Central Wrap | Women's Round 9

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The West Adelaide Bearcats continued to dominated this NBL1 Central improving to 10-0 while the Forestville Eagles made it three straight while Sturt Sabres and Southern Tigers got back to winning, and Naomi Allotey's 33 points got the Woodville Warriors a win.

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Forestville Eagles (94) defeated Eastern Mavericks (60)

The Forestville Eagles made it three straight wins with the 94-60 home victory against the Eastern Mavericks.

The Eagles were clinging to fifth place coming into the match up with the bottom placed Eagles at the State Basketball Centre and Forestville made a hot start with 25 points to 14 in the first quarter.

It was another 28 points to 16 in the second term with the Eagles opening up a 53-30 advantage by half-time before another 19 points to eight in the third frame on the way to the eventual 34-point victory.

Forestville are now 6-4 with three straight wins with Sarah Boothe delivering 23 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two assists on 9/12 field goal shooting.

Sam Simons added 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists, Gabi Vidmar 12 points, four assists, three boards and two blocks, Sydney Hunter 11 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Jess Simons 10 points, three rebounds and two assists.

The Mavericks have now lost eight in-a-row to be 1-9 although they do have a new import on the way from next week who is familiar to the NBL1.

Antigonie Sanabria finished with 20 points and eight rebounds with Annaliese Watkinson adding 16 points, four boards and three assists, Bella Schaftenaar five points and six rebounds, and Ruby Stockley five points and four boards.

South Adelaide Panthers (55) lost to Sturt Sabres (79)

The Sturt Sabres hit back emphatically from tehri first two losses of the season with the 79-55 win over the South Adelaide Panthers.

The Panthers were home at Mitchell Park Sports and Community Centre having won four of their past five matches while hosting a Sabres team that won the first seven games of 2026 before losing the past two.

It was a dominant start from Sturt with 28 points to eight in the first quarter before then another 25 to 15 in the third term blew the lead out to 34 point, and it got to 36 before settling at 24 by the final buzzer.

The win improves the Sabres to an 8-2 record with Paige Padroth delivering 14 points, four rebounds and four assists while going 3/5 from behind the three-point arc.

Meg Prosser added 12 points, four rebounds and two assists, Liz Williamson 11 points, eight boards, three blocks and two assists, Tahlia Griffiths 11 points and four rebounds, Nicola Mathews 10 points, eight boards and four assists, and Tayla Brazel nine points, 11 rebounds and six assists.

South Adelaide are now 6-4 following the loss with Bella Stratford top scoring with 11 points and three rebounds on 3/5 three-point shooting.

Hatti Cox added nine points and four assists, Hannah Gardiner nine points and two rebounds, and Keira Gardiner six points, eight boards, three assists and two steals.

Central Districts Lions (71) lost to Southern Tigers (76)

The Southern Tigers held out the Central Districts Lions 76-71 in a tight battle to keep themselves right in the finals hunt on the back of another 25 points from Holly Forbes.

The Lions played host to the Tigers at STARplex with the home team looking for a third win of the season and Southern trying to win a fourth match for 2026.

The Tigers did push out to an eight-point lead in the first quarter but that was back to just four at quarter-time and it was Centrals leading 34-33 by half-time.

After falling down five points early in the second half, the Tigers did work back on top with a 9-0 run in the third quarter and then scored seven straight in the last after scores were level again to secure the five-point win.

The Tigers improve to a 4-6 record with the win with Holly Forbes delivering another 25 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals on 11/18 field goal shooting.

Mollie McKendrick also had 16 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and two steals, Jhaz Joson 16 points, four assists and four steals, and Annalise Bartsch 15 points, five steals, four assists and two rebounds.

The Lions are now 2-8 having lost six of the past seven with Jewel Watkins finishing with 22 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Emily Winter added 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals, Lily Zbierski 10 points and two rebounds, and Alana Howden eight points, five boards, two assists and two steals.

Woodville Warriors (101) defeated Norwood Flames (96)

The Norwood Flames put themselves in a winning position against the reigning 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.

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 Brittany Hodges 11 points, three boards and three assists.

Allysyn Becki had a big performance for the Flames 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.

West Adelaide Bearcats (105) defeated North Adelaide Rockets (42)

The West Adelaide Bearcats delivered another dominant performance to stay undefeated in 2026 hammering the North Adelaide Rockets 105-42.

The Bearcats were back home at Port Adelaide Recreation Centre hosting a Rockets team on a five-game losing run and the league-leaders didn’t waste time taking control.

West Adelaide put up 27 points to 10 in the first quarter before the lead got out to 35 points in the second quarter, 44 in the third and 63 in the fourth which remained the final margin.

The big win improves the Bearcats to a perfect 10-0 record with Morgan Yaeger finishing with 21 points, seven steals, three rebounds and three assists.

Ashlee Strawbridge also had 15 points and two rebounds, Alex Ciabattoni 13 points, five boards, five assists, two steals and two blocks, Chloe Hodges 12 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and two steals, Krystal Thompson 11 points, four boards, four assists and three steals, and Coco Hodges eight points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.

North Adelaide have now lost six straight at 1-9 with Jordyn Freer top scoring with 12 points and five rebounds with Abbey Jones adding eight points, 11 boards, three assists and two blocked shots.