Women’s Norwood Flames vs Sturt Sabres
The Norwood Flames (3-8) go up against the Sturt Sabres (7-4) in the first game of a back-to-back. The Flames have had a rough 3-game stretch and are looking to prove their competitiveness against Sturt. The Sabres are needing every win towards the end of the year as they are trying to solidify themselves into the postseason. A game with two teams looking to take this win looks like a good matchup ahead.
Mia Parkin opened the scoring for the game, breaking through the tough Sturt defence. The Sabres responded with a 9-0 run, taking a solid early lead. Some free-throws kept the Flames scoreboard moving but another 4 points from the Sabres forced a timeout from coach Will Smith. This timeout was extremely effective as the defensive intensity increased monumentally, stopping Sturt from finding any easy points. This defensive prowess allowed Norwood to find some offensive momentum bringing the game all the way back to 2-points. Sturt still wasn’t going down without a fight, regaining their composure and keeping their lead going into the break, 19-14.
The defensive focus of the game remained to start the second, with both teams bringing intensity on that end of the court. The Sabres eventually found their way to the rim, with Polly Turner able to answer their scores. Sturt was able to slowly pull away from the Flames despite strong efforts from the entire Flames squad. The never-ending defensive power of the Sabres held back the Flames and stopped us from finding consistent offence. Leading to a half-time deficit, 36-26.
Early in the third, the Flames had the best of the Sabres, almost completely halting their scoring whilst finding their own offence able to find scoring options. Eva Langton and Isabella Stratford led the way on the offensive end and helped Norwood claw themselves closer and closer to the Sabres. Eventually Sturt was able to figure out the Flames, getting more consistent stops as well as finding their offensive rhythm. Unfortunately, the Sabres run was greater than the Flames and the game was even further away come 3 quarter time, Norwood down 49-37.
The Sabres continued their run into the fourth and extended their lead heavily. The Flames seemed underprepared for the intensity of this run and had no answers for the run. Switching the defensive rotations and offensive flow wasn’t enough for the Flames to regain any momentum. The Sabres blew the lead out to 20 before the Flames found their answer, unfortunately it was too little too late and the Flames fell again, 68-50.
