Women’s Norwood Flames vs Southern Tigers
The Norwood Flames (4-9) are looking to carry their momentum from their previous 1-point victory and start a winning streak against the Southern Tigers (7-6). The Tigers boast a high-powered offence which could create some issues for the girls as no lead will be safe if the Tigers catch fire. The women will need a big all-around effort to try and snag another win.
The game started with the Flames dominating on both ends, playing amazing defence and creating their scores in effective ways. Maddy Hinton and Eva Langton combined for the first 9 points of the game, forcing Southern to take an early timeout. The Tigers were finally able to break the Flames’ defence after the timeout, but the girls were still firing on both ends, only allowing one score before going on another 5-point run. Southern finally figured out the Norwood defence and for the remainder of the quarter tried their best to answer the flaming hot Norwood Flames. They weren’t quite able to do so and the Flames’ lead continued to grow, until quarter time when the score stood 24-14.
The Flames momentum carried into the start of the second as the lead kept growing with a great offensive display from the Norwood bench. This offensive display was capped off from a three by Eva Langton which increased the Norwood lead to 16. After this triple a timeout from the Tigers settled them whilst disrupting the Flames. This disruption gave the Tigers an opportunity to find their way back into the game bringing their deficit back to just 8-points. The Norwood women composed themselves and answered any scores for the remainder of the quarter, keeping the game at 8 by halftime, 40-32.
The Southern Tigers came out of halftime firing from three, thankfully the Norwood offence came out just as dangerous with Emily Saunders and Eva Langton holding off the Tigers offensive attack. The majority of this quarter saw back and forth between the two teams, the Norwood lead hovering between 8-10 points for the majority. The Southern Tigers were able to take away this comfort and control in the last few minutes of the quarter, going on a quick 7-0 run before Polly Turner responded bringing the lead to 58-53 going into the final period.
The fourth quarter opened with a tough start for the Flames who allowed the Tigers to get the game back to 3 points early. The Tigers were able to slowly claw their way closer and closer until they tied up the scoring with 6 minutes to go then quickly gained the lead off a triple. Polly Turner was able to make a triple to reply for the Flames, tying the game again. Emily Saunders made and converted an and-one to retake the lead, following, Eva Langton caught fire hitting 2 quick triples and pushing the lead back to 7-points. The Tigers brought the game back slowly for the remainder of the quarter, trading 2’s for 3’s and doing their best to get the occasional stop. They managed to get the game all the way back to 1-point with 22 seconds remaining, coach Will Smith called a timeout. Unfortunately, a quick turnover allowed the Tigers to use the possession as their own and found their way to a huge layup, gaining the lead with 3 seconds left. Using a timeout to advance the ball, the Norwood Flames had one hope for a good, quick score. Maddy Hinton stepped up for the Flames and drained a massive buzzer-beating triple to steal another win for the girls, coming out on top, 81-79.
