North Adelaide Lady Rockets vs West Bearcats at Port Adelaide

After watching an intense game of the National Wheelchair Basketball League featuring our new local team Adelaide Thunder, we settled into our comfy cinema chairs to watch a terrific Premier League game. With Lauren on holidays, it was Courtney’s (Chook) well deserved turn to join the starting five line up.

After several turnovers and a great block by Tayla with Norrisha running the floor, West opened the scoring. Courtney made a smooth three to open our scoring and next made both foul shots. The foul shooting for the game would be very accurate, and good defensive pressure was applied by all, causing a shot clock violation and then a travel. Tayla made a nice basket and the Rockets shot to a good lead. Courtney again made 2 from 2 and Jo and Sophie stepped onto the court. Tayla also made 2 from 2 when fouled and then took another rebound giving the ball to Norrisha who quickly ran the length of the court and made a great layup. Kirsty fought hard for the ball and made a nice shot and Jo also made the most of her foul shooting. At quarter time the score was 16 to 23 our way.

The team applied strong defensive pressure but were frustrated with wasted chances to score. Taylor joined the team and Jo was fouled and it was 3 and a half minutes into the quarter before her making one out of 2 foul shots, started our score for the quarter. Opal, Tayla and Courtney were scoring well and Kirsty was feisty to cause a jump ball. After a time out the starting five were back on to pick up the scoring pace and Norrisha made a quick pass to Courtney who finished off with the 2 points. Kirsty showed strong hands; Opal made a great rebound and Norrisha made another nice shot, extending our lead out by 13, 24 to 37 at the long break. Courtney already had 15 points.

The team continued to play hard and soon Shannon, Abi and Tia left the bench. This was Tia’s debut in premier league and she didn’t disappoint. Abi provided a great assist to Sophie and Tia ran the floor. Defense was still intense and Jo made a lovely layup to continue our scoring run. At three quarter time the score was 36 to 54.

The last quarter had a faster feel with Jo scoring in the first 10 seconds and making the subsequent foul shot. Abi made a nice layup but the game seemed interrupted by so many time outs. Norrisha grabbed a loose ball and finished off with a score but soon found herself on 4 fouls for an offensive push. Ana came on to have her turn running the floor and the pace continued to pick up. Opal was on fire with her scoring and Courtney continued to drive hard to the basket. The plays were executed well with Kirsty passing to Tayla and Taylor making a strong rebound. The starting five were rested and players from the bench all played their roles, with Shannon taking nice rebounds and Tia making 2 from 3 fouls shots. It was a great win on a freezing cold night down at the port, 48 to 74.

Top scorers: Courtney 17 pts, Tayla 15 pts, Jo and Opal both with 13 pts each.

Top rebounders: Tayla and Jo with 7 each.

Top assists: Jo had 5 assists and Norrisha had 4 assist.