By Connor Rice

Eastern Mavericks 74 | South Adelaide Panthers 64

Two of the league’s teams looking for bounce back wins faced off on Saturday night. The Mavericks jumped out to an early lead against the Panthers, as they struggled to neutralise the visitors’ outside shooting.

The outside shooting of the Mavericks seemed to be too much for the Panthers defensively. The Mavs finished with the game with 4 of their players with multiple 3’s. When a team is that locked in from outside, it’s often hard to stem the flow. The Mavericks are a typically smaller team but they have a crafty guard set and players willing to step up which proved pivotal in the win.

Tracey Carrington was huge for the Mavericks finishing with 22 points. Averaging over 15 PPG on the season, Carrington has been a consistent source of scoring for the Mavs and Saturday night was no different as she went to work both inside and out.

The Panthers were a considerably better team in the second half as their defence stepped up and they managed to get some easy layups out in transition. The deficit ended up getting down to as little as 8 points at one point as the Panthers were getting good shots and playing smarter basketball. Unfortunately time ran out though as they were just about to even up the score but it was testament to the young side as their resilience showed. Another great contribution from Ieva Nagy with 21 points who was huge in the comeback push.

The Panthers women went down by 10 points. Still looking for their second win, the team will need to be better from the outset and try not to play catch up for the game. A solid testament to the Mavericks for icing the game in the closing moments.

Round 10: Saturday, 21 May at 6.30pm

Eastern Mavericks v Forestville Eagles @ Wayville

South Adelaide v Sturt Sabres @ Pasadena