After some early season uncertainty, Norwood, North and Forestville have reaffirmed themselves as the dominant teams of the 2008 Central ABL Men’s competition.
 
Norwood had two comfortable victories over the weekend, and North and Forestville each had one, but it was the Eagles who won the most critical of games, defeating North by 3 after Matt Sutton hit a 3 pointer with 4 seconds to go, and 36ers teammate Erik Burdon’s buzzer-beater just missed.

South, Sturt and Southern remain in touch of the top 3, and in fact are all tied for 3rd, though results on the weekend indicate the gap may be widening. After starting the season on fire, Southern dropped two games, Sturt lost to both Forestville and Woodville, while South had solid wins over West and Eastern.

There’s a bottle-neck at the top of the women’s premiership table, with four teams tied for first place with a record of 4 and 1. Sturt handled the absence of Renae Camino (both games) and Angela Marino (one game) well, with a comfortable win over Woodville and a tough victory against Forestville. North kept the Eagles to 51 points, and forced the Mavericks into 20 turnovers, Southern inflicted the first loss on reigning premiers West, while the Bearcats stayed in touch with the leaders with an overtime victory over South.

There’s no respite for players this weekend, with rounds 6 and 7 defining the league’s third consecutive double header, in advance of a 3 week hiatus. For Forestville and Woodville, the round includes a third game on Saturday April 26.

The Sturt v Southern games at Pasadena on Sunday will be huge for both the men’s and the women’s teams. The result of the men’s game will mean the difference between sticking with the leaders and dropping off the pace, while the victor of the women’s game stakes a claim for outright leadership.