Central Recap | Round 9 Sunday

By Tristan Prentice for NBL1.com.au

Feature images supplied via NBL1.com.au /  @snapshotphotography3 / Snap Shot Photography

Round 9 of the Mitsubishi Motors NBL1 Central concluded Heritage Round with the Kayo Freebies Game of the Week producing two rivals head-to-head all the way to the final buzzer and both had familiar heroes emerge once again in one of the memorable afternoons of the league’s recent history  

Here are the results of Sunday’s games:

Sturt Pioneers play to precipice to overcome flying Eagles            

The second meeting in 2024 of the Bowley/Simons cup was another close knitted classic as Sturt came back in the second half to shutdown the Eagles sharpshooters and take a thrilling Kayo Freebies Game of the Week by one point 66-65 at Springbank Secondary College.

The Sturt Sabres for heritage round adopted the moniker of the “Pioneers” an original heritage name from their 1985 men’s championship season and the spirit of that name lived on in the women this afternoon in their second half comeback.                

Zoe Walker-Roberts with the finish inside gave the home side a 4-0 start before Sam Simons hit back to bring it back to 4-4. The Pioneers were diving into the paint with relative ease as Sturt grabbed a handy early 8-5 lead. The Pioneers added another couple through Katia Stamatelopoulos to make it 14-5. The Eagles made a couple from the charity stripe before Tayla Brazel made her much anticipated return with her first points of the season also at the line with a 15-12 low scoring consistent start to the match.

Brazel made her first score off the footwork move then Tahlia Griffiths blocked Sam Simons at the other end then followed up with a triple of her own to make it 21-12. From there the Pioneers were plucked back quickly though Rachel King and Sam Simons with a triple to cut it back to 21-19. Simons continued to dominate the Pioneers splashing multiple triples from the outside to stretch the Eagles out to a 23-31 lead. 

The sister act of Simons squared continued with Jess joining the party to splash it from deep to give them 25 for the half between them and their Eagles a 27-40 lead at the half - the 6-17 run in the second five minutes of the quarter setting the Eagles up with a 12-28 term. 

Sydney Mech lifted for the Pioneers early in the second half with a quick five points, Nicola Mathews (9 points) with the shifty dribble moves finished strong to make it 34-45 with half a term to go. The Sabres, as the Pioneers have done before, raised their level of defensive intensity to create a 14-6 run with Chelsea Portus (Eight points) capatalising from their work at that end of the floor knocking down back-to-back triples to cut it right back to 48-48.

The Eagles upped their defensive intensity at the start of the fourth but over calibrating that intensity resulted in four quick fouls to hand the advantage back to the Pioneers. Mathews splashed a long triple but was answered immediately by King off the nice feed from Gabi Vidmar. Padroth dropped an important bomb from outside only to be answered by Vidmar (11 points, six assists and rebounds) before Nicola Mathews once again beat the shotclock with the floater. 

The Eagles tried to edge their way back in front but Brazel (Seven points, four assists and three rebounds and steals) re-entering the game in her comeback bodied up to the driving Ella Sawyer stopping her getting the levelling triple. Simons missed the resulting triple down the next play but King grabbed the offensive board to win the possession back with Ella Sawyer (11 points, five steals and four assists) nailing the resulting trip down with 20 seconds to go 64-63. ZWR made two important free throws with the Pioneers fouling Gabi Vidmar who made two of three the last miss resulting in pure chaos.

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King grabbed the board off the miss the found the cutting Sawyer whose layup was too strong as the Pioneers climbed a thriller at the death. 

Katia Stamatelopoulos was brilliant once again against her old side with 13 points, eight rebounds and fellow former college teammate Sydney Mech stepped up again with 14 points and seven rebounds. After a lightning first half Jess Simons 13 points with nine rebounds and Sam Simons 12 points and seven rebounds - were blanketed by Sturt and held scoreless in the second half.            

The Pioneers of old have put Sturt in the second seed currently - can they continue to grow their four game winning streak??? Find out in two weeks on Saturday night at 6:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App.  

STURT “PIONEERS” SABRES 66 (Mech 14, Stamatelopoulos 13, N Mathews 9)

FORESTVILLE EAGLES 65 (J Simons 13, King, S Simons 12, Sawyer, Vidmar 11)

Eagles exclamation point Mays again in Cup classic 

The Kayo Freebies Game of the Week was one of the games of the season as the 2024 Grand Final MVP put the exclamation point on the afternoon with an incredible performance to take the Bauer/Newley Cup for the Forestville Eagles 89-91 over the Sturt “Pioneers” Sabres at Springbank Secondary College    

A Greg Mays block on Sam Daly set the tone early as Sharif Black picked up where he left off last week going bang immediately. Down one DJ in Dejan Vasiljevic the other DJ in Daniel Johnson got crafty from the midrange.

Jordan Forbes down in scoring the previous week attempted one from area code distance then got the resulting ricochet off the miss then fed a cutting bustling Daly. Mays made the and1 then grabbed the transition pass from Jordan Wilson as he helped launch Mays for the one-handed throwdown 18-17. Forbes then found his mark with a triple to make it 21-22 to the away side at quarter time. 

With Ben Griscti in foul trouble Jamie Smith was forced to guard an in-sync DJ (12 points and nine rebounds) but did some damage of his own the other end with a triple that bounced up and in then produced a beast move on the low block to have a quick brace of buckets. 

Wilson stepped up in the absence of Vasiljevic grabbing a couple of quick points with his speed and control of ball pace. The play of the day by far was a threaded Alex Starling (12 points, nine rebounds and five assists) pass to Mays who weaved his way through the Blue Pioneers jerseys and finished with the right-hand hook while his body was behind the side of the backboard. Mays then finished the offensive rebound putback after the timeout. 

Not to be outdone Forbes went from the back court to the front court with the athletic physical finish for the and1 then nailed the triple and another up on the rim athletic layup from in front of his team’s bench to give himself also a brace of buckets in a few plays. In a case of remember me Black found himself open for three not to be denied then finished his own athletic play. Forbes made the points again and after trailing led the match at the half 48-46.  

Black out of halftime came out sparkling again with his dynamic guard play answered by Adam Doyle who found extra space for more points than usual on a weekly checklist but Hayden Meakes drained back to back triples to bring it right back again.

It was starting to get physical out on the floor as the match tightened with some heavy screens spelling foul trouble for some bigs to open up the floor for Wilson again. Doyle (14 points, eight rebounds and five assists) dropped another triple then Wilson (14 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals) finished the reverse layup as they freed themselves to keep the scoreboard ticking over to give the Eagles back the lead 72-75 with one pulsating term to play.

The Pioneers got the ideal start to the fourth, cutting back into the Eagles lead through Smith and Daly (Nine points, five assists and three rebounds) as they started to lift the level at the defensive end of the floor 82-80 with half a quarter to play. A key moment saw Black dribbling hard to the rim getting the floater over the top of Mays but rimming short with all the Eagles missing the box out on Smith (11 points and nine rebounds) who really showed up for the afternoon. 

His putback off the glass attempt caused Starling to foul out with his fifth. Forbes hit the highly contested turnaround jumper then Mays answered. Griscti made the tip in off the Seb Griffin miss then Mays came down and made his first triple of the season with a huge triple to tie it all away 87-87 with 32 seconds to play. 

Just like the 2024 Grand Final Mays found his elite level pinching the ball off Smith, by-passed Forbes then used his footwork to slam it down to put the Eagles back in front 87-89. Forbes then found Griffin inside after the timeout who made both to tie it again with 17 seconds left.

The ending as you’ll see below again was pure chaos but this time with a genuine star finish… 

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Fiston Ipassou (14 points and four rebounds) passed it in dribbled around the Mays screen and put up the floater but Wilson who had the enormous offensive rebound against two Pioneers made the kickout to DJ who missed the triple but the ball sat up on the rim as Mays rose up to slam it home and seal the thrilling 89-91 win for the Eagles – who rode their championship hero home…

Mays was outstanding in the final term particularly to finish with 25 points, four rebounds and two blocks as six Eagles made double figures. The dynamic import group of Sharif Black (28 points with four triples) and Jordan Forbes (23 points, nine rebounds and six assists) worked well in partnership together to keep Sturt in it all day.   

The Eagles take the cup and retain top spot - can they keep staying above ground in the skies to the final five??? Find out in two weeks on Saturday night at 8:00pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App.

STURT “PIONEERS” SABRES 89 (Black 28, Forbes 23, Smith 11)

FORESTVILLE EAGLES 91 (Mays 25, Doyle, Ipassou, Wilson 14, D Johnson, Starling 12)

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