Women’s Norwood Flames vs South Adelaide Panthers
After getting our first win of the season last game (1-4) the girls are up against a solid South Adelaide team who are sitting at (3-2) coming into this match. The Panthers are coming off 2 straight wins against the Sturt Sabres and the Woodville Warriors. The Panthers have been a tough-nosed defensive team early in the season, only once allowing an opposing team to score more than 80 points. The Flames have a tough matchup in this one as they look to start a winning streak.
The start of the first quarter was kicked off with an offensive battle between Emily Winter and Brittney Hodges as they scored the first 11 points of the game, Norwood taking an early 4-point deficit until Isabella Stratford and Eva Langton jump started our offence. Both teams were scoring at will in this first quarter, going back and forth for the majority of the quarter. Eva Langton capped off our impressive offensive quarter with a triple before the Panthers took things into their own hands, going on a 9-point run to end the quarter, taking a 7-point lead, the score 26-33.
Isabella Stratford started the second period off on fire with the first five points for the Flames, meanwhile, the Panthers kept their offensive momentum from the last quarter. The Flames were doing a good job keeping South Adelaide from being able to attack the rim but consistent 3-point shooting was letting them keep their lead hovering around the 7-point mark for most of the quarter. The inability of Norwood to get multiple stops was holding them back from going on a run, especially considering the scoring was good for the first three-quarters of the period. In the final stretch of the quarter, both teams’ offences died down, struggling to find easy baskets and the scoreboard came to a halt. Unfortunately, the Panthers found a 3 and got to the charity stripe at the end of the half, going into halftime with a 9-point lead, 39-48.
Coming out of halftime the Flames came out on fire, going on a 9-2 run to open the second half. The Panthers responded with a quick run of their own before some back and forth continued the quarter. A timeout saw both coaches preaching defence as neither team was able to find any easy shots, advantages not even drawing any fouls for the next 4 minutes. The stagnant score was finally moved as Maddy Hinton drained a triple, this seemed to open up scoring for both teams, as they were more aggressive attacking the rim, leading to a tough finish and a 3 for the Panthers meanwhile, Emily Winter was able to keep Norwood in the game at the free-throw-line, going into the fourth quarter trailing 55-59.
The Panthers started the quarter with 5 straight before the Flames had a chance to answer. The unrelenting offence from South Adelaide was putting a lot of pressure on Norwoods’ defence, but the girls stood strong. Holding off the barrage the Flames took advantage of their opportunities to score. Eventually, the girls cut the deficit to only 3 points, having survived the Panthers this long the end was in sight and win number 2 was so close. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Eventually, the Panthers were able to break through the defence, going on a 5-point run, Emily Winter tried to claw us back but another finish by South Adelaide was the nail in the coffin. The girls ended up losing a tough battle 77-83.
