Sturt maintained their excellent early season form with a grinding win over the Warriors at home on Saturday night, overcoming the visitors 66-38.

In an extremely physical encounter which at times resembled something closer to a football match than basketball, the Sabres predictably looked to exploit their advantage down low through Hannah Bowley and Molly Lewis early.

However it was Sturt’s spark off the bench courtesy of eight quick points by Kayla Matthews and Jess McPhail which gave the home squad the early ascendency, leading 19-12 at the first change.

The Warriors looked threatening in the second, but their inability to finish off their drives at the basket proved costly, Sturt extending their lead to 11 at the major break despite the absence of Molly Lewis who was forced to the bench after three first half fouls.

Having weathered Woodville’s run, the Sabres began to show their class in the second half.

Amy Shaw (11 points, 7 assists) kept the scoreboard ticking over offensively with her sharpshooting from the line (8/8 FT on the night) and when she buried the only triple of the match, the Sabres suddenly had an 18-point advantage.

Woodville continued to display reckless abandon on the defensive end, but their scoring dried right up in the third, managing only 4 points in the period.

The Sabres ran away with it in the fourth, pushing the lead out to 27 after Molly Lewis began to exert her influence to kill off any hope of a last quarter revival for the Warriors, including a tough 3-point play and two consecutive assists to Hannah Bowley out of the post.

“Our defensive pressure and intensity tonight was much better, that’s what we’d really been focussing on during the week,” said Sturt coach Marcus Wong.

“Our [offensive] execution under pressure probably still needs some work, but certainly some of our defensive stuff was a lot better.”

Ashleigh White (13 points, 5 rebounds) was best for the Warriors, but with no other players registering double-figures in scoring an upset road win was always going to be a big ask.  

Shaw, Bowley and Lewis were all among Sturt’s best, whilst Aneeka Smith showed great poise by controlling the tempo for the Sabres despite Woodville’s intense defensive pressure.

The Warriors will hope to snare a win next week when they host the Eagles at St. Clair, whilst Sturt will ready themselves for a top of the table clash when they attempt to take down the undefeated Flames at Mars next Saturday.

Sturt Sabres 65 (Hannah Bowley 11, Amy Shaw 11, Molly Lewis 10)
Woodville Warriors 38 (Ashleigh White 13, Jessica Koch 8, Jasmin Howe 5)

Stats Webcast

Post-Game Interview with Marcus Wong

By Lachlan Sellar