The "favourites" label has been unkind to the West Adelaide women. The Bearcats lost to North in 2OT, then by 2 to the reigning premier Sabres. Meanwhile Norwood, fielding a vastly different team to last season, also felt the wrath of the Sabres in round 1, before going down to a rejuvenated South last week. Most would have expected West to win this game, but given both teams were staring down the barrel of an 0 and 3 gun and a potentially glum Easter break, anything was possible.

Norwood's best chance of countering West's front court of Sam Woosnam, Lauren King and Cherie Smith was to avoid a half-court game at all costs, and they succeeded in this goal early, forcing turnovers from their full court defence. Jacqui O'Malley snatched an offensive rebound from Woosnam's hands and converted the put back for Norwood's first points, and when Emily Fryters completed a left hand hook shot, it was official - Norwood would start this game better than its previous two. A Kate Shierlaw layup from a Kate Jenner post pass broke an 11-11 deadlock, but Norwood kept the pressure on with the introduction of Lisa Scaglia, returning from injury for her first game of 2007. Scaglia's second shot drew as much iron as her first, but was worth three point more.

Norwood started the second quarter down 6 points, but kept up its tenacious full court D and Jess Smart's attempt to slay Lisa Coleman had her dazed and confused. The Bearcats response was awesome and a 21-4 run ensued. It started with a transition layup to Cherie Smith and when Smith was the immediate recipient of a Norwood baseline pass for a layup (see the report on the men's game for more debate on whether this is, or is not, a steal), the ear-piercing Port Adelaide siren competed only with the junior Bearcat fans in the balcony as the most appropriate metaphor for the urgency of Damian Weeks' time out. Jess "Guttenberg" Mahoney tested her knee with an athletic offensive rebound and Smith ended the offence with a rebound and put back of her own. West handled Norwood's next trap with a Kate Shierlaw layup from an Amy Porter assist, and when Alice Gee hit a 3, the lead had ballooned to 23 at half time.

After the break, Norwood continued to trap everything and this tactic was successful in forcing another three West turnovers. Scaglia hit another three pointer, but Sam Woosnam answered in kind. West were making smart post feeds, playing tough defence and dominating the offensive boards, and went into the fourth quarter up by 33.

The final quarter was unsurprisingly lacklustre. Lauren King opened with the second of her two three pointers, capping of an efficient game with 17 points in 21 minutes. Jess Smart also hit a three, and Emily Fryters finished on a nice screen-and-roll play with Scaglia, but by this stage, the game was well and truly over. The final score line of 85-46 was reasonably indicative of West's dominance of the game.

Jess Mahoney continued on her path to full strength with 13 points in 16 minutes, and Sam Woosnam had 12 points at 55%. Norwood had no players in double figures, but Scaglia and Nicole Romeo both had 9, while Fryters had 10 rebounds.