Central Spotlight | Warriors finish strongly for fifth straight

Featured image: Dan Cowley | @imagesby_dan

The Norwood Flames put themselves in a winning position against the reigning NBL1 Central champions with Allysyn Becki starring but the Woodville Warriors dug deep to prevail 101-96 led by Naomi Allotey.

The Warriors were back home at St Clair Recreation Centre looking for a fifth straight victory in their championship defence as they took on a Flames team having now won three straight to be building some momentum.

It set the stage for a fascinating match up as the NBL1 Central resumed from last week's break and Norwood threw everything at Woodville and led for the majority of the second half.

But the Warriors had a big finish over the last two minutes to end up coming from behind to secure the five-point victory with a 31-point final quarter to improve to a 7-3 record with the five straight victories.

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Woodville ended up shooting 53 per cent from the field on 11 fewer field goals than Norwood, but they feasted at the foul line going 30/39 while the Flames did also shoot 51 per cent from the floor, 15/29 from deep and had 12 offensive boards but only 9/11 at the foul line.

Naomi Allotey was outstanding in the win for Woodville with 33 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks on a supremely efficient 13/17 shooting from the floor.

Lealani Falatea added 24 points, five rebounds and two assists, Sophie Kerridge 15 points, six assists and four steals with 3/5 three-point shooting, and Britany Hodges 11 points, three boards and three assists.

The Flames might not have quite been able to make it four straight wins, but they did lead for more than half the game and were in a winning position so can take plenty from the performance against the reigning champions.

Allysyn Becki had a big performance too with 25 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and three steals with 9/16 field goal shooting and going 4/8 from three-point territory.

Maddy Hinton also had 23 points and five assists for Norwood, Cali Clark 18 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and three blocks, Amy Cotton 15 points and five boards, and Caitlin Shillabeer six points, two rebounds and two assists.

Norwood started well in the hunt for a fourth consecutive win with an early five-point advantage before Woodville hit back with a 6-0 run and went into quarter-time leading 25-21.

That lead for the defending champions got out to 10 in the second term but then the Flames fired back and by half-time it was the visitors narrowly leading 48-47.

Allysyn Becki was up to 15 points on 4/7 three-point shooting for Norwood by the break with Cali Clark adding 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists while Naomi Allotey was up to 15 points for the Warriors.

The Norwood lead got out to seven in the third quarter and then they were still on top 73-70 by three quarter-time.

The Flames got back to a six-point lead early in the fourth term too and they were still leading with just over two minutes to play but then Woodville took control.

The Warriors finished with a 14-8 run over the last 2:30 and that saw them turn a one-point deficit into the five-point victory with Naomi Allotey scoring six of those points for the winners.

Woodville will now look to keep on winning next Saturday against the Central Districts Lions while Norwood will take on the North Adelaide Rockets on the road.

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WOODVILLE WARRIORS 101 (Allotey 33, Falatea 24, Kerridge 15)

NORWOOD FLAMES 96 (Becki 25, Hinton 23, Clark 18)