Sturt Sabres Beat Lady Bearcats
The Sturt Sabres women have jumped to third on the ladder after an easy 78-44 victory over the sixth placed Lady Bearcats at Pasadena on Saturday night.
The game started as a tight contest with an injury depleted West team surprisingly holding a one point lead heading into the last minute before quarter time. Some swarming defence and 9 early points from Kate Shierlaw kept the Sabres under pressure while Aneeka Smith drove to the basket at will to also score 9 points for the quarter.
From there, the superior size and depth of the Sturt team started to show and it took another 5 minutes for the Lady Bearcats to score. The physicality of the Sturt team put the Bearcats out of their offensive groove and they only scored 7 points for the second quarter on 16% shooting. Sturt added another 19 points for the quarter at 54%, Amy Shaw and Hannah Richards both scoring 6, to lead 37-22 at the half.
The Lady Bearcats came back after half time more determined and again only lost the third quarter by 4 points as Ashlea Vordermaier started to find some rhythm and Georgia Sexton added some energy. Aneeka Smith was still causing headaches for the Bearcats with her driving, adding 3 assists and 5 steals to her game high 15 points. Several West players were in foul trouble as the Sabres benefitted from the line. The margin was 19 by ¾ time.
The Sabres scored 22 points in the final term at 55% aided by 7 turnovers from the tiring Bearcats who only managed 7 points for a second quarter. Shierlaw continued to battle hard, adding a game high 10 rebounds to her 11 points, drawing 8 fouls from her opponents. Coach Wong was able to clear his bench for the last few minutes as the match drew to a painful close for the under-manned Lady Bearcats.
The final 78-44 scoreline showed the difference in the teams at the top of the ladder with those out of the finals race and it is hard to see the Lady Bearcats being able to bridge the gap in the second half of the season.
Sturt Sabres 78 (Smith 15, Richards 14, Shaw 14) def West Adelaide Bearcats 44 (Shierlaw 11, Vordermaier 11).
Post-Game Interview with Aneeka Smith (interviewed by Lachlan Sellar)
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