Central Wrap | Women's Round 2

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Morgan Yaeger and Chloe Hodges had 42 points and 16 rebounds in NBL1 Central win for the West Adelaide Bearcats with Antigonie Sanabria having 27 for the Eastern Mavericks with Round 2 wins for the South Adelaide Panthers, Sturt Sabres and Norwood Flames.

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Forestville Eagles (66) lost to South Adelaide Panthers (79)

The South Adelaide Panthers are on the board this NBL1 Central season after the 79-66 road win thanks to a dominant second half against the Forestville Eagles.

The Eagles opened their season winning over the Eastern Mavericks last Saturday while the Panthers went down to last year's grand finalists the Sabres on the road.

South Adelaide remained on the road this week at the State Basketball Centre and after leading 32-28 at the half, outscored the Eagles 47-38 in the second half for the 13-point win.

Keira Gardiner delivered 17 points and seven rebounds for Sturt in the win with Aimee Brett hitting 3/6 from downtown for 14 points and five assists while Hannah Stewart contributed 13 points and eight rebounds, and Hannah Gardiner 10 points and eight boards.

Sam Simons finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks for Forestville with Rachael King adding 18 points and nine boards, and Jess Simons 17 points and seven rebounds.

Central Districts Lions (38) lost to Sturt Sabres (81)

The Sturt Sabres flexed their significant muscle on Saturday in their first road game of 2026 hammering the Central Districts Lions 81-38 with six players delivering between 10 and 13 points.

Coming off last year's losing grand final, Sturt opened the 2026 season beating the South Adelaide Panthers ahead of taking on the Lions at STARplex.

The Lions started their season losing to the Southern Tigers and the Sabres dominated all evening with a 32-17 advantage by half-time and then another 49 points to 21 in the second half for the eventual 43-point win.

Nicola Mathews ended up with 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for Sturt with Katia Stamatelopoulos adding 13 points, nine boards and seven assists, and Meg Prosser 12 points on 5/6 shooting.

Tahlia Griffiths also had 12 points and eight rebounds, Chelsea Portus 11 points, three boards and two steals, and Zoe Walker-Roberts 10 points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists.

Central Districts shot just 18 per cent from the field and 3/28 from behind the arc with Terran Wright finishing with nine points, six rebounds, five steals and two assists, and Lily Zbierski nine points and seven boards while Emily Winter collected 10 rebounds.

West Adelaide Bearcats (104) defeated Woodville Warriors (64)

The West Adelaide Bearcats dominated the defending champion Woodville Warriors with Morgan Yaeger and Chloe Hodges combining for 42 points and 16 rebounds in the 104-64 home win.

The Bearcats opened the season beating the North Adelaide Rockets ahead of hosting the Warriors at Port Adelaide Recreation Centre with Woodville's championship defence starting with a road win over the Norwood Flames.

West Adelaide got on top early and continued to build on their advantage through the night leading by as much as 11 points in the first quarter, 23 in the second, 36 in the third and 41 in the fourth before the eventual 40-point victory.

The Bearcats shot 51 per cent from the field and went 13/34 from three and 19/27 at the foul line with Chloe Hodges finishing with 21 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Morgan Yaeger 21 points, four assists, three boards and two steals.

Coco Hodges also contributed 15 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and three steals, Krystal Thompson 12 points, six boards, four assists and three steals, and Sienna Lehmann 10 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Southern Tigers (68) lost to Norwood Flames (79)

Dara Mabrey is quite the high-profile signing for the Norwood Flames and she delivered big time in her second hit out with 24 points to help them open their account with the 80-68 road win over the Southern Tigers.

Mabrey already had 16 points by half-time with Norwood only narrowly leading by seven but they pushed that out quickly in the third quarter and ended up scoring the 12-point victory.

She offered a glimpse into what she's capable of in the win with 24 points, three assists and two rebounds even while only shooting 2/9 from three-point range.

She had plenty of help too with Cali Clark threatening a triple-double with 15 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists with Amy Cotton delivering 18 points and six rebounds.

Maddy Hinton also ended up with nine points, four rebounds and two assists, and Caitlin Shillabeer nine points, four assists and three boards.

The Tigers couldn’t quite back up their first up win last Saturday with Holly Forbes finishing with another 16 points, five rebounds and two steals.

Mollie McKendrick delivered another 14 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists to threaten a triple-double for Southern with Jhazmin Joson putting up nine points, five assists and four rebounds having made the move from the NBL1 West in the off-season.

North Adelaide Rockets (76) lost to Eastern Mavericks (82)

Despite a massive game from Maddy Freer for the North Adelaide Rockets, Antigonie Sanabria delivered 27 points for the Eastern Mavericks to lead them to the 82-76 road win.

The Rockets remained at home at The Lights attempting to hit back from last week's loss to the West Adelaide Bearcats with the Mavericks attempting to also open their account after a loss to the Forestville Eagles.

It was a flying start from the Mavs with 27 points to nine in the first quarter and another 24 to in 19 the second for them to be leading 51-28 at the half.

The lead got out to as much as 25 early in the second half too before the Rockets fired back and even briefly hit the front only for the Mavericks to respond and secure the six-point win.

Antigonie Sanabria had a match-winning showing for the Mavs with 27 points, six rebounds and six assists on 11/17 shooting from the floor and 5/7 at the foul line.

Brooklyn Rewers added 19 points and eight rebounds, Bella Schaftenaar 16 points and six boards, and Annaliese Watkinson nine points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Maddy Freer came up huge for the Rockets with 22 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and two steals with Sarah Warner contributing 15 points and five boards, Shannon Webber 14 points on 4/11 three-point shooting, and Jordyn Freer 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals.