Central Wrap | Women's Round 12

Featured image: Melissa Belanic | @justbphotoau

Sam Simons starred as the Forestville Eagles handed West Adelaide Bearcats a first loss of the NBL1 Central season with the Norwood Flames also winning a fourth straight, the Sturt Sabres and North Adelaide winning tight ones, and the Central Districts Lions getting 28 and 21 from Tiahna Sears.

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SATURDAY

Sturt Sabres (79) defeated Woodville Warriors (71)

The Sturt Sabres retained second spot thanks to the 79-71 overtime win over the Woodville Warriors to avoid what could have been a fourth defeat in their past seven matches.

The Sabres were back home at Springbank Secondary College having lost three of their past six matches after starting the season winning their first seven matches with Woodville arriving having lost three straight as defending champions.

Woodville hit back from an early eight-point deficit to be leading by four points at quarter-time before Sturt took control in the second period with 24 points to 13 to go into the half on top 40-33.

The Sabres still found themselves five points up with five minutes to go in the contest after a three ball from Tayla Brazel but Warriors regained the lead by scoring the next seven points capped off by a three-point play from Ambah Kowcun.

Eventually the Sabres had the last possession down two and out of a timeout, Zoe Walker-Roberts scored as time expired and sent the game to overtime.

Then in the extra period, Sturt dominated with 10 points to two to win by eight and stay in second place as a result at 11-3.

Nicola Mathews finished with 19 points and four assists in the win for the Sabres with Katia Stamatelopoulos adding 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals, Chelsea Portus 11 points, Tayla Brazel 11 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and two blocks, and Zoe Walker-Roberts 1 points and seven rebounds.

Woodville have now lost four in-a-row as reigning champions at 7-7 with Brittany Hodges producing 22 points, 16 rebounds and two steals with Ambah Kowcun contributing 15 points and eight boards, Naomi Allotey 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Sophie Kerridge 12 points, 11 boards and two assists.

Eastern Mavericks (84) lost to Central Districts Lions (92)

Annaliese Watkinson hit a three early in the fourth quarter to have the Eastern Mavericks on track for a drought breaking win but the Central Districts Lions scored the next 16 points from there to secure the 92-84 victory.

The Mavs were back on their home floor at St Francis de Sales Community Sports Centre trying to snap an 11-game losing slide while the Lions arrived only two wins ahead of them and having lost their past two.

After the Mavericks had an early seven-point lead after scoring eight straight points, the Lions scoring 11 points in-a-row themselves to go up nine, and be leading 25-16 by quarter-time.

That lead grew to 13 points in the second frame for Central Districts but then the Mavs fired back and ended up delivering 31 points in the quarter to go into half-time leading 47-43.

The Mavericks then led by as much as eight points in the third term and were still up five early in the fourth, and by four with Watkinson hitting a triple with 7:30 to play.

That's when Centrals took control by scoring the next 16 points over almost seven minutes to turn that four-point deficit into a 13-point lead, and the eight-point victory.

The Lions improve to 4-10 with the win with Tiahna Sears having a huge performance with 28 points, 21 rebounds and three assists on 10/19 shooting from the field and 8/10 at the line.

Jewel Watkins top scored too with 29 points, four rebounds and two steals while Bethany Harrap contributed 11 points and four assists, and Emily Winter six points, nine rebounds and six assists.

The Mavericks have now lost 12 straight to be 1-13 with Bella Schaftenaar finishing with 19 points and three assists while new import Madi Torresin shook off a sore groin to play her second game with her new team to have 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks.

Antigonie Sanabria also had 18 points, nine rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots, Annaliese Watkinson 13 points, three boards and two assists, and Airlie Ramsey eight points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.

Forestville Eagles (89) defeated West Adelaide Bearcats (79)

There is no longer an undefeated team 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.

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.

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.

Southern Tigers (65) lost to North Adelaide Rockets (68)

The North Adelaide Rockets hit back from a four-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter to turn that into an eventual 68-65 victory to make it three wins in-a-row.

The Tigers were back home at Morphett Vale Basketball Stadium trying to break into the top five as they hosted a Rockets team having also won their past couple of matches.

The teams only combined for 24 points in the first quarter but the Tigers were leading 14-10 by quarter-time before the Rockets produced 23 points to 14 in the second term on the way to leading 33-28 by half-time.

It was then 18 points to 11 in favour of the Tigers in the third period and they were leading by four when Jhaz Joson scored with just over minutes to play.

But North Adelaide took charge from there and were leading by six in the dying seconds and won by three only thanks to a late three-pointer for the Tigers.

The result is a third consecutive victory for the Rockets as they improve to a 4-10 record with Abbey Jones delivering 17 points, 10 rebounds and two steals with 6/9 field goal shooting and 5/6 at the free-throw line.

Maddy Freer also had 15 points, eight rebounds and two assists, Jordyn Freer 12 points, eight boards and two assists, and Briarley Rogers nine points, eight rebounds and three assists.

The Tigers are now 6-8 with the defeat with Holly Forbes finishing with 24 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Mollie McKendrick added 19 points, seven rebounds and two assists, Annelise Bartsch 11 points, four boards, four assists and four steals, and Jhaz Joson 10 points and five assists.

SUNDAY

Norwood Flames (81) defeated South Adelaide Panthers (68)

The Norwood Flames had six players score in double figures as they made it four straight wins to consolidate third position with the 81-68 home win on Sunday against the South Adelaide Panthers.

The Flames and Panthers did battle on Sunday at The ARC with Norwood trying to continue their winning ways and maintain third spot with South Adelaide trying to break back into the top five.

Norwood make a flying start to already be leading by 19 points at quarter-time before going on with the job from there with the lead getting to as much as 25 before they settled on the 13-point victory.

The Flames have now won four straight to remain third with a 9-5 record while South Adelaide stay outside a finals place with a 7-7 record.

Norwood continue to build impressive form and have won four straight and again the load was well spread with six players scoring in double figures while one player that didn’t was Lara Gribben, but she pulled down 11 rebounds in 16 minutes.

Cali Clark delivered 15 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks and two assists with Maddy Hinton adding 14 points, eight boards and three assists, and Amy Cotton 14 points, five rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocks.

Allysyn Becki also had 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and Annaliese Elliott 10 points with 5/7 free-throw shooting.

South Adelaide remain on the outside of a finals position as a result of the loss with Daisy Hocking delivering 20 points, eight steals, five rebounds and three assists.

Hannah Stewart also had 12 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists, Aimee Brett 11 points, two boards and two assists, and Keira Gardiner 11 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals.