Central Wrap | Women's Round 5

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Both the Sturt Sabres and West Adelaide Bearcats had big wins to improve to 5-0 in NBL1 Central with a pair of Forestville Eagles wins included a 10 three-point Jess Simons outburst with wins also for the South Adelaide Panthers and Norwood Flames.

>> CENTRAL SPOTLIGHT | JESS SIMONS HITS 10 TRIPLES IN BIG WIN

>> CENTRAL SPOTLIGHT | EAGLES TAKE OVER IN SECOND HALF

>> CENTRAL SPOTLIGHT | MOTIVATED SABRES IMPROVE TO 5-0

FRIDAY

Sturt Sabres (97) lost to North Adelaide Rockets (60)

The Sturt Sabres are a team on a mission in 2026 to breakthrough in NBL1 Central and they delivered a dominant showing to beat the North Adelaide Rockets 97-60 to improve to 5-0.

There's no shortage of motivation for Sturt who have finished top two in each of the past four seasons and they came into the match up at Springbank Secondary College unbeaten, and were dominant all evening forcing North Adelaide into 36 turnovers in the 37-point victory.

Sturt had plenty of strong contributors to the win led by 21 points, three steals and two rebounds from Tayla Brazel who was +33 in her 25 minutes.

Katia Stamatelopoulos also had 12 points, two rebounds, two assists and two blocks, Mia Walker-Roberts 14 points and two assists, Paige Padroth 12 points, four steals, three assists and two rebounds, Liz Williamson eight points and four boards, and Zoe Walker-Roberts six points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The Rockets are now 1-4 on the season having got up 28 fewer shots on the night than the Sabres with Maddy Freer top-scoring with 13 points, four steals and three rebounds.

Jordyn Freer also had 10 points and two rebounds, Sasha Hardin eight points and three boards, Sarah Wardner eight points and four rebounds, and Abbey Jones six points, three boards and three assists.

SATURDAY

Forestville Eagles (67) defeated Woodville Warriors (59)

The Forestville Eagles had a horror first half at home in the rematch of last year's preliminary final but came back from 14 points down to beat the defending champion Woodville Warriors 67-59.

Woodville beat Forestville last year on the way to winning the championship and the Warriors looked on track to repeat the dose for a lot of the night at the State Basketball Centre.

The Warriors were able to limit the Eagles to 19 points in the first half and led by 14 early in the second half, but Forestville took over from there to outscore them 48-26 the rest of the way to win by eight in the finish.

The contrast from the first half to the second for Forestville was remarkable with them having 19 points on 9/28 shooting from the field with 0/6 from deep and 1/2 at the line with 17 turnovers in the first half.

Then in the second half, the Eagles scored 48 points on 16/30 shooting from the floor, 8/16 from three-point land and 8/13 at the free-throw line with just the eight extra turnovers.

Sam Simons finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals with Rachael King contributing 12 points and two assists, Sydney Hunter 10 points and eight rebounds, and Sarah Boothe 10 points and nine boards.

Gabi Vidmar also had eight points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Woodville are now 2-3 in their championship defence with Lealani Falatea producing another 20 points with five rebounds on shooting 8/25 from the field and 4/16 from three-point territory.

Naomi Allotey provided 15 points and seven rebounds, Ambah Kowcun 11 points, four boards and three steals, and Brittany Hodges eight points and 11 rebounds.

Eastern Mavericks (52) lost to Norwood Flames (82)

There might have been no Dara Mabrey but the Norwood Flames still took care of business with the 82-52 road victory against the Eastern Mavericks.

The Mavs were back home at St Francis de Sales Community Sports Centre and attempting to avoid a third straight defeat with the Flames also looking to get back to winning with Mabrey unavailable having earned a training camp contract with the Toronto Tempo of the WNBA.

It was a fast start from Norwood with 23 points to 10 in the first quarter and then another 20 to seven in the second to into half-time leading 43-17.

The lead ended up growing to as much as 35 points in the second half too before the Flames completed the 30-point victory to improve to a 2-3 record.

Cali Clark had a huge showing for Norwood with 22 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and two steals on 8/14 shooting from the field, 3/3 from deep and 3/4 at the foul line.

Amy Cotton added 20 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals, Maddy Hinton 17 points, five boards and three assists, and Caitlin Shillabeer 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The Mavericks are now 1-4 with three consecutive defeats with Antigonie Sanabria top-scoring with 14 points, six rebounds and two assists with Brooklyn Rewers adding 12 points and 10 rebounds, Annaliese Watkinson 12 points and six boards, and Bella Schaftenaar eight points, five rebounds and three assists.

Central Districts Lions (61) lost to West Adelaide Bearcats (106)

The West Adelaide Bearcats continued their dominant start to the season with a fifth straight win with the 106-61 hammering on the road to the Central Districts Lions.

The Lions were home at STARplex looking for a second win of the season as the Bearcats arrived out to keep their undefeated run going following last year's straight sets finals exit.

It was a blistering start from West Adelaide with 28 points to 16 in the first quarter before another 27 to 11 in the second term to lead 55-27 at half-time.

It was another 25 points to 21 in the third period and 26 to 13 in the fourth for the Bearcats to end up winning by 45 and improve to 5-0 on the season in the process.

Sienna Lehmann finished with 20 points, three rebounds and three assists for West Adelaide with Coco Hodges delivering 17 points, eight boards and five steals, and Morgan Yaeger 17 points with 3/6 three-point shooting.

Chloe Hodges also had 16 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and seven steals, Abby Brenton seven points and three boards, and Ashlee Strawbridge seven points and five rebounds.

Centrals are now 1-4 having lost their past couple with Emily Winter finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds, Terran Wright 14 points, seven boards, four steals and three assists, and Tiahna Sears 13 points, five rebounds and two steals.

Southern Tigers (46) lost to South Adelaide Panthers (63)

The South Adelaide Panthers dominated the second half on the way to the 63-46 road win against the Southern Tigers.

The Tigers were back home at Morphett Vale Basketball Stadium looking for a third straight win while hosting a South Adelaide team trying to bounce back from a 55-point loss to the West Adelaide Bearcats.

It was a tight contest through the first half and it was the Tigers who opened up the biggest lead to the tune of eight points before the scores were all locked at 28-28 by half-time.

South Adelaide then took over the low-scoring affair in the second half with 17 points to nine in the third quarter, and 18 to nine in the fourth to secure the 17-point win and improve to a 3-2 record.

Hannah Gardiner delivered 19 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals for the Panthers with Bianca Stasinowsky adding 11 points and five boards, Keira Gardiner 10 points, 10 rebounds and four steals, Hatti Cox eight points and four assists, and Emilia Garcia Leon seven points and eight rebounds.

The Tigers are now also 3-2 with the loss with Mollie McKendrick finishing with 15 points, 13 rebounds and two steals, Rosie Williamson 11 points, five boards and two assists, Jhaz Joson nine points and three assists, and Holly Forbes eight points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals.

SUNDAY

Forestville Eagles (85) defeated Central Districts Lions (61)

Jess Simons knocked down 10 three-pointers and the Forestville Eagles backed up a win on Saturday with the 85-61 home victory on Sunday against the Central Districts Lions.

Forestville were back home at the State Basketball Centre on Sunday after snapping a three-game losing streak the previous evening beating the Woodville Warriors.

Centrals arrived after losing also on Saturday by 45 points to the West Adelaide Bearcats and it was Forestville who fired from the start with a 24-12 first quarter and to end up winning by 24 with the 10 three-pointers from Simons while knocking down 16 from long-range as a team.

Forestville made it two wins in less than 24 hours to improve to 3-3 on knocking down 16/49 from three-point range and pulling down 19 offensive rebounds, and ending up taking 19 extra shots for the game.

Jess Simons had a shooting night to cherish going 10/19 from behind the arc for 34 points with three steals, two rebounds and two assists.

Sarah Boothe added 14 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots, Gabi Vidmar nine points, three boards and two assists, Rachael King seven points, five rebounds and two assists, Sydney Hunter six points and 12 boards, and Sam Simons five points and seven assists.

Tiahna Sears top-scored for Centrals with 17 points and nine rebounds with Alana Howden adding 13 points, five boards and five assists, and Emily Winter 13 points, seven rebounds and two steals.