Friday belongs to Fejo, Tigers final fling claws Bearcats

Like the name of her WNBL side, Jasmin Fejo continued her lightning start to the NBL1 Central season in her sides 80-64 win over the Southern Tigers last night. Photo by Wandering Lion Photography

There was some basketball action last night as the West Adelaide Bearcats took on the Southern Tigers in the first of the stagnated Round 2 fixture at the Bearcat Cave…

Friday belongs to Fejo

A 28-17 second quarter led by WNBL Adelaide Lightning’s Jasmin Fejo setup the upset over last year’s champions the Southern Tigers 80-64. Fejo was back to her lightning best as she peeled off 30 points at 57 percent including 4 triples, 5 steals, 4 assists and 3 rebounds including 10 points in that quarter. It was an impressive debut from the former duck, U17 captain and AFLW Adelaide Crows player Jasmine Simmons as she clocked 10 points at a perfect clip, 14 rebounds and 6 assists while Bendigo Spirit’s Jennie Rintala dropped another double double of 13 points and 10 rebounds. The Tigers were led by Morgan Yaeger with another big one in 34 points with 5 triples, 4 rebounds and steals and 3 assists and Rintala’s teammate Demi Skinner dropped 13 points, 3 rebounds and assists. Overall it was a tough night for Lightning assistant coach Matthew Clarke and his team.

The key stat for the Bearcats was they dominated the “Nykiel” zone scoring no more than 8 points from that region in each quarter. It was the catalyst that gave them back-to-back wins and a huge start to the 2022 season.

Tigers final fling claws Bearcats

A huge final term from the Southern Tigers gave coach Tom Hilbig his first win in his head coaching career as the Tigers scratched their way to a 66-76 win. The 19-27 term was sparked by incoming 36ers rookie Lachlan Olbrich and imports Ricardo Martin and Vionte Daniels. Martin hit back hard after last week’s result with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists plus some juicy dunks including one handed flush that put a couple of Bearcats on an insta post-er. Not to be outdone was stat sheet stuffer Daniels (13 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals), Brandon Holloway (11 points at 71 percent), Machar Machar (10 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks) and Olbrich (10 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks) in a very even performance for the yellow and black. For the Bearcats import Nate Sheppard backed up last week with 17 points and 7 rebounds as did Nik DeSantis (16 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists) and a cameo from Luke Cadzow (13 points with 3 triples) made things interesting in the second quarter. In the end the Tigers 81 percent from the field in the final quarter decided the entertaining Good Friday contest.

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RD 2 Womens West Adelaide Bearcats 80 (Fejo 30, Rintala 13, Simmons 10, Brenton 9, Langenbrinck 8) defeated Southern Tigers (Yaeger 34, Skinner 13)

RD 2 Mens West Adelaide Bearcats 66 (Sheppard 17, DeSantis 16, Cadzow 13, L Hunter 10, Ciganovic 7) defeated by Southern Tigers 76 (Martin 15, Daniels 13, Holloway 11, Machar, L Olbrich 10, J Smith, Artacho 7)