On the first two occasions the sides met earlier this season Forestville had all the answers defeating the Bearcats on both occasions. The sides last met in round 10 and on that occasion the Eagles won after they had a dominant first half creating a halftime buffer of 14 points when they led 46-32. West did challenge late in the game, but they were unable to make up enough ground to stop the Eagles from claiming victory.

In the first quarter of this finals match both sides struggled to get their running game going. For the Bearcats, Nikita-Lee Martin who finished the game high scorer was amongst the points early along with Trudy Holland. For the Eagles, Mia Newley, Jess Fergus and Jamie-Lee Bow all connected, but the team struggled to score inside.

The second term opened well for the Bearcats with Ashlea Vordermaier and Alana Nairn both scoring before Kelsey Ireland hit from outside for the Eagles. With 6:04 left of the period West had moved away to establish a 10 point margin 26-16 in a game where baskets were hard to come by. Forestville stayed in touch, with good outside shooting from Mia Newley and Alex Duncan who both hit threes.

West began to take control of the contest just before halftime scoring the last 4 baskets before the long break. When playing coach Sam Woosnam scored with 45 seconds left to play in the half West had maintained the lead in double figures, 33-22. That margin was the biggest break to that point of the match.

In a telling statistic at halftime the Bearcats had scored 24 points from inside the keyway of which nine were second chance points. So dominant was their control of the keyway space that the Eagles had failed to register any baskets from inside the paint and they also failed to record any second chance points.

The Bearcats opened scoring in the third quarter with Woosnam hitting a three pointer. The teams then traded baskets until a triple to Vordermaier created a 14 point advantage, the Bearcats up 43-29 with less than two minutes to play until the three quarter time break. At that point of the match West looked to be in control with no way back for the Eagles.

During the last term West were able to close out the match when they increased the margin out to 20 points, 59-39 with 4:09 remaining.  A highlight for the West supporters was when Irene Sourlatzis converted three free throws after she was fouled in the act of shooting.

The loss has left minor premiers Forestville with a lot of work to do if they wish to overcome Sturt in the knockout preliminary final.

The Bearcats now head straight to the Grand Final with a week off.