Game Review by James Woite

The Forestville Eagles have retained second position on the ladder after scoring an 81-71 victory over the West Adelaide Bearcats at Wayville. In a battle between last year's premiers and minor premiers, Jess Fergus' hot shooting in the final quarter ensured the Eagles would get the points on this occasion. Fergus finished with 18 points, including 9 in the last quarter, whilst Jess Mahoney (20 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists) and Mia Newley (17 points, 22 rebounds, 6 steals) again starred for Forestville. West's best players on the night were star Nikita-Lee Martin, who finished with a game-high 21 points on 7 of 9 shooting, and young Guard Ashlea Vordermaier, who had season highs of 19 points, 10 boards, and 7 assists.   

The Eagles jumped West earlier, showing no signs of their poor shooting that riddled last week's loss to Norwood. By quarter-time, the Eagles were out to a 23-13 lead, and after another solid quarter in the second, led 46-32 at the half; their fourth-highest scoring half of the season.

The Bearcats had now been outscored 93-63 over their past forty minutes, and without superstar Sam Woosnam for the third straight game, looked to be in danger of a blowout defeat. However, following a time-out midway through the third quarter, and with the Eagles' lead out to 15, West fought back with some of their best play of the game. After Eagles Guard Kelsey Ireland was forced to the bench with four fouls, Ashlea Vordermaier provided a match-changing moment with a breakaway steal and layup to reduce the gap to 13. This inspired the Bearcats, who, with Nikita-Lee Martin beginning to assert herself inside, ran off an 11-3 run to cut the gap to 7 at three quarter time.

The final quarter began with Newley knocking down a three-pointer, before West's Lisa Coleman knocked down one of her own. With the Bearcats now seriously threatening to steal victory, Jess Fergus stood up to stymie the Bearcats' run. Fergus scored seven straight points to keep West at bay, allowing the Eagles to retain a sizeable advantage.

Despite Fergus' hot shooting, the Bearcats closed to within 6 with 2.20 to go, but another basket from Fergus brought Forestville's lead back out to 8, before Jamie-Lee Bow sealed the game from the stripe in the closing seconds. The Eagles now sit one game ahead of Norwood in second, and following Sturt's upset loss to Southern, are just one game out of top spot. West are two wins behind Forestville in fourth position.