South Spotlight | Wildcats overcome shorthanded Sabres

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The shorthanded Sandringham Sabres suffered a second loss of the weekend to concede an NBL1 South top two spot with the Eltham Wildcats moving ahead of them with the 75-67 victory.

The Sabres came into the weekend on top of the NBL1 South but were again without Steph Reid, Madi Ryan and Maddie Angus having lost on Friday night to the Waverley Falcons.

Eltham came into the game having won three straight and having a chance to move into the top two and they worked way into a double-figure lead during the second term.

The Wildcats remained leading the rest of the way and even though they could never fully put the Sabres away, they did enough to secure the eight-point win to improve to a 15-4 record while Sandringham slip to 14-5 with the pair of defeats this weekend.

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Even with the absences at the Sabres, they made the Wildcats have the fight hard for the win with them finishing up shooting 41 per cent to the 32 but the Sabres stayed a chance with 16 offensive rebounds and five more trips to the foul line.

Sara-Rose Smith finished with 12 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and two steals for Eltham with Jayde Cadee adding 12 points, five boards, two assists and two steals, and Bec Pizzey 11 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Sarah Elsworthy added 11 points, four assists, three steals and three rebounds, Addison Knight 10 points on 4/6 shooting, and Lil Dart eight points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocked shots.

Sandringham might have slipped from first place with the two losses this weekend but Funda Nakkasoglu put in another strong showing made up of 25 points and three rebounds.

Isis Lopes added 15 points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists, Lucy Cochrane 10 points, 24 boards and four assists, and Sierra Woodhouse nine points and four rebounds.

The Sabres were still shorthanded coming off also losing on Friday night while Eltham had a chance to move above them with a win, and it was the Wildcats narrowly leading 19-18 by the end of the first quarter.

Sandringham went 2/6 from deep to 0/4 and 4/7 from the foul line to 1/1 but Eltham had seven more shot attempts thanks to four offensive rebounds and forcing the Sabres into five turnovers.

Eltham did threaten to work on top in the second frame opening up an 11-point lead but Sandringham responded and stayed close with the Wildcats only up 37-33 by half-time.

Both teams were shooting 36 per cent but Eltham got up eight extra shot attempts but the Sabres stayed in touch thanks to nine free-throw attempts to four with Funda Nakkasoglu having 11 points while Lucy Cochrane had five points and 13 rebounds.

Once more Eltham threatened to open up a commanding lead in the third period going up by as much as 14 points but Sandringham responded and Cochrane had another five points and six rebounds in the quarter, and Nakkasoglu six more points to keep their team close.

The Wildcats were leading 57-49 by three quarter-time and then while the Sabres kept on battling, they could never quite get over the hump and Eltham held firm for the eight-point victory to move up into second spot and knock Sandringham down to third.

Eltham will now be next in action on Friday night away to the Knox Raiders while the Sabres will try to bounce back on that same evening on the road to the Melbourne Tigers.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | FIRST NATIONS ROUND

ELTHAM WILDCATS 75 (Cadee 12, S Smith 12, Pizzey 11, Elsworthy 11)

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 67 (Nakkasoglu 25, Lopes 15, Cochrane 10)