South Finals | Sabres beat Thunder in star-studded battle

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It was a battle of superstar laden teams and it was the Sandringham Sabres who welcomed back key players and rediscovered their best form to keep their NBL1 South season alive beating Keilor Thunder 87-67.

It was a match up of teams deserving to have championship aspirations and who have shown throughout the season when at full strength and on top of their game, they can be the best teams in the NBL1 South.

However, the reality was when they arrived at Keilor Stadium on Saturday night one of them would advance to a preliminary final and one of them would see their season over.

Sandringham welcomed back both Madi Ryan and Klara Wischer having finished the regular season in fifth position while Keilor also had Lara McSpadden in the line-up fresh off winning gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with the Australian Gangurrus.

Both teams had finished on identical 15-7 records too but it was Keilor with home court advantage and by quarter-time it was Sandringham with the narrow 18-15 advantage.

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The Sabres then went on a stunning 15-0 scoring run into the second quarter to take control of the match up to end up leading by as much as 24 points.

Sandringham ended up outscoring Keilor 32 points to 12 in the second frame and that saw them leading 50-27 by the half-time break.

Keilor did manage to step the tide in the third quarter and outscored Sandringham 19 points to 12 and by three quarter-time McSpadden was up to 16 points, but the Sabres were still leading 62-46 with Steph Reid delivering 21 points and seven assists already.

The Sabres retained control the rest of the way with another 25 points in the fourth period on 9/15 shooting from the field and 3/7 from the outside along with 4/4 from the foul line.

Keilor couldn’t make any inroads with just the 21 points on 5/14 shooting and 10/10 at the foul line but Sandringham secured the 20-point victory to advance to a preliminary final on Sunday against the Knox Raiders at the State Basketball Centre.

Sandringham ended the night shooting 44 per cent from the field to 38 from Keilor along with going 18/19 at the foul line to 10/12 along with collecting 13 offensive rebounds to nine, and forcing the Thunder into 13 turnovers and having just nine themselves.

Steph Reid finished the night with 21 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and two steals in the win for the Sabres with Lucy Cochrane adding 17 points, 10 boards, five blocks, two assists and two steals.

Madi Ryan also had 16 points, nine rebounds and two assists, Funda Nakkasoglu 11 points with 2/4 shooting from the outside, and Klara Wischer eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

The season is now over for Keilor with Tess Heal putting up 25 points, four rebounds and four assists with 4/7 shooting from the outside.

Lara McSpadden was straight back from Glasgow and produced 18 points, nine rebounds and three assists with Issie Bourne having 11 points, seven boards and four assists, and Maddy Rocci 11 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | QUALIFYING FINAL

KEILOR THUNDER 67 (Heal 25, McSpadden 18, Bourne 11, Rocci 11)

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 87 (Reid 21, Cochrane 17, Ryan 16)