By Mark Halliday

Norwood Flames 89 | South Adelaide Panthers

A hot start for the Norwood Flames set up a big win in the final regular season game as the Flames defeated the South Adelaide Panthers 89-61 at Mars on Saturday night.

The Flames jumped out to a huge lead in the first 10 minutes as a 30-10 first quarter advantage set the tone of the game right from the opening tip. Norwood were faultless in their ball movement and consistently found the open shooter for easy points.

A slow start from South saw them down 20 after one quarter, cutting the lead down to 16 in a stretch of good play before letting the lead blow out to 23 by half time. The Panthers had their moments but were unlucky to not have their shots drop and found themselves one step behind the Flames.

The second half was a similar story with the Flames holding a 20 plus point lead for the majority. The Panthers made a small run in the fourth to cut the lead to 15 but it was a short lived success as the Norwood starters returned to the floor and closed out the game.

Marisa Stabile led all scorers with 24 points and 6 rebounds, Jess Good added 23 points, 16 rebounds and 2 steals while Cara Annetts did a little bit of everything in her 15 point, 9 rebound, 7 assist performance.

South was led by Ieva Nagy who scored 20 and grabbed 5 rebounds, Tayla Corrigan was the only other double digit scorer with 13.

South finished their season a disappointing ninth with a 2-19 record.

Meanwhile, Norwood ends the season with the best record at 18-3 and gets a week off before beginning their finals campaign.