Central Spotlight | Eagles stun Bearcats to end streak

Featured image: Dan Cowley | @imagesby_dan

There is no longer an undefeated team in NBL1 Central with the Forestville Eagles shutting down the rampant West Adelaide Bearcats with a tremendous defensive performance for the 89-79 home victory.

West Adelaide arrived at the State Basketball Centre having not only won all 13 matches so far in 2026 but having done so with an average winning margin of 42.7 points while scoring 98.9 points a game.

In the last two matches alone, the Bearcats had put up 233 points and won by a combined 108 points against the Woodville Warriors and Eastern Mavericks so it was quite the daunting task ahead of the Eagles.

And Forestville were without Sam Simons, but they were up to the challenge right from the outset and after a tight battle for three quarters where they held West Adelaide to 55 points and 39 per cent shooting in 30 minutes, the Eagles took over for good.

>> CENTRAL WRAP | WOMEN'S ROUND 11

Forestville had 29 points to 24 in the fourth quarter and led by as much as 13 before winning by 10 to improve themselves to an 8-6 record while West Adelaide are now 13-1.

The Eagles ended up shooting 49 per cent overall to 37 from the Bearcats, and while only going 8/24 from downtown themselves, West Adelaide struggled mightily from three going 6/35 and that led to them just scoring 79 points and losing for the first time in 2026.

Forestville announced themselves as genuine contenders by knocking off the undefeated league leaders and did so without the presence of Sam Simons, but Jess produced 24 points, four rebounds and two assists on 9/16 field goal shooting.

Sarah Boothe delivered 19 points and 12 rebounds as well in the win for the Eagles while Ella Sawyer provided 21 points, 11 boards, five assists, two steals and two blocked shots.

Sydney Hunter also had 14 points, nine rebounds and three assists, and Gabi Vidmar nine points, seven assists, three boards and three steals.

West Adelaide suffered their first loss of the season despite getting another 25 points, four rebounds and two assists from Chloe Hodges.

Alex Ciabattoni also finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, four steals and two assists, Morgan Yaeger 15 points, 12 boards and six assists, Coco Hoges eight points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals, and Sienna Lehmann eight points and six boards.

West Adelaide arrived looking to continue their dominance so far this season and opened up an early eight-point lead but they were just clinging to the three-point advantage by quarter-time.

Forestville then worked on top in the second period with 27 points to 18 to grab the lead and go into half-time on top 42-36.

By the half-time break, Sarah Boothe had 13 points for the Eagles and Jess Simons 11 while they were shooting 46 per cent from the field to the 41 from the Bearcats with Chloe Hodges having 16 points for West Adelaide.

The Eagles were still leading by five points at three quarter-time and then retained control the rest of the way including leading by as much as 13 in the last term on the way to handing West Adelaide a first loss of 2026 with the 10-point victory.

Forestville will try to keep their momentum going next week away to the Central Districts Lions on Saturday and at home to the Norwood Flames on Sunday. West Adelaide will try to rebound against the Flames on the road and at home to the Southern Tigers.

NBL1 CENTRAL 2026 SEASON | ROUND 12

FORESTVILLE EAGLES 89 (Simons 24, Sawyer 21, Boothe 19)

WEST ADELAIDE BEARCATS 79 (Chloe Hodges 25, Ciabattoni 18, Yaeger 15)