The Lady Bearcats kept the Norwood Flames to their lowest score of the season, but it wasn’t enough for the win as the Flames triumphed 62-53.

The game started as a low scoring defensive affair, and continued that way throughout the night. The Lady Bearcats showed their intentions early, keeping the Flames to just 12 points in the first quarter, the lowest so far this season. 6 of those came from Jess Good as she scored inside and out.  The Lady Bearcats scored 10 of their own with a couple of good finishes by Brittany Winter to trail by just 2 points at quarter time.

Rebecca Duke and Alana Nairn scored twice for their respective teams early in the second as the Lady Bearcats took the lead at 18-16. From there the Flames went on a 12-0 run with four trips to the foul line complementing Jess Foley’s 7 points, the game looking to be getting away from the Bearcats as their defensive pressure was being penalised by the officials.

However, Jess Mahony then scored 6 points of her own to drag her team back to within 4 at the half – the team leaving the court on a big high after her put-back following a steal from the baseline inbounds pass - as only someone with her athleticism can produce.

Once again during the third term the Lady Bearcats stayed with the Flames except for a 8-0 run which helped the visitors to an 8 point lead at three quarter time, 38-46. Jordan Walker-Roberts (5), Cara Boothey  (6) and Foley (7) were the only Flames to score, while the Lady Bearcats had 6 players on the scoresheet.

The final quarter saw the Flames sent to the foul line four times in the first 2 minutes by the Lady Bearcats giving them a 6-0 run to start the term and leaving the Bearcats in the bonus situation for the rest of the match and facing a seemingly insurmountable 14 point deficit. Mahony did her best to reel it in with 7 points for the quarter and Kate Shierlaw added 6, but Duke and Foley did enough to keep the Flames safe with their teams last 10 points.

The Flames still have players to return to the side, so look to have some improvement in them. The Lady Bearcats will be pleased to have kept with the Flames but will look for further improvement as the team spends more time on the court together.


Norwood Flames 62 (Foley 22, Duke 15, Boothey 13) def
West Adelaide Bearcats 53 (Mahony 19, Nairn 8, Shierlaw 7)

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