Central Finals | Bearcats straight into Grand Final

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They were the top two teams all NBL1 Central season and battled for a Grand Final spot on Saturday night with the West Adelaide Bearcats proving too strong for the Sturt Sabres winning 83-64.

West Adelaide went through the regular season dropping just one game to finish three games clear in top spot to earn the week off while Sturt played host to the Norwood Flames last weekend.

The Sabres prevailed to book in the second semi-final match up on Saturday night with the Bearcats at Port Adelaide Recreation Centre with the winner to be the first team to advance to the Grand Final.

Even though West Adelaide had an early eight-point lead, by quarter-time Sturt had responded with an 8-0 and the Bearcats were just clinging to the 16-15 advantage.

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The Bearcats worked back on top in the second frame with the lead out to 12 points and they ended up outscoring the Sabres 25 to 16 to go into the half-time interval with the 41-31 lead.

Morgan Yaeger was showing the way for West Adelaide with 11 points with them shooting 50 per cent to 38 as a team and 7/10 to 1/2 from the foul line but both teams were struggling from beyond the arc going for a combined 2/24.

West Adelaide's lead grew to as much as 16 points in the third period and by three quarter-time they were still on top 57-47 with the Sabres finally hitting their first three-pointer of the game after being 0/10 at half-time.

The Bearcats went on a 12-0 scoring run in the fourth quarter that saw that lead get out to a match-winning 24 points and from there they secured the 19-point victory to be the first team into the Grand Final for 2026.

West Adelaide will have another week off now awaiting their Grand Final opponent where they will attempt to back up their championship triumph from 2022.

The Bearcats ended up with shooting 43 per cent from the field and despite going 5/27 from the outside they did go 20/26 at the foul line with 22 extra attempts than the Sabres across the 40 minutes.

Coco Hodges finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks with Morgan Yaeger adding 15 points, two boards and two assists, and Chloe Hodges 13 points, 15 rebounds and six assists.

Alex Ciabattoni started this season in the NBL1 West at the Cockburn Cougars who went on to finish top of their conference, and now is into a Grand Final with the Bearcats and the Perth Lynx WNBL guard had 12 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

Sturt still have another chance to reach the Grand Final when they play host to the Norwood Flames in the preliminary final on Saturday night.

The Sabres only got to the foul line four times for the entire game and combined with shooting 38 per cent from the field and having 17 turnovers, it turned into a tough evening.

Paige Padroth top scored for Sturt with 17 points and five rebounds with Zoe Walker-Roberts adding 11 points, four boards, three steals and two assists, Liz Williamson 10 points and two rebounds, Nicola Mathews eight points, five boards and five steals, and Tayla Brazel five points, 14 rebounds and three assists.

NBL1 CENTRAL 2026 SEASON | SECOND SEMI-FINAL

WEST ADELAIDE BEARCATS 83 (Coco Hodges 17, Yaeger 15, Chloe Hodges 13)

STURT SABRES 64 (Padroth 17, Z Walker-Roberts 11, Williamson 10)