Rnd 8: Tigers Women hold on to beat Bearcats

By Mark Halliday

West Adelaide Bearcats 66 | Southern Tigers 79

The Southern Tigers continued their strong start to the season with a comfortable 79-66 win over the West Adelaide Bearcats despite a late run from the home side giving the Tigers something to consider before the final buzzer.

The Tigers established a commanding position at the tail end of the first quarter after both teams were quick off the mark and trading buckets from the opening tip. The key for Southern was their defence and their ability to force the Bearcats into turnovers or coming up with a steal and running it back the other way for easy points. The Tigers scored an incredible 28 points off turnovers throughout the game.

When they weren't running the break, the Tigers were slick in their half-court offence. With Mollie McKendrick posting up, Ta'Rea Cunnigan deadly on the drive and Kelsie Rutland hitting from deep, Southern proved difficult to slow down. The Tigers were turning good shots into great shots, while bad passes were costly mistakes for West Adelaide.

Southern held a 20 point advantage after three quarters which quickly increased to 25 early in the fourth. However, the Bearcats finally found their way and began closing the gap. The Tigers weren't completely flawless, bad passes and turnovers crept into their game as their lead decreased.

Tahlia Fejo, Sky Langenbrinck, Ashlea Vordermaier and Stana Zecevic all found the net during an 18-5 Bearcats run to cut the lead to 12 points. Cunnigan responded for Southern with a pair of shots to halt the Bearcats and with less than two minutes left on the clock it was enough to close out the game.

Cunnigan led the Tigers on both ends with 21 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists. McKendrick had an equally impressive game finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Rutland also scored 16 with Robinson adding 8 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 blocks.

Zecevic scored 21 points and grabbed 9 rebounds for the Bearcats. Fejo added 15 points, 6 steals and Vordermaier had 10 points as West Adelaide left their run too late and faced an uphill battle in the final quarter.

Round 9: Saturday, 7 May at 6.30pm

Southern Tigers v Woodville Warriors @ St Clair

West Adelaide v Norwood Flames @ Port Adelaide




Comments

Comment Guidelines: The SportsTG Network is made up of players, families and passionate sports followers like you who have a strong opinion about sport. That's great - we want you to have your say and share your thoughts with the world. However, we have a few rules that you must follow to keep it fun for all. Please don't be rude, abusive, swear or vilify others. Apart from some pretty serious sport sanctions, we also can ban you and report you if things get out of hand. So play fair and have fun, and thanks for your contribution.

Create A Team App Account.

Stack Team App is a platform that allows teams and social groups to improve communication by creating their own smartphone app.

Create A Team/Club