The Eastern Mavericks hosted the Southern Tigers in last Saturdays Central Australian Basketball League round 8 clash at Mt Barker Rec Centre. Coming off a three point loss to Forestville the Mavericks women found their form with ease, dominating the Tigers all over the court as they piled on 31 unanswered points.

Easterns coach Nathan Jones was pleased with the effort, full of praise he stated “good teams play to their level, not the oppositions. Except for the third quarter, we maintained a very high standard”. Tess Madgen led the team well with 40 points as they ran out the game 96-47.

The first quarter of the women’s game was a blow-out, the Tigers struggled offensively while at the other end the Mavericks couldn’t miss a shot. Jemma Thacker, Shannon Tarran and Amanda Macdermot were 100 per cent from the field. Thacker included a three pointer while Madgen also made 2 out of 2 from behind the arc. Tarran drew 4 fouls in the term, shooting 6 of 6 free throws to go with her three baskets under the ring.

Southern starter Kelsie Rutland exited the game at the 5 minute mark, she was carried from the court with a knee injury, and would not return. It wasn’t until under a minute and a half to play that Justine Mules gave the tigers their first points, they were a grizzly 2 from 20 for the quarter and while the points ended Eastern’s 31 point scoring run, the turnovers kept piling up for the Tigers. Their frustration showed as they gave up 7 team fouls, allowing the Mavs to score easy points at the free throw line.

Madgen took over for the Mavericks in the second, scoring 13 of their 17 points in the opening 5 minutes. After Southern scored the first 4 points Madgen made her 3rd three pointer from as many attempts. Stana Zecevik stood up for the Tigers, making herself the teams high scorer, but Madgen proved why she sits in the leagues number 1 position for points scored and three point percentage when she drilled another 2 consecutive bombs from down town. Madgen has held the number 1 rank for the Central Australian Basketball Leagues average points all season, at 32.8 points per game the next closest contender is Central’s Tamika Dukes at 19.9 points per game. Madgen also leads the stats in average assists per game, total steals, and is second to North Adelaide’s Jo Hill in average rebounds.

Jamie Rock added 5 points for the Mavs including a three-pointer. The team was fusing well with 15 of their 20 baskets assisted by a team mate and at the half they held a 41 point buffer.

The third term was the only win for the Tigers, holding Eastern to 12 points they scored 15 of their own with Zecevik finding her jump shot and Hayley Bunce putting up 7 unanswered points of her own.

The Mavericks turned it back on in the fourth to bring it home with style, they put together multiple scoring runs with Madgen adding another 7, Macdermot 6, Rock another 5 with her second three pointer of the night and Tarran brought her total to 23 with 4 last term points.

Nathan Jones was happy to be able to give all 11 of his girls a run, and was really impressed with the way they have been working as a team. With 23 assists to the Tigers 6 and 13 fewer turnovers it was easy to see how they reached their 49 point win. Jones’ final comments summed it all up, “We had 4 in double figures, that’s the pleasing thing, we had a team game, it’s harder to defend 4 or 5 players than 1. That’s been the big difference this year, in the main that’s what we’re doing better and that’s why we’re able to score bigger points”.

Madgen was best on court with 40 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 steals, she also drew 9 fouls as the Eastern Mavericks 96 (Madgen 40, Tarran 23, Macdermot 12, Rock 10) defeated the Southern Tigers 47 (Zecevik 13, Brunce 10).

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Article and Photo by Lachlan Eggers