Norwood’s women have missed on returning to the Central ABL Grand Finals, losing a physical preliminary final against North Adelaide by 24 points.

North Adelaide broke away to an early 7 point lead with Ali Trewartha hitting consecutive baskets. Norwood and Adelaide Lightning forward Jess Foley then picked up her 2nd offensive foul and the Flames were forced to use an early time out. It did little to quell the attack, as the Rockets extended the lead to 9 by quarter time.
 
A basket from Nicole Romeo half way through the 2nd quarter brought the lead back to 7, but North steadied, and Lauren Mansfield helped extend the lead to 13. Norwood responded, but North still went into the major break up by 12 after another basket from Trewartha.

North scored the first 4 points after the break via Jenah Piwanski and Jo Hill, and its crushing defence restricted Norwood to just 13 points in the third quarter. When Foley fouled out with 45 seconds remaining in the quarter, the result was almost beyond doubt.

When Jacqui O’Malley scored from a Lisa Ackroyd assist, the lead was back 13 with 6 minutes to go. That was as close as it got however, with North running away to win 86-62.

Even the bravest of pre-season predictors would not have picked the 2007 Runners-Up to return to the Grand Final and given the loss of Emily Fryters (Tasmania) and Carly Stark (injured), one would think that 2007 Coach of the Year Damian Weeks would be more than satisfied with his two years in the Central ABL. Mike McKay is the well-deserved recipient of this award in 2008, but will need an alternative game plan to reverse the Rockets’ semi final loss to Sturt in the game that matters most.