We commenced this season at Hillcrest Stadium and welcomed 3 new players to the team: Anna Plew; Sam DeFrancesco and Eliza Joynes. Our starting five were the familiar faces of: Kirsty Williams (Captain); Tayla Corrigan; Courtney Hansen; Lauren Thornett and newcomer Sam.

The coaching/managing staff are: Brenton Johnston; John De La Pia; Shannon Tarran with Glen back as the camera man. Susan Goggins will be ably assisted this year by Cathie Williams. It was terrific to have the support of all our volunteers and friends and family as we started the season with a successful finish in mind.

Tayla opened our scoring with one foul shot from the two and then made a quick steal, to try to score again. That was done by Kirsty who made a terrific three! Lauren ran the floor quickly and supported Kirsty with strong leadership all night and was fouled and made one from two. Kirsty played strong defence and Sam made her presence felt with a smooth three. Taylor Goggins and Sophie Byrne stepped onto the court and Taylor’s height was handy for defence under the basket and up the other end; Sophie swished in her first shot. Eliza made her debut on court, and with good team work the Rockets were up by 2 at the first break; 13 to 11.

Lauren shot a great three to open the scoring and Kirsty was fouled again. Sophie was on fire with another three and after a turnover by South; Sophie made the most of it with yet another three! Passing the ball around to get the perfect shot, chewed up the shot clock, but Courtney finally shot a great three! Abi Mader stepped onto the court and made a good block and contributed to the ongoing ball pressure put onto South. Tia Bails had her turn and her fresh legs had the ball moving down the court fast and as she fought hard under the basket; she made her first score. Both Abi and Tayla made lovely layups and Sam made a nice three, to increase the lead and the half time score was 40 to 23.

The starting five were back on and pressure at both ends caused several turnovers and after 3 minutes, Sam was fouled and put one score on the board. Both teams struggled to score and South made a shot just as the shot clock wound down. Courtney and Sam continued to increase the lead with three’s and more great teamwork saw Tayla make a terrific shot and at three quarter time the score was 53 to 29.

The game was fiercely contested right to the end, including Ana Botei and Anna Plew having their turn off the bench. Anna applied pressure and was fouled and Tia ran the floor and pushed through the defence and made both her foul shots. A resounding win by the Lady Rockets of 73 to 44. Our top scorers were: Sam – 20 pts, Sophie – 15 pts and Lauren with 10 pts and top rebounders were: Tayla C with 13 and Kirsty with 8 .

Next week we look forward to seeing Jo Hill again and welcoming Leah Metcalf all the way from the USA to our team. See you for the grand final rematch at Morphett Vale next Saturday night 6:30pm.

Brenton Johnston (Coach)