By Connor Rice

Southern Tigers 80 | South Adelaide Panthers 54

In an extremely scrappy and tough game on Friday night, the Tigers managed to get it done against the Panthers. Yet to win on the season, it seemed the Panthers struggled to get any fluidity in their offense and also couldn’t stop the Tigers potent inside scoring.

Inside scoring has been a prevalent point of emphasis in the Tiger’s offense this season and this is initiated by star big, Mollie McKendrick who again had another great game. Now averaging 23 points per game on the season, McKendrick was everywhere on the low block and scoring at will inside finishing with 18 points. Unfortunately for the Tigers both the size differential and the overpowering skill just caused a mismatch inside.

In addition, the combination of Cunnigan and Rutland for the Tigers ran rampant on the perimeter, both scoring 15 points each. A 3 pointer from Rutland and some strong attacks to the basket from Cunnigan getting to the free throw line multiple times, meant the Panthers just couldn’t overcome the strength in the Tiger’s offense.

In contrast Ieva Nagy had a nice 14 points for the Panthers and has been a focal point in their offense over the past few weeks. It seems when the team’s total offense is struggling, South can still be reliant on Nagy to get a score.

Despite some amazing effort and scrappy play from the Panthers, the scoreboard just didn’t match their intensity. Both offensively, defensively and on the glass, the Panthers were outplayed and overpowered from the jump.

The Tigers now even their record at 3-3 whereas the Panthers are yet to win. Going forward both teams are looking to do different things. For the Tigers it’s to maintain their strong play and continue to tighten up their play especially for against the stronger league teams and for the Panthers to make their way onto the scoreboard.