NBL1 Central recap: Round 1- Saturday April 9

It was a huge opening night in NBL1 Central with an overtime win and a host of brilliant individual performances.

Check out how each game unfolded below:

WOMEN

Norwood Flames (52) def by South Adelaide Panthers (79)

Playing against last year’s preliminary finalists without Alex Wilson was always going to spell trouble for Norwood.

The home side were outplayed by South Adelaide, particularly in the second and fourth periods, scoring a combined 15 points.

Ashleigh Spencer was enormous for the visitors with 34 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

NORWOOD 52 (Anderson 15, Basham 14, Kerridge 7)

SOUTH ADELAIDE 79 (Spencer 34, Levicki 20, Johnson 10)

Forestville Eagles (78) def by Southern Tigers (88)

The Southern Tigers backed up last year’s championship by winning against the Forestville Eagles on their home floor.

With both teams losing stars over the off-season, it was the new faces that stepped up in their absence.

Demi Skinner was huge with 30 points and seven boards for the Tigers while Isabella Stratford top-scored for the Eagles with 21 points.

Morgan Yaeger was the biggest star of them all though, putting up a massive 35 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists.

FORESTVILLE 78 (Stratford 21, Simons 16, Annetts 15)

SOUTHERN TIGERS 88 (Yaeger 35, Skinner 30, Thacker 14)

North Adelaide Rockets (54) def by Woodville Warriors (71)

It was the Woodville Warriors who upset last year’s Grand Finalists in the NBL1 Central Game of the Week.

New recruit Regan Turnour-McCarty proved invaluable from the get-go for the Warriors, leading all scorers with 24 points.

After losing the likes of Taylor Ortlepp and Jess Good in the off-season, Tayla Corrigan (13 points), Lily Zbierski (11 points), Grace Facchini (11 points) and Lauren Badenoch (10 points) all stepped up to fill the void for the Rockets.

NORTH ADELAIDE 54 (Corrigan 13, Zbierski 11, Facchini 11)

WOODVILLE 71 (Turnour-McCarty 24, Winter 22, Bartsch 9)

West Adelaide Bearcats (92) def Central Districts Lions (54)

A clinical performance by West Adelaide saw all five of its starters record double-figure points.

The Lions can take positive signs from new recruits Raynisha Washington and Casey Samuels, who scored 14 and 22 points, respectively.

They also only lost the final period by two points, putting up a fight until the end.

WEST ADELAIDE 92 (Rintala 25, Brenton 15, Fejo 14)

CENTRAL DISTRICTS 54 (Samuels 22, Washington 14, Puvogel 5)

MEN

Norwood Flames (72) def by South Adelaide Panthers (75)

In a game that went down to the wire, it was the Panthers who prevailed in overtime.

Last year’s Panthers MVP Todd Davies stepped up where it mattered, nailing the winning three just in the nick of time.

Alex Starling was enormous with 34 points and 21 rebounds while Ray Harding had 32 points for the Flames.

NORWOOD 72 (Harding 32, McBride 14, Webber 13)

SOUTH ADELAIDE 75 (Starling 34, Davies 14, Hoppo 10)

Forestville Eagles (94) def Southern Tigers (68)

The new-look Forestville Eagles stamped their authority on the competition with five players scoring in double figures to take down the Southern Tigers.

Greg Mays led all-comers with 24 points to go with eight rebounds.

The Tigers can take positive signs from the performance of recruit Ricardo Martin, who chipped in with 13 points and four blocks.

FORESTVILLE 94 (Mays 24, Rios 22, Ipassou 14)

SOUTHERN TIGERS 68 (Martin 13, Smith 13, Artacho 13)

West Adelaide Bearcats (95) def Central Districts Lions (63)

It was a two-man show at Port Adelaide with new Bearcats Nate Sheppard and Nik DeSantis putting on a clinic.

The duo scored 28 points each, contributing to 56 of West Adelaide’s 95 points on the night.

Bijan Johnson led the way for the Lions with 15 points while Brodie Nathan chipped in with 10 points off the bench.

WEST ADELAIDE 95 (Sheppard 28, DeSantis 28, Washington 16)

CENTRAL DISTRICTS 63 (Johnson 15, Nathan 10, Dowdell 8)

North Adelaide Rockets (82) def Woodville Warriors (80)

The NBL1 Central Men’s Game of the Week lived up to its name, with the contest going down to the wire at The Lights.

The margin was no more than three points at the end of each period, thanks to efforts from the likes of North Adelaide’s Riley Harrap (19 points off the bench) and Woodville’s Nick Wurm (23 points).

It was a shooting display all game, with both teams finishing close to 50 percent from two-point range.

NORTH ADELAIDE 82 (Harrap 19, Winn III 17, Dau 16)

WOODVILLE 80 (Wurm 23, Stepney 14, Humphries 12)

Feature image taken by Picture It Sports Photography