• Sturt won a first championship since 2008 and a sixth overall
• Sisters Chloe and Coco Hodges were held to five points each
• Alex Starling took 15 rebounds and was named Grand Final MVP
• Woollacott Medallist Jeremy Smith scored 27 of South Adelaide's 58 points

Sturt co-captain Nicola Mathews has been named NBL1 Central Grand Final MVP after leading the Sabres to a 76-70 win against minor premiers West Adelaide at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Saturday, August 8, 2026, and a first championship since 2008.

It was Sturt's fourth grand final in five years. The Sabres had lost the other three.

The Sabres were beaten in the 2022, 2023 and 2025 deciders, and Saturday's win was their sixth championship overall in the women's competition.

Mathews, 28, was playing for them through the 2023 and 2025 grand final defeats.

She finished with 12 points and three rebounds, going 2-from-2 from deep and 2-from-2 from the charity stripe. She was 4-from-14 overall and turned the ball over eight times, more than anyone on the floor, and it did not matter, because the two shots she did not miss were the two that mattered most.

Mathews averaged 11.68 points in 22 games this season. In the one that ended the wait she scored 12.

West Adelaide came into the game having lost once in 18 rounds.

The Bearcats went 17-1 in the home-and-away season with a points percentage of 166.30, the best record in either NBL1 Central competition, under Matthew Clarke, the competition's Coach of the Year. Sturt finished second at 14-4.

West Adelaide had beaten the 14-4 Sabres three times already this season, the last of those in the second semi-final that sent the Bearcats straight through to the decider.

That was the problem.

West Adelaide had played one game in a month. Sturt arrived off a preliminary final, having beaten Norwood twice to get there.

Sturt won the opening quarter 24-10.

West Adelaide lost because their two leading scorers were held to five points each.

Chloe Hodges, 24, the 2026 NBL1 Central Defensive Player of the Year and an All-Star Five selection, went 2-from-8 for five points against a season average of 14.4. Her younger sister Coco, 19, went 2-from-9 for five against an average of 13.2.

Between them they went 4-from-17 for 10 points, against a combined average of 27.6.

West Adelaide lost by six. But neither disappeared. Chloe had six rebounds and six assists, Coco had nine boards, and the pair took down 15 of the Bearcats' 47 rebounds between them. Sturt took away their scoring.

The wider number is uglier. West Adelaide shot 7-from-38 from beyond the arc, 18.42 per cent. Sturt made the same seven from 16 attempts.

Morgan Yaeger, West Adelaide's other All-Star Five selection, went 4-from-16 for eight points.

Tayla Brazel top-scored for the Sabres with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists on 7-from-16, including 3-from-5 from three and a perfect 4-from-4 from the line. Brazel won the Merv Harris Award this season as the competition's highest-placed women's under-23 player.

Paige Padroth came off the bench for 19 points and five rebounds on 7-from-13.

Elizabeth Williamson had eight points and 13 rebounds in 21 minutes and 57 seconds off the bench, 10 of them defensive.

Zoe Walker-Roberts scored nine on 4-from-5.

The fourth quarter is where West Adelaide nearly took it back.

Trailing 63-54 with 8:02 to play, the Bearcats scored 14 of the next 20 points. Krystal Thompson, who had 17 points in 16 minutes and 35 seconds off the bench, hit a three at 4:19 and a driving layup at 2:06. Alexandra Ciabattoni scored at 6:11 and again at 2:51 on the way to 16 points and seven rebounds.

Ashlee Strawbridge buried a three at 1:36 to make it 69-68.

That was as close as it got.

Williamson answered with a hook shot 10 seconds later, Padroth scored a floating jump shot at 0:38 and added a free throw at 0:34, and five unanswered Sturt points made it 74-68 with half a minute left.

Strawbridge tipped one back in at 0:21. Brazel made both free throws at 0:14.

Ciabattoni missed three-point attempts at 0:02 and 0:01.

Sturt finished second on the ladder in both NBL1 Central competitions this season. Their women are the ones holding a championship.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Nicola Mathews (Sturt) - Grand Final MVP, 12 points against a season average of 11.68, 2-from-2 from three, 2-from-2 from the line‍
• Tayla Brazel (Sturt) - 21 points, six rebounds, five assists, and this season's Merv Harris Award winner‍
• Paige Padroth (Sturt) - 19 points and five rebounds off the bench on 7-from-13‍
• Elizabeth Williamson (Sturt) - eight points and 13 rebounds in under 22 minutes off the bench‍
• Krystal Thompson (West Adelaide) - 17 points in 16 minutes and 35 seconds off the bench‍
• Chloe and Coco Hodges (West Adelaide) - five points each, 4-from-17 combined, against a combined season average of 27.6‍
• The three-point line - West Adelaide 7-from-38 (18.42 per cent), Sturt 7-from-16 (43.75 per cent)

'Starling' of the show: Forestville win the Central Men's title

Forestville's Alex Starling has been named NBL1 Central Grand Final MVP after ripping down 15 rebounds in the Eagles' 77-58 win against South Adelaide at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Saturday, August 8, 2026.

Starling was already the competition's Defensive Player of the Year. He won the game with the part of it he is paid to do.

Forestville shot 32.91 per cent and won by 19.

They did it on the glass. The Eagles grabbed 62 rebounds to South Adelaide's 46, and 24 of theirs came at the offensive end against the Panthers' 15. On a night when 53 of their 79 shots missed, they simply kept getting the ball back.

Starling had 15 of those rebounds, five of them offensive, along with 12 points, two assists, two steals and a plus-21. He shot 5-from-14.

He was not the only one.

Greg Mays finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds on 6-from-14. Daniel Johnson had 14 points and 11 rebounds, going 3-from-5 from beyond the arc and taking seven offensive boards on his own.

Three double-doubles, in a grand final, from a side that could not shoot.

Jordan Forbes top-scored for Forestville with 15 points and six assists on 5-from-14. Captain Adam Doyle added 11 on a perfect 4-from-4 from the charity stripe. Fiston Ipassou had 10 and six rebounds off the bench.

The game was effectively decided in the first 10 minutes.

Forestville led 23-9 at quarter-time, 41-28 at the main break and 56-45 at three-quarter-time, then won the final term 21-13. South Adelaide never got the margin back inside nine after half-time.

Jeremy Smith carried the Panthers almost alone.

The South Adelaide captain won this season's Woollacott Medal, and on Saturday he scored 27 of his side's 58 points, shooting 9-from-20 from the field and a perfect 9-from-9 from the free-throw line.

No other Panther cleared 11.

Lloyd McVeigh had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Daniel Smith pulled down 13 rebounds for five points. Jonty Smith hit two triples for six.

South Adelaide went 4-from-22 from three, 18.18 per cent, and 12-from-22 from the line.

Four of the five players named in this season's Central men's All-Star Five were on the floor. Smith and McVeigh wore South Adelaide. Forbes and Johnson wore Forestville. The Eagles pair went home with a championship.

Forestville arrived as minor premiers on a five-game winning streak, having gone 16-2 in the home-and-away season. South Adelaide had the highest points-for of any side in the top four, 1756 across 18 rounds, and were held to 58.

Sturt finished second on both NBL1 Central ladders this season. Forestville finished first on one of them, and they are the men's champions.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Alex Starling (Forestville) - Grand Final MVP and Defensive Player of the Year, 12 points, 15 rebounds, +21‍
• Greg Mays (Forestville) - 13 points and 14 rebounds on 6-from-14‍
• Daniel Johnson (Forestville) - 14 points and 11 rebounds, 3-from-5 from three, seven offensive boards‍
• Jordan Forbes (Forestville) - 15 points and six assists, the Eagles' top scorer‍
• Jeremy Smith (South Adelaide) - the Woollacott Medallist scored 27 of his side's 58 points and lost by 19‍
• The rebound count - Forestville 62, South Adelaide 46, with 24 offensive boards to 15‍
• The shooting - Forestville won by 19 while making 26 of 79 shots