West 74 (Nikita-Lee Martin 26, Sam Woosnam 16, Ashlea Vordemaier 13) defeated

North 51 (Jo Hill 19, Bec Lock 11, Marisa Stabile 8)

West made sure it avoided an elimination final when it comprehensively defeated the Rockets in this match. The win has secured third place at the end of the minor round for the Bearcats. As has been the case for the majority of the season the ‘big guns’ for West in Nikita-Lee Martin, Sam Woosnam, Ashlea Vordemaier and Irene Sourlatzis did the damage on the scoreboard. Those four players scored the first four baskets of the night for West. North were never able to seriously challenge for victory and by halftime had fallen behind by 28 points, the locals leading 51-23. The first basket of the third term, a 3 pointer to Woosnam, blew the margin out to over 30 points, and North had no way back. When Martin scored with 7:22 left of the last quarter the margin had blown out to 36 points (67-31) the biggest lead of the game. That left the Rockets heading for their heaviest loss of the season. After Martin scored, North guard Bec Lock hit three 3 pointers to at least add some respectability to the scoreboard and reduce the final margin. North’s loss and Southern’s win has resulted in North dropping to 6th place, Southern claiming a finals berth.

Sturt 62 (Kara Hargreaves 13, Brigid Bowley 11) defeated

Centrals 45 (Amber Land 16, Maryanne Eime 8)       

Sturt welcomed back Caroline Burgess for this match but lost the services of centre Monique Bowley who has been averaging 15.4 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Sturt lost its two previous matches against Forestville and West Adelaide without Burgess in the side. The Sabres struggled to put away Centrals in the first half and only led by 9 points 29-20 at halftime in a low scoring match. With less than 2 minutes to play in the third quarter after a basket to Katrina Fitzpatrick, Sturt opened up their biggest lead of the game, 42-28. The Lions were able to reduce that margin in the early part of the last quarter, getting back under double figures. With less than 3 minutes to play, Brigid Bowley scored twice, Kara Hargreaves converted a pair of fouls shots, and Sturt increased the margin back out to 18 points which was the biggest lead of the game, 57-39. Sturt finished the game with 21 assists but the Lions only recorded a round low 7 for the game.  Sturt’s success has now seen them lock in second place on the premiership table.

South Adelaide Panthers v Forestville Eagles                         Sat, July 17th, 6.30pm at Marion           Forestville 105 (Jess Fergus 30, Mia Newley 21, Jess Mahony 17, Alex Duncan 16) defeated

South 46 (Claire Johnson 14, Ursula Richards 10, Karen Rokicinski 7)

Forestville inflicted the biggest losing margin of the season on South Adelaide when it won by 59 points 105-46. Prior to this match, Norwood held the record when it won by 52 points in Round 1 against Centrals, 108-56. South had no answer to the dominance of starting five group of players for the Eagles in Mia Newley, Jamie-Lee Bow, Alex Duncan, Jess Fergus and Jess Mahony who combined for 99 points of the Eagles score of 105. As the game progressed the Eagles’ lead only extended. They were up by 22 points at the end of the first, 32 points at halftime and 54 points by three quarter time before the final margin of 59 points was achieved. Forestville had is starting five group of players all in double figures whilst South struggled offensively with only Claire Johnson and Ursula Richards able to achieve that feat. Heading into the finals shortly, Forestville has now won its last 8 matches. In contrast South has only 5 wins this season compared to 12 last season when it finished 5th losing the elimination final to North Adelaide.  Forestville has more minor round wins this season (15) with just one round to play than it did in season 2009 when it recorded 13 wins on its way to winning the grand final against Sturt.

Norwood 72 (Jess Hansberry 15, Rachel Herrick, Amanda MacDermot 14) defeated

Eastern 68 (Alex Wilson 24, Tess Madgen 23, Jamie Fricker 7)

Eastern led for the majority of the contest although only a couple of baskets separated the sides throughout the night. There was only a 1 point difference at halftime, Norwood in front 34-33 with Rachel Herrick and Cara Boothey doing the bulk of the scoring for the locals and Tess Madgen doing the majority of the scoring for the visitors, including 14 points in the first half. By the three quarter time break, Eastern had tied the scores 52-52.  It wasn’t until the midpoint of the last period that Norwood had set up what was to be a match winning break of 9 points when they led 70-61 with 2:55 left to play. The damage done by former Mavericks captain Amanda MacDermot (nee Williams) who left the club to play with Norwood. She scored 7 points in just over a minute of play to wrest the momentum away from the Mavericks. MacDermot was scoreless in the first half but bagged 14 second half points to help her side claim victory.  Eastern gave Norwood a huge scare before the Flames escaped 72-68 to keep their finals hopes alive. Herrick, Norwood’s 192cm centre, finished with a double-double of 14 points and 20 rebounds to be amongst their leading players for the game.  Norwood’s win was all the more meritorious given the number of players who were not available for selection.

Southern 85 (Kate Mousley 23, Madelaine Cunningham 19, Rosalie Cutri 15) defeated Woodville 79 (April Brown 19, Katherine Perkas 14, Brooke Gathercole 10) 

Southern stormed into the top five when it defeated the Warriors in double overtime after being down by as much as 20 points late in the third period. At the start of the last quarter, Woodville held what appeared to be an unassailable lead. In an extraordinary turnaround inspired by the Tigers bench, they produced a 26-7 final period. With 50 seconds of regulation time left, Southern’s Madelaine Cunningham scored to level the scores 67-67. Woodville’s Claire Christie took a shot to win on the buzzer, but missed. In the first period of overtime the Tigers held a 2 point lead until that was erased when Woodville guard Brooke Gathercole scored on the siren and in the process was fouled. With scores tied at 74-74, Gathercole took the bonus free throw to win the game, but the shot didn’t drop sending the game into the second period of overtime. In the second period Kate Mousley and Cunningham helped Southern gain control of the match when the team outscored the Warriors 11-5 to secure the victory and a guaranteed finals berth.