North Adelaide Rockets 80 defeated South Adelaide Panthers 63

The North Adelaide Rockets have advanced to the preliminary final as Jamie-Lee Peris and Jo Hill led the Rockets to a 17 point victory over the visiting South Adelaide Panthers at Hillcrest.

The Rockets skipped out to an early lead in the first quarter but South recovered after a sluggish start and trailed by two points at the first break.

North's game plan involved running the offence through Peris and Hill and looking inside for easy baskets. Getting the ball to Hill on the high post or feeding Peris on the low block was too much for South to handle. Peris displayed a range of spins and hook shots to make the Panthers’ defense think twice about leaving her alone.

The Rockets opened the second quarter with 11 unanswered points as Peris and Hill gave South troubles on how to guard. Peris headed to the bench after Lauren Badenoch nailed back-to-back triples and the Panthers made a small dent in the lead. However, Peris immediately scored as she returned to the court and the Panthers were down by 16 at the end of the half.

The third was a similar story as Peris and Hill propelled the Rockets even further in front, leading by a massive 23 points at the end of the third.

The Panthers finally had a run of their own but unfortunately for the visitors it was far too late as they got as close as 13 points with only one minute left in regulation.

South was led by Janae Howard. She finished with 18 points and nine rebounds. Jess Mahony added 15 while Ieva Nagy scored 12 for the Panthers.

Peris (24 points, 15 rebounds) and Hill (19 points, 10 rebounds) led all scorers for the Rockets. Shannon McKay added 10 points and Badenoch wasn't far off a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds.

By Mark Halliday