'Hard Knox': Raiders carry 16-game streak into Adelaide

• Knox defend the national title as top seed on a 16-game streak
• Waverley, beaten by 26 in the South final, are seeded third here
• The top two after two rounds meet in Sunday's championship game

Knox Raiders open their defence of the NBL1 women's national title against Sturt Sabres at 6:30pm ACST on Friday, top seed, reigning champions and unbeaten since May.

The streak is 16 games. The last of them was the NBL1 South grand final on 15 August, an 80-54 win over Waverley Falcons that gave Knox back-to-back South championships and Paige Bradley the grand final MVP.

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basketball.com.au's Bec Cole (It's a Cole World) and podcast partners Jacinta Govind, Jake Burfitt and Christopher Caldicott are part of the commentary teams.

Waverley are in Adelaide too, seeded third as South runners-up, and they open against Mackay Meteorettes at 4:30pm ACST. If both clubs finish in the top two, the team Knox beat by 26 a week ago gets them again with a national title on it.

Sturt have the harder job and the better room. They won Central, they are seeded sixth, and they are the South Australian club in a South Australian venue, which is the closest thing this tournament has to a home game.

Bankstown Bruins, the East champions, are seeded second and play Warwick Senators of the West at 6pm ACST.

Every club plays once on Friday and once on Saturday. The top two after those two rounds meet in the championship game at 11am ACST on Sunday, and nobody plays a knockout round to get there.

Twelve teams, more than 120 players and coaches, and the first time the NBL1 National Finals have been held in Adelaide. Canberra, the Sunshine Coast, Joondalup and Melbourne have all hosted before.