WOMEN by Kieren Vartuli

With very little to play for aside from pride, the Woodville Warriors visit The ARC to spoil the Flames’ final game of the regular season. A poor third term saw the Sabres create a buffer zone on the scoreboard after outscoring Woodville 23-6. Nonetheless, aside from this poor quarter, the Warriors hung out with the title contender and eventually fell by 19. This is not an accurate representation of how well or poorly they played, as Woodville backed it up the very next day against Eastern. Despite dropping both games in Round 19, the Warriors pushed another contender in Eastern to Overtime and an eventual 2-point loss. A huge 46-point and 27-rebound weekend for Teige Morrell shows why she needs to be pushed out of the contest by the Flames as early as possible. 

After seeing only one game last weekend, Norwood flamed through the Tigers and earned an important road win by 19-points. Sunday saw four Norwood players hit double figures in the outing including a team high 19-points (66% FG) by Cara Annetts. Norwoods ability to score inside may be the deciding factor between these two sides Saturday night. With another opportunity to rattle the standings, Norwood have some power as we head into the upcoming finals. Round 20 is not going to be short of drama and emotion as we close the Home and Away season for 2019. 

Hang Time Prediction: Norwood Flames

MEN by Daniel Renfrey

Norwood will be extremely disappointed after their 105-87 away loss to the Tigers last round which saw them drop to fifth on the ladder. The Flames have experienced a huge dip over the last couple months after they set the league on fire in the early season. Legan, Webber, Brine and Lycett were defended well by the Tigers and could not have the impact they would’ve wanted on offence. Defensively the team was also behind the pace, and were scored on through fastbreaks and inside scoring too often. They’ll have their hands full this week again when they take on a Warriors team still on a high after defeating the Mavericks at the buzzer on Sunday. Boonstoppel’s game-winning three-pointer off the glass was a huge moment in his team’s season, as they continue to put pressure on those above them on the ladder. They lacked a bit on offence in that game though, and will want to be better against a struggling Norwood side. With the Flames fired up though, it would be hard to go past them at home.

Hang Time Prediction: Norwood Flames