Central Spotlight | Sabres dominate second half

Featured image: @snapshotphotography3 / Snap Shot Photography

Last season's NBL1 Central runners-up had work to do in the 2026 season-opener on Saturday night but the Sturt Sabres held the South Adelaide Panthers to 14 points in the last 20 minutes for the first up 62-52 home win.

Coming off losing last year's grand final to the Woodville Warriors, the Sabres had the chance to start the 2026 season at home on Saturday night hosting the Panthers at Springbank Secondary College on Saturday night.

It was an impressive start too from South Adelaide away from home, but Sturt took charge in the second half to turn a nine-point deficit where they scored just 29 points into the 10-point victory having held the Panthers to just the 14 second half points.

While the Sabres themselves never really found their offensive flow and they were outrebounded by South Adelaide 50 to 39 on the night, by holding the Panthers to 14 second half points they restricted them to shooting 33 per cent from the field and 4/18 from three-point range.

South Adelaide also only managed to go 10/20 from the foul line with Sturt ending up marginally better at the offensive end with the 38 per cent shooting from the floor although only going to the foul line seven times and going 2/34 from behind the three-point arc.

Nicola Mathews has been a rock solid contributor over the past five seasons with Sturt and she started off the 2026 season with a match winning performance finishing with 19 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and being a mighty impressive +15 in her 36 minutes.

She was the game's high scorer with Tayla Brazel adding 11 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists for the Sabres despite shooting 4/14 on the back of her WNBL season with the Adelaide Lightning.

The other double-figure scorer for the Sabres was Zoe Walker-Roberts with 10 points and seven rebounds with Katia Stamatelopoulos contributing nine points, four boards, two assists and two steals, and Mia Walker-Roberts seven points and two rebounds.

After falling two games short of a playoff appearance last season, there were encouraging signs for South Adelaide especially in the first half but the offence was a struggle with only 57 shot attempts for the 52 points in the end.

Keira Gardiner top-scored with 12 points along with eight rebounds and three steals with Hatti Cox contributing eight points, three rebounds and three assists, and Bianca Stasinowsky seven points and eight rebounds.

Daisy Hocking also finished with six points and nine rebounds, Aimee Brett six points on 1/11 shooting, and Hannah Gardiner six points and four rebounds.

It was an impressive start to the season on the road from the Panthers and by quarter-time they were leading 21-12 against last year's grand finalists.

That lead got out to as much as 15 in favour of South Adelaide in the second quarter as well with them still in control by half-time leading 38-29 while Sturt were yet to make a shot from beyond the three-point line.

The game took on a decided turn coming out of half-time with an 11-0 run from the Sabres that included their first three ball of the game courtesy of Tayla Brazel.

That took the Sabres into the lead and they would remain in control the rest of the way holding the Panthers to just seven points in each of the third and fourth quarters, and doing enough themselves with the 33 second half points to score the 10-point victory.

Other opening night results in the women's competition saw the Woodville Warriors beat the Norwood Flames 86-81, the Forestville Eagles down the Eastern Mavericks 79-74, the West Adelaide Bearcats defeat the North Adelaide Rockets 76-53, and the Southern Tigers prevail 85-63 against the Central Districts Lions.

NBL CENTRAL 2026 SEASON | ROUND 1

STURT SABRES 62 (Mathews 19, Brazel 11, Walker-Roberts 10)

SOUTH ADELAIDE PANTHERS 52 (K Gardiner 12, Cox 8, Stasinowsky 7)