West 71 (Nikita-Lee Martin 23, Kerrin Webber 16, Sky Langenbrink 12) defeated

North 59 (Jo Hill 13, Kirsty Williams 12, Bec Lock 11)

When the sides last met in Round 8, at the conclusion of the match, North's loss left them in 5th place. Not a lot has changed - they still retain fifth spot on percentage and now they are fighting for a finals berth, pitted against both Norwood and the Southern Tigers. West Adelaide are assured of a finals berth but with the Sabres matched against the Lions this week, if Sturt wins as expected West can finish no higher than 3rd. A West loss however by more than 12 points against North and a loss in the final match against Southern puts them in dangerous territory if other results don't fall their way. Both West and North enter this match with winning form over the past few rounds. With so much uncertainty about placings at the end of the minor round this match promises to be a hard fought affair. The match-ups of Sam Woosnam, Nikita-Lee Martin, Trudy Holland and Irene Sourlatzis against Jo Hill, Tania Dhu, Marisa Stabile and Shannon Mckay who are the prime movers for each club should be pivotal to the outcome. West should repeat the result from Round 8 locking  in 3rd place at the end of the minor round.  

Sturt 75 (Monique Bowley 23, Bree Farley 16, Caroline Burgess 13) defeated

Centrals 60 (Amber Land 23, Dayna Roberts 17, Fiona Perso 7)

Last time these two sides met at Starplex, Sturt posted its second 70 point game of the season when it set up the win in the third quarter when it outscored the Lions 23-11. In that match, the Lions led for the majority of the first half as they did last week against the Eagles. Centrals were in with a chance of pulling off the upset of the season until Mia Newley carried the Eagles to victory with a 19 point last quarter haul. Sturt will be keen to put the result of this game beyond doubt as early as possible to lock in at least second place. The recent loss of Caroline Burgess to injury has seen the Sabres lose one of their major play makers and sources of scoring. The battle between Sabres Monique Bowley and Lion Amber Land, who is averaging almost 18 points per game and 15 rebounds, will be worth watching. They both finished with 23 points last time the sides met. Sturt had a quiet game offensively against the Bearcats last round with only two players in double figures. Centrals were very competitive until the last quarter against the Eagles. With a four quarter performance they just may push the Sabres. The end result could be closer than most would anticipate.

South Adelaide Panthers v Forestville Eagles, Sat, July 17th, 6.30pm at Marion           Forestville 96 (Mia Newley 38, Jess Fergus 16, Jess Mahony 14) defeated

South 68 (Claire Johnson 19, Taya Crockford 15, Sarah Peddle 12, Ursula Richards 8)

Forestville journey to Marion knowing a win from this encounter secures top spot regardless of other results from either this round or the final round. Last week the Eagles struggled to put Centrals away until the last quarter when it took Mia Newley to fire up with 19 points to secure the win. In South's match against Eastern at Mount Barker, little separated the sides at halftime but a big third quarter by Eastern destroyed any chance South had to claim both victories against Eastern during the season. South took 90 shots in that match, the most of any team in the Women's competition for that round, but still came up short when they shot at only 25.6%. When the sides last met, Forestville had control of the game by halftime when they led 59-37. The Eagles only outscored the Panthers by 6 points during the second half of that match but the damage had been done. Along with Mia Newley who had 38 points, Jess Mahony was a standout in that match finishing with a triple double of 14 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. South will need to produce the form they showed against West Adelaide in Round 13 if they are to have any hope of stopping Forestville from claiming their 8th win in succession. 

Norwood 88 (Jess Foley 33, Rachel Herrick 18, Rebecca Duke 15) defeated

Eastern 77 (Tess Madgen 35, Alex Wilson 18, Cody Lange 12)

Norwood will see this match as a chance to arrest their slide down the premiership table having lost the last three games to the Bearcats, Rockets and Tigers. Since Round 9, when they occupied third position, they have slowly dropped down to be amongst the chasing pack all looking to secure a finals berth. If Norwood were to drop their last two games against the Mavericks and the Bearcats and both Southern and North were to win the Flames would be eliminated from the finals. For this reason alone Norwood must win this encounter to shore up a finals berth. When the sides last met, Eastern hit the lead early in the last quarter before Jess Foley, who scored 13 points in the final period, helped the Flames secure victory. Eastern struggled in that match to control the height of Rachel Herrick who scored the majority of her 18 points from inside the paint. Norwood will not have Jess Foley this match and Rebecca Duke who is close to returning from injury is also not expected to play. Eastern will be without the services of Cody Lange who is on Australian junior netball commitments. Norwood needs to win to secure a finals berth and Eastern is looking for their 3rd win in succession for the first time this season. It promises to be a close encounter.

Southern 73 (Ashleigh Spencer 14, Rosalie Cutri 12, Madelaine Cunningham 11) defeated

Woodville 62 (Jodie Barratt 15, Ingrid Richards 12, Katherine Perkas 8) 

Both teams enter this game from opposite ends of the spectrum. Last week Southern set up their win against the Flames with a big first half outscoring the Flames 27-16 in the first quarter and 25-19 in the second period to hold a 17 point buffer at halftime. When Woodville played North at Hillcrest they had a poor first half where they were outscored 32-17 only amassing 7 points in the first quarter. Last time the sides met in Round 8 Woodville had a poor first quarter against the Tigers scoring only 9 points.  They then went on to outscore Southern by 5 points (53-48) for the remainder of the game but any chance of a win had slipped from their grasp by quarter time. If the Warriors allow Southern to pile on the points in the first half of this match it will almost certainly be a repeat of the result when the sides first met. Woodville has lost its last four matches against sides that are finals bound but will want to finish the season on a positive note having improved from season 2009. Southern is one of the form teams of the women's competition and with a finals berth at stake it is difficult to see them dropping this match away from home.