May Edition

In the inaugural edition of Beyond Regulation, your monthly guide to the rounds that were, Norwood's on fire, Top Cat's back, and are we seeing the Madgen-icks or the Mavericks? Also, keep an eye on the Team of the Month and Power Rankings - do you agree?

Time to call the RAA?

Norwood is on fire. And no, George Kapiniaris hasn’t bought another house there (at least as far as I know).

This time, it is purely about Norwood Basketball Club. Led by perennial MVP candidate Jess Foley and rising star Jessica Good, the Flames have started 5-0 for the third year in succession. Up until the Bearcats gave them a run for their money in Round 5, none of the Flames’ wins had been much of a contest. Last year’s runners-up North and the otherwise undefeated Mavericks could come no closer than 19 and 36 points respectively.

So how big is the gap between the best and the rest - maybe Norwood’s Round 8 match with Sturt (also 5-0) will tell us. Can the Flames go undefeated - it’s possible, but even the greatest of professional sports teams tend to go down at some point.

Are the ’13 Flames the greatest CABL team of the modern era? The Flames currently have a percentage of 163.93. This is the best percentage after Round 5 of any team in the last nine seasons. And no Amy Lewis, the 2012 Grand Final MVP, to date! Only the ’11 Flames and the ’09 Bearcats have been above 160% at the same point in the season. Both teams’ percentage dropped below the 160% mark the next week, and neither won the premiership. In fact, the Bearcats did not even make the 09 Grand Final! Make of it what you will.

Eas-tess Madgen-icks a thing of the past?

Tess Madgen, the CABL leader in just about every category, has been in *poor* form the last two matches, averaging just 26 ppg against the Panthers and Lions. This means she needs to score 54 points this week against Sturt to match the total of her opening three games.

Rival teams must be licking their lips. “Madgen can be stopped, we don’t need to hold her under 40 to win now” (imaginary quote #1). “If Madgen’s only scoring that amount against the bottom teams, then she don’t stand a chance against the best” (imaginary quote #2).

Hold on, let’s have another look. Mavericks 100, Lions 55. Mavericks 79, Panthers 40.

After a winless 2011 campaign and a 0-3 start to 2012, the girls from the south-east have gone 14-7. However, until Round 4, their biggest win was 20 points. This is big news for this week’s opponents, the Sturt Sabres. They better watch out for Shannon Tarran, Alex Wilson and co., or they could be in for a long night!

So the Eastern Mavericks are back in business. But are they here to stay? Or will it be back to the Madgenicks? Time will tell...

Top Cat returns!

2012 was not such a great year for the cats. Outside of Gawler, four of the five cats were coughing up fur balls, rather than playing, at the most meaningful time of year.

However, Lionesses Jess Mahony and Desinta Cummins were relocated to a new jungle just before the season started, and when Round 1 tipped off they were running around as Bearcats. Tamika Dukes is doing her best to keep the Lions competitive, but the best of the 2012 cats are struggling as of now.

On the flip-side, 2012 is certainly a thing of the past for the Sabres. After just six wins last season, new additions the Bowleys and Molly Smith, coupled with the rapidly improving Aneeka Smith, have helped them to be just one win away from matching that mark and we are only at the start of May! When it comes to the CABL cat family, they’ve been the boss and the pip for many a year, and if any of the ’cats can steal the championship crown away from the Flames, it’s the most tip top, Top Cat. The Sabres’ Round 8 clash at Norwood truly is looming as a potential Grand Final preview.

Where would the Rockets be without their Jo?

Jo Hill, what more can we say? Even at the age of 39, Hill is second in the league in rebounds per game. She’s also third in scoring, sixth in assists and shooting a career high 54.7 per cent from the field. Coming up against a Forestville team with two of the most athletic players in the league, she still turned in a star-studded display with 18 points on 6/9 shooting, 17 rebounds and 5 assists in a game that could go a long way in determining where the Rockets end up come the final night of Round 18.  They say in the classics that class is permanent – Hill is by no means an exception to this rule!

And the rest...

At Forestville, it seems the Eagle has landed. The star-studded duo of Olivia Thompson and Mia Newley is yet to click, and the Eagles are an unconvincing 3-2. Mind you, fast starts have not been a feature of Forestville, despite the best four years in women’s CABL history. The Eagle could yet soar once more.

West Adelaide is yet to win at home, but won twice away. Saying that, the three teams they have faced at home are a combined 12-3, while their road opponents are currently just 3-7. Coming within nine points of Norwood suggests, overall, they are on the up.

The Tigers were given a rude awakening when they lost 29-86 to Norwood in the first game. However, not every side is at Norwood’s standard, and wins against Centrals and South shows there is some promise at Tigerland.

The Warriors and Panthers are up against one another in Round 6. The Warriors could snare back-to-back wins for the first time since Rounds 1-2 last season, while the Panthers will be attempting a first victory since June 24, 2012.


Team of the Month

By James Woite

Photo by Michael Burns