South 80 (Sarah Peddle 20, Ursula Richards 14, Rachael Litster 11, Claire Johnson 10) def

Centrals 57 (Amber Land 19, Shenae Hosking 10, Fiona Perso 8)

This week is the final opportunity for the Lions to claim a victory for season 2010 and break the drought. It has been a long haul since they partied after their success against the Eastern Mavericks in 2009 when they achieved their only win of the season. When the sides last met at the halfway mark of the season, the Panthers seemed to be gathering momentum. After that match South was on the march with 3 wins from their last 4 matches. Since that time however, the Panthers have struggled, only winning against the Bearcats in round 13 and losing the other 7 fixtures played. In recent games the Lions have been competitive against the Eagles and the Sabres. In the loss against the Sabres a poor first quarter cost them any chance of an upset and against the Eagles after a good second quarter the Lions were overrun in the last. Against the Eagles last round South were thumped in the first and third quarters on their way to recording their heaviest loss of the season. Both teams will be keen to end the season on a high; will the gods be kind to Centrals at home?

Southern 72 (Robyn Jennings 21, Ashleigh Spencer 19, Madelaine Cunningham 16) defeated West 67 (Nikita-Lee Martin 17, Ashlea Vordermaier 13, Alice Gee, Trudy Holland 9) 

Southern had their most important win of the season in the context of the minor round placings when they defeated the Woodville Warriors in double overtime last week. The Tigers’ win and North’s loss has assured them of a finals berth in the event of a 3 way tie between Southern, North and Norwood. The Bearcats were comprehensive winners over North setting up the win with a good first quarter and a dominant second quarter, leading 51-23 at halftime. The Tigers win was achieved after chasing down a big deficit and required a last quarter onslaught where they piled on 26 points to 7 against the Warriors to force overtime. West Adelaide plays this match knowing that they have locked in an appearance in the qualifying final next week against Sturt. When the sides last met, Southern lost the first half of the match 25-36 but won the second half 47-31 to claim the result. Both teams have won their last four games but West’s form line looks a little stronger than the Tigers’ over recent weeks. The Bearcats would be expected to continue their good form and reverse the result from the last time these two sides met at Port Adelaide. 

Eastern 89 (Tess Madgen 35, Alex Wilson 17, Lauren Wright 9) defeated

Woodville  48 (April Brown 9, Brittany Mickan-Winter 8, Vida Bojanic 7)

The Warriors travel to Mount Barker facing a tough assignment if they are looking to swap places on the premiership table with the Mavericks at the end of the minor round. When the sides last met, Eastern won by 41 points, so Woodville have the tough assignment of needing to defeat Eastern by more than 41 points to move up the ladder. Woodville suffered a heartbreaking loss against the Tigers last game when they had two opportunities to win - the first at the end of regulation with a successful basket then also with a converted foul shot at the end of the first period of overtime. Both shots missed and Southern went on to secure victory in the second period of overtime. Eastern had their chances when they led in the last quarter against a depleted Flames outfit but were overtaken in the dying minutes of the contest. The make-up of the sides will be similar to when the sides first met. For the Warriors, April Brown and Katherine Perkas were in good form against the Tigers and for Eastern, Alex Wilson and Tess Madgen were the main scorers against the Flames. Eastern will start clear favourites at home but the Warriors will be more difficult to beat than in Round 9, their form improving as the season has progressed. 

Norwood 73 (Jess Foley 24, Rachel Herrick 14, Rebecca Duke 12) defeated

Forestville 64 (Mia Newley 19, Jessica Mahony 16, Kelsey Ireland 14)

Norwood enters this match knowing that a win secures a finals berth regardless of other results. Should Norwood and Southern lose and North win, on a 3 way tie for 4th and 5th spots Norwood would be eliminated from the finals race on head to head results between the three teams. The Eagles on the other hand know that their next appearance after this game will be in the second semi-final in two weeks time against the winner from the qualifying final next weekend between Sturt and West Adelaide.  As the season has progressed, Norwood has been weakened by the loss of key players to injury which caused them to suffer a mini slump when they lost in rounds 14, 15 and 16 before they bounced back against Eastern last round. Forestville has the chance with a win from this encounter to post their 9th win in succession which would equal the record held this season by the Sabres when they won their first 9 games before dropping the match against Southern. The Eagles host the Flames after posting a double against the Panthers last week.  The 105–46 win was their highest score of the season and the 59 point margin was their biggest so far this year. 

It is difficult to see the Eagles dropping this match and gifting Norwood a guaranteed finals berth.

Sturt 51 (Monique Bowley 18, Bree Farley, Hannah Richards 9, Caroline Burgess 8) defeated

North 48 (Jo Hill 14, Shannon McKay, Kirsty Williams 9, Tania Dhu 4)

North has to win this match to have any hope of making the finals this season as they did in 2009 when they finished fourth after losing the knock out semi final to Forestville. Sturt, whose form has been a little patchy over recent weeks with the loss of Caroline Burgess (who returned last round) and the loss of Monique Bowley last week will be keen to put in a good performance with the final series just around the corner. Sturt had an even 4 quarter performance against the Lions but it wasn’t until the last period that they locked in the win with Kara Hargreaves and Brigid Bowley the leading scorers and the only players in double figures. In North’s loss to the Bearcats, only Jo Hill and Bec Lock were in double figures. Both teams will need to look to spread the scoring around if they want to compile a winning score. North had a shocking third term last week scoring only 4 points and cannot afford to suffer that same fate this week if they wish to claim that all important victory. The battle between North’s Jo Hill, Bec Lock and Marisa Stabile and the Sturt trio of Caroline Burgess, Kara Hargreaves and Bree Farley will prove pivotal to the result. Whether Monique Bowley and Bree Farley are available to play for the Sabres will be an important factor in determining the outcome. Without those players being available North could clinch the result at home.