Mark Halliday

The Sturt Sabres held off a Forestville Eagles team that fought its way back from a long way down but wasn't able to get the job done, going down 77-70 at Adelaide Arena.

At half time and even at the start of the fourth quarter, the game was well in the Sabres hands as they were leading by 24 points going into the final 10 minutes.

The Sabres had put in a strong first half, sparked by Anne Hatchard personal seven point run that included two triples. Sturt enjoyed a large lead due to the play of Hatchard, Kate Gladstone who also connected on a couple of threes as well as Amy Shaw who continually attacked the basket.

To make matters worse for the Eagle, Carla Borrego picked up four fouls in the first half that limited her playing time.

However, with Borrego back on the floor, the Eagles found their rhythm for the first time in the game as they halted Sturt by only letting them score nine points in the final quarter with a period of seven minutes with only two points registered.

Borrego scored 21 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Morgan Yaeger added 13 but found it difficult to get her shot going shooting just 4-13 from the field. Samantha Defrancesco finished with 12 points.

Unfortunately for Forestville, the clock was their enemy and they ran out of time to get out of a huge hole. Hatchard nailed a mid range jumper and then Shaw connected on a triple with a minute left to put the game out of reach.

Shaw scored 21 points and 15 rebounds, Hatchard had 14 points and 10 rebounds, Gladstone finished with 11 while Taylor Falting added 13.