The Southern Tigers have shown that last season’s fourth place finish was no fluke after holding off reigning champs Forestville for a 70-68 win at Wayville on Saturday night.

The Tigers looked home after leading by eight with under two minutes remaining, before back-to-back threes from Alex Duncan got Forestville back to within a basket with 39 seconds left.

Suddenly, the game was alive, and an eight second violation gave the Eagles back the ball with 29.3 seconds remaining and a chance to tie or win.

Georgia Minear drove to the basket, but good help defence from the Tigers forced her into a tough shot, which could only skim the backboard.

Southern’s Madeline Cunningham then iced the game from the stripe, before Duncan put in another basket for the final score.

Cunningham finished the game with a game-high 23 points to go with 4 rebounds, whilst Ashleigh Spencer had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Stephanie Gates added 13 points.

Minear had a team-high 22 points, whilst drawing 7 fouls. The potent Tara Robinson was restricted to just 8 field goal attempts, finishing with just 8 points but contributed 9 boards.

Duncan added 15 points whilst Jess Fergus was held in check, connecting on just 3 of 13 from the field.

The Eagles looked a step slower than their opponents all night, with the Tigers taking control in the third quarter.

Southern got out to a double digit advantage early in the third, and eventually won the quarter 24-14, combining aggressive defence with hard running that led to many fast break opportunities and open shots.

Although Southern’s free-flowing approach also served them well in the first half, the more methodical Eagles still got some good looks from the perimeter and in the paint.

However, the scoring dried up in the third as they just could not match their opponents’ intensity.

Defining moment: For a period of almost 3 ½ minutes in the final quarter, the only point scored was a free throw from Jess Fergus. Despite getting themselves back into the game through a major lift in intensity, the Eagles just could not reap the rewards at the offensive end. The Tigers’ Gilly Hendrie (10 points) then bobbed up for a three with just over three minutes remaining, undoing all of Forestville’s hard work.

Forestville verdict: The Eagles’ looked a much slower side than the one that has won back to back titles, but they still put up a good showing against a quality opponent. The third quarter brought about their undoing, but for most of the night, they executed their offence well, had good pressure up the floor, and their defensive rotations were solid. A tough loss to start the season, but expect them to bounce back and be as formidable as ever.

Southern verdict: A quality win to start the season after beginning last year just 1-6. Their ball movement was excellent, they were sharp defensively, and they did a very good job in pushing the ball up quickly against the feisty Eagles defence. They did well to hold on in this one, but will need to take better care of the ball when the going gets tough. Expect this to be another good season for the Tigers.

Courtesy of James Woite, Forestville