Norwood Flames v North Adelaide Rockets, Sat, July 3rd, 6.30pm at Mars
North Adelaide 64 (Bec Lock 13, Tayla Corbell 12, Marisa Stabile 11, Tania Dhu 10) defeated Norwood 58 (Rachel Herrick 20, Amanda MacDermot 11, Kate Gladstone 5)

Norwood led for the majority of the encounter but when it mattered most the Rockets edged in front after a Bec Lock 3 pointer with 3:47 left to play, scores 58-56. In the closing minutes North’s Jo Hill, Tayla Corbell and a pair of foul shots to Lock saw the Rockets prevail by 6 points - only Jordan Walker-Roberts for the Flames scored after the 3 pointer from Lock. The Rockets started well when both Corbell and Shannon McKay connected on 3 pointers before Norwood’s Rachel Herrick scored. Norwood edged away by as much as 7 points at periods during the second quarter and at halftime led 36-31. With both sides struggling offensively in the third North managed to level the scores 42-42 after Marisa Stabile converted 1 of 2 foul shots awarded with 2:34 of the quarter remaining. Norwood scored the last 4 points of the quarter from the foul line to hold a 4 point margin at the last break 46-42. Three, 3s to Lock in the last and another from McKay were probably the difference between winning and losing, North able to set up the win from downtown. On the night the Rockets connected on nine 3 pointers whereas the Flames connected on only 1 of 14 shots taken. North’s win keeps them in 5th place just ahead of Southern on percentage but Southern holds the head to head on the two games played between the clubs this season.

Woodville Warriors v West Adelaide Bearcats, Sat, July 3rd, 6.30pm at St Clair
West Adelaide 77 (Nikita-Lee Martin 27, Sam Woosnam 13, Alana Nairn 12) defeated Woodville 53 (Ingrid Richards 16, Claire Christie, Ashleigh White 10) 

West had too much at stake to let this match slip from their grasp. If they continue winning for the remainder of the season, West cannot be displaced from 3rd position. They have a 1 game break over Norwood and a 2 game break over North Adelaide and Southern who are fighting it out for 5th spot. The West team did enough in the first quarter to establish a buffer and had a number of scoring options with 6 players contributing on the scoreboard. Playing coach Sam Woosnam led the way. In the early minutes of the second quarter the Bearcats rattled on 12 unanswered points to put the game beyond doubt when they set up a match winning break 28 – 8. In this period they again had 6 scorers before Ashleigh White for the Warriors broke the run with a basket. West held the ascendancy at halftime 40-24. West won all four quarters with Nikita-Lee Martin firing home 10 points in the 3rd period and 11 points in the last on her way to a game high 27 points. Woodville had its most productive quarter in the last scoring 20 points with Claire Christie, April Brown and Ingrid Richards scoring a couple of baskets each, Richards 8 points included two 3 pointers.

Sturt Sabres v Forestville Eagles, Sat, July 3rd, 6.30pm at Pasadena          
Forestville 60 (Tara Buttress 18, Jess Fergus 16, Mia Newley 13) defeated
Sturt 42 (Monique Bowley 17, Bree Farley 10, Katrina Fitzpatrick 6)

Forestville reclaimed top spot on the premiership table on percentage after they beat Sturt in this encounter with a dominant first half performance. Forestville has not held top spot since they were beaten by Sturt in Round 6 by a solitary point 50-49. Forestville now holds the head to head should the teams be equal on points at the end of the season. In the first quarter the Eagles were well served by Mia Newley whose first score was a 3 pointer and Jess Fergus who finished with 9 points on her way to 16 points for the game. Sabre Monique Bowley was in everything, finishing with 9 points in the first. In the second quarter Tara Buttress cut loose scoring 11 points which was almost twice as much as the Sabres could muster for the entire quarter when they finished with just 6 points for the period. A Newley 3 pointer to open the 3rd quarter blew the margin out to 20 points 39-19 and there was no way back for the Sabres who clearly missed the services of leading player Caroline Burgess who did not play. Forestville also went into the clash undermanned suiting only 7 players, both Mia Newley and Jess Mahony seeing 40 minutes of court time in the Eagles convincing win.

Central Districts Lions v Eastern Mavericks, Sat, July 3rd, 6.30pm at Starplex
Eastern 89 (Tess Madgen 36, Deb Wilcox 15, Alex Wilson 10) defeated
Central Districts 54 (Amber Land 19, Dayna Roberts 12, Elizabeth Oermann 11)

On Saturday night it took until the last 35 seconds of the first quarter after a basket to Maverick Alex Wilson before the visitors hit the lead 26-24 in a high scoring and entertaining quarter of basketball. In the second quarter Eastern extended the lead to be in front 12 points at halftime, 52-40. In a third quarter transformation Eastern blew the game wide open outscoring the home side 23-3 to assume complete control of the match and put the result beyond doubt when they led by 32 points, 75-43 at the last break. The final quarter was purely academic as Eastern had the opportunity for the first time in many weeks to give all players court time. Amber Land for the Lions had a big first half scoring 19 points but her shooting touch deserted her in the second half when she went 0 - 12 shots taken. Land still finished with a double – double of 19 points and 26 rebounds. Eastern’s Tess Madgen also finished with double – double of 36 points and 15 rebounds.

South Adelaide Panthers v Southern Tigers, Sat, July 3rd, 6.30pm at Marion
Southern 88 (Ashleigh Spencer 22, Madelaine Cunningham, Rosalie Cutri 15, Stephanie Gates 10) defeated South Adelaide 64 (Claire Johnson 19, Tameeka Muir 11)

Little separated the sides in the first quarter with Ashleigh Spencer for Southern scoring the first 6 points on her way to a game high 22 points which included five 3 point shots from 11 taken. South closed the margin midway through the first after Claire Johnson scored but from then on Southern always held the advantage. After a basket to Rosalie Cutri midway through the 2nd South had extended the margin to 13 points and led 36-23. During the 3rd the margin was out to almost 20 points with the difference at three quarter time back to 17 points, 66-49. The margin was extended to as much as 26 points in the last after a further basket to Spencer. Southern had a poor shooting night from outside, only hitting 1 three point shot from 8 taken but converted 35 from 77 shots taken from the floor at 45%. South’s undoing was its conversion rate of only 27% when it hit 21 shots from 77 taken.