Women’s Norwood Flames vs North Adelaide Rockets
The Norwood Flamesm (3-7) take on the tied for top-of-ladder North Adelaide Rockets (9-1). The Flames have a tough matchup ahead against a veteran Rockets team, who are 2nd in the league in scoring and defence. This Norwood team has been inconsistent at times but can compete against a top-of-the-ladder opponent.
The game started with two solid possessions. Getting an early steal and using our defence to create an open jumper for Eva Langton, who started the game hot offensively. Initially, the offence looked promising for the Flames. Defensively we were getting stops but weren’t quite able to string them together. Unfortunately, the Rockets weren’t taking these baskets lightly and were able to keep themselves just ahead of the Flames. Eventually, their offence caught fire and their stingy defence didn’t give the Flames any easy shots. A timeout wasn’t enough to halt their momentum as the Flames ended the quarter looking up at a big deficit, trailing, 24-11.
The second quarter again started with a quick score from Norwood, unfortunately, the offence wasn’t sparked from this score and the Flames struggled to find their footing on that end. Defensively the team did well until the Rockets found their range from 3-point land. This explosion of offence was too much for the Flames’ defence, allowing the Rockets to start breaking away again. Norwood didn’t take this lying down and continued to fight and made sure to keep the game from getting out of hand. The quarter ended 43-23.
The third quarter showcased the potential of this Flames team. The quarter began with a quick shot and score from the Rockets before the Flames answered and then some. Finding momentum on offence and scoring effectively against a tough-nosed Rockets defence. The Flames’ offensive firepower brought much needed energy to the game. That energy bled into the defensive end of the court, allowing them to build on stops and bring the game back into competitiveness. A middy from Maddy Hinton brought the game within single digits. Maddy Hinton closed the quarter with 6-straight for the Flames and the best quarter of the game so far ended, the Flames still trailing, 54-47.
Emily Saunders started the quarter with a successful and-1 to bring the game to 4. Unfortunately, the Flames offence ground to a halt and the closing quarter blew out quickly thanks to a 20-1 run from the Rockets. This run sealed the game and killed any momentum the Flames had acquired. After a fight, Norwood ended up losing 74-58.
