Central Spotlight | Bearcats escape consecutive defeats

Featured image: Dan Cowley | @imagesby_dan

The West Adelaide Bearcats found themselves 16 points down in the third quarter to be staring down the barrel of consecutive NBL1 Central defeats but they produced a 27-15 fourth quarter to escape with the 83-78 win over the Norwood Flames.

The Flames were home at The ARC on a four-game winning streak to have improved to third place in the NBL1 Central ahead of hosting the league-leading Bearcats fresh off losing for the first time in 2026 to the Forestville Eagles.

Norwood then went into half-time leading by seven points and then got out to a 16-point advantage by the third quarter and were still seven up heading into the fourth.

But the Bearcats answered the challenge with the 27 points to 15 in the fourth quarter to secure the five-point win and steady themselves in top spot at 14-1 while the Flames are now 9-6 not quite able to secure the fifth win in-a-row.

>> CENTRAL WRAP | WOMEN'S ROUND 12

>> CHAMPIONSHIP DESIRE SPURS JELLY ON

By three quarter-time and having led by as much as 16 points, Norwood had done plenty right to be shooting 24/49 from the field and 7/16 from deep opposed to the 24/55 and 4/20 from the Bearcats.

However, of concern for the Flames would have been the Bearcats getting up more shot attempts and eventually they were going to start to fall and that happened in the fourth quarter as West Adelaide escaped the danger of back-to-back losses.

For the Bearcats to win on a night where they only shot 48 per cent from the floor along with going 6/25 from downtown and 9/17 at the foul line means they definitely got out of jail with Alex Ciabattoni finishing with 19 points and three assists.

Coco Hodges added 14 points, six rebounds and two assists, Ashlee Strawbridge 12 points, five boards, two assists and two steals, Sienna Lehmann 11 points and three rebounds, Morgan Yaeger 11 points and five assists, and Chloe Hodges nine points, seven assists and four rebounds.

Norwood were ever so close to making it five straight wins with Cali Clark finishing with 25 points, 11 rebounds and three assists with 10/17 shooting from the floor and 5/5 at the foul line.

Allysyn Becki also had 14 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, Caitlin Shillabeer 11 points, three assists and two boards, and Maddy Hinton 10 points, three assists and two rebounds.

West Adelaide were trying to hit back from their first loss of the season while Norwood were back home and on a four-game winning streak so it always shaped as a fascinating contest, and that's how it played out.

By the end of the first quarter it was just an 18-16 lead in favour of the Bearcats before the Flames managed a 10-0 scoring run to work their way on top.

Norwood ended up outscoring West Adelaide 25 points to 16 in the second term on the way to leading 41-34 by half-time thanks to shooting 50 per cent from the field to 40 along with knocking down 7/13 from beyond the arc to 3/14.

That lead for the Flames blew out to as much as 16 points in the third period as well and they were still leading 63-56 by three quarter-time with Cali Clark showing the way with 15 points and nine rebounds already.

That threw down the gauntlet to West Adelaide to have to dig deep to avoid consecutive losses and that's exactly what they did with a huge fourth quarter made up of 27 points to 15.

Along the way, the Bearcats shot 10/16 from the field in the last quarter including 5/8 at the foul line and 2/5 from behind the three-point arc to turn that seven-point deficit into the five-point win to remain clear in top spot.

Both teams back up again to play on Sunday with Norwood at home to the Forestville Eagles while West Adelaide are on the road still to the Woodville Warriors.

NBL1 CENTRAL 2026 SEASON | ROUND 13

NORWOOD FLAMES 78 (Clark 25, Becki 14, Shillabeer 11)

WEST ADELAIDE BEARCATS 83 (Ciabattoni 19, Coco Hodges 14, Strawbridge 12)