 rebounds opposed to just 26 from Norwood while they also shot 57.6 per cent from the field opposed to 49.3.

Jasmin Fejo produced a brilliant performance for the Bearcats with 39 points, seven assists, four rebounds and three steals on 12/19 shooting, 3/5 from beyond the arc and 12/16 at the charity stripe.

Jennie Rintala added 21 points and 10 rebounds, Keeley Pearce 12 points, Jasmine Simmons 12 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, and Sky Langenbrinck nine points, six assists and four rebounds.