Central Spotlight | Bearcats hammer Eagles on Good Friday

Featured image: @jayhmedia

The West Adelaide Bearcats made it three straight wins to open the NBL1 Central season with a dominant Good Friday showing at home beating the Forestville Eagles 82-54.

The Bearcats hosted the Eagles at Port Adelaide Recreation Centre for the only Good Friday NBL1 basketball action around the country and they delivered yet another standout all-round performance to maintain their perfect start to 2026.

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Coming off the first up wins against the North Adelaide Rockets and Woodville Warriors, West Adelaide kept the momentum going and already had a double-figure lead by quarter-time before leading by as much as 30 on the afternoon before winning by 28.

The Bearcats finished the game with 12 fast break points to two along with 38 points in the paint to 26, 10 points from turnovers to two after forcing Forestville into 21 of them.

Five West Adelaide players ended up scoring in double-figures with Morgan Yaeger again showing the way with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists to be +27 in her 28 minutes.

Chloe Hodges also ended up with 18 points, five rebounds and three steals on 8/11 field goal shooting with Molly Coleman adding 17 points, five boards and three assists with 2/3 shooting from three-point range.

Ashlee Strawbridge also had 11 points, six rebounds and two steals, and Coco Hodges 10 points, five boards, two assists and two steals.

It was a Good Friday to forget for Forestville with Sam Simons top-scoring with 19 points, four rebounds and four assists while Sarah Boothe battled hard for 17 points and 13 rebounds despite shooting 6/16 from the field and 4/11 at the foul line.

That pair also combined for 12 of the Eagles' 21 turnovers while Rachael King did pull down 12 rebounds to go with five points.

It was a dominant opening quarter from West Adelaide on their home floor and they were able to push out to a 13-point lead on the back of scoring nine straight points on the way to the 21-10 lead by quarter-time.

The Bearcats were only shooting 41 per cent themselves, but restricted the Eagles to 5/17 along with the five turnovers in the first 10 minutes.

It was more of the same in the second frame too with the West Adelaide lead growing to as much as 21 points and by half-time the Bearcats were well in control leading 45-28.

By the half-time break they had a combined 21 points from Morgan Yaeger and Ashlee Strawbridge while forcing Forestville into the 12 turnovers and holding them to shooting just 32 per cent from the floor.

West Adelaide then went on to outscore Forestville 21 points to 13 in the third quarter with the lead growing to as much as 27, and it got out to 30 in the final period before the home team secured the 28-point win to improve to 3-0 to start 2026.

The Bearcats will put their perfect record on the line next Saturday on the road to the South Adelaide Panthers while Forestville remain away to the Sturt Sabres.

NBL1 CENTRAL 2026 SEASON | ROUND 3

WEST ADELAIDE BEARCATS 82 (Yaeger 19, Chloe Hodges 18, Coleman 17)

FORESTVILLE EAGLES 54 (S Simons 19, Boothe 17, Hunter 6)