Women’s Norwood Flames vs Woodville Warriors
The Norwood Flames (6-11) play their final game of the season against the struggling Woodville Warriors (2-15). The Flames are looking to end their season with a win after facing a lot of hardships throughout the season. Ending on a positive note will be good encouragement for the women to have a good offseason and come back stronger next season.
The game started strong for Norwood, led by Eva Langton and Emily Saunders who combined for 9 of Norwood’s unanswered 11 opening points. After Norwood’s dominant start to the game, the Warriors fought back, bringing the game ever closer as the quarter continued. Woodville had stepped up their defence and was harassing the Norwood ball-handlers, disrupting the offence enough to affect everyone on the court. This allowed the Warriors to bring the game back to 1 point at quarter time, 15-14.
The second saw Woodville taking the lead early and Norwood suddenly fighting from behind. Norwood was controlled under pressure and consistently found good shots in their offence, this allowed efficient scoring, never letting the Warriors extend their lead. The consistency displayed by the Flames was enough to slowly regain the lead, once the lead was taken it quickly burst into double digits, and the Warriors seemed to be slowing down on defence. The quarter came to a close, Norwood with a double-digit lead, 44-32.
The defence was brought back at the start of the third quarter, with both teams stepping up their intensity. This defence forced both teams into elongated offences without much structure, limiting opportunities at the rim and forcing them into tough pull-up jump shots. Neither team was able to truly break through the other’s defence, both teams found the occasional patch of hot shooting but nothing truly consistent. The quarter came to an end, Norwood leading, 60-46.
Woodville came into the final quarter with a purpose, they were unwilling to let the final game of a disappointing season end in another loss. They started the quarter on a massive 11-point run before coach Will Smith was forced into a timeout as it was suddenly a 1-possession game. Coming out of the timeout Woodville was just as determined to win, adding another 7 points to their now 18 unanswered and gaining a 4-point lead. Eva Langton and Emily Saunders came in clutch, providing 7 straight points for Norwood, taking back a 3-point lead and forcing Woodville into a timeout. The Warriors were unable to convert on their out-of-timeout play and Norwood got to the line and split the pair for a 4-point advantage. A split pair from the Warriors brought it back to 3 and a scary turnover gave the Warriors another possession but they couldn’t convert. Another trip to the free-throw line saw the Norwood Flames ending their season with a nail-biter but a great win, 69-65.
