NBL1 Women Round 5 vs Eastern Mavericks
The Paradise Hotel Norwood Flames Women (1 – 3) are taking on the Eastern Mavericks (1 – 3) in round 5 of the NBL1 Central season. The Norwood Flames are missing a valuable contributor in Dara Mabrey who has signed a training camp contract with the Toronto Tempo in the WNBA. They are also down key role players who are away for U18 State. Missing key contributors, it will be telling to see who steps up for the Flames. The Eastern Mavericks have been great on one end this season, boasting one of the best offenses in the league but giving up the most baskets on the other end. The Flames will look to take advantage of the poor paint protection of the Mavericks and looking to win this round 5 matchup.
An and-1 on a putback started scoring for Cali Clark and the Norwood Flames, as Eastern’s lack of size inside showed early. The defence from the Flames was great from the tap, putting pressure on the Mavs and forcing early mistakes and turnovers aiding the Flames to a 5-0 start. A free throw from Eastern stopped the bleeding but good ball movement offensively led to a few open looks and Norwood quickly took an 8-point lead. A triple from the Mavs looked to sway momentum but it was answered by Caitlin Shillabeer. Despite the good defence from the Flames the talented shooters from Eastern were able to shoot over the defence and bring the game back to 5. The offence from Norwood remained very composed, able to hold off the pressure from the Mavs and get good looks late into the shot clock. Some flashy post-moves from Amy Cotton brough the Flames up by 9, followed up by a pair of triples from Cali Clark. The first quarter came to a close with a strong lead for Norwood 23 – 10.
Ella Turnbull opened the second period with a triple from the corner off a well-executed play from the Flames. The offence slowed a bit out of the break with Norwood committing some unforced turnovers. The defensive intensity of Norwood didn’t faulter, allowing them to maintain their lead despite some struggles on the other end. The scoring woes continued for the Flames, leading to a timeout from Head Coach Matt Hunt as he looks to unite his team on the offensive end. The timeout was effective with Cali Clark scoring on the next possession. This seemed to take the lid of the basket as Norwood drained a couple of triples extending their lead past 20. The Norwood defence held strong for the remainder of the quarter as their offence was again moving well. The ball movement allowed for open looks inside and out for the Flames as they extended their lead to 26 by halftime, 43 – 17.
After 17 first half points Cali Clark added to her total with an and-1 to start the third for the Flames. The Eastern Mavericks who had an uncharacteristically bad scoring half, scored early in the third and their improved energy on defence forced early turnovers from the Flames. Amy Cotton got Norwood back on track with a beautiful up-and-under move scoring an easy 2 for the Flames. A triple from Eastern answered, cashing out their defensive stops, as they had already forced Norwood into 4 turnovers; 1 away from matching their total in the first half. The turnover struggles continued for the Flames as they hadn’t found any offensive consistency since halftime, Eastern slowly biting into the Norwood lead. Some free-throws from Maddy Hinton put an end to the Eastern run and a tough finish from Amy Cotton followed by a triple looked to spark the Norwood offence. Eastern made another quick 6-0 run before Cali Clark answered to keep the Norwood lead above 20. The Mavericks offensive burst has kept them alive but Norwood held their lead with some good offensive spurts, 60 – 35.
Both teams scored on their first possession of the last quarter, carrying their offensive momentums from the third, Maddy Hinton scoring Norwood’s first 4 points in the quarter. Norwood ran into some foul issues early in the fourth, committing 3 team fouls with over 8:30 left in the quarter. A drop step from Cali Clark got her an open look for a reverse in the paint, Cali’s dominance continued to be on display. Defensively, the foul troubles continued as with 7:30 left in the final period the Mavs entered the bonus. Despite this the Flames defence remained elite as they held the Eastern stars to very poor shooting splits. The Mavericks eventually returned the fouls, and Norwood found their way to the charity stripe to keep the scoreboard ticking over. An open shot from deep for Amy Cotton extended the Norwood advantage to 30. As the benches subbed in, Norwood’s lead was more than secure as they won 82 – 52.
