College finals season heats up as Adelaide’s basketball and netball teams chase titles

Adelaide’s college sport finals are locked in for the last week of July, with the South Australian Premier League basketball finals tipping off on July 25 at the Wayville Sports Centre and the Statewide Premier Netball finals following on July 27 at the Priceline Stadium in Mile End.

Basketball finals: a four-year drought to break

The men’s Premier League ladder shows South Adelaide Panthers finishing top of the table with a 16-4 record, two games clear of second-placed West Adelaide Bearcats. The Panthers haven’t lifted the men’s trophy since 2022, when they beat Forestville Eagles at the old Adelaide Arena on Henley Beach Road. This year they’ll get the double chance, they only need to win one of two possible finals matches to take the crown.

On the women’s side, Sturt Sabres are the team to beat. They finished the regular season 15-5, led by the league’s top scorer, who averaged 22.1 points per game across 20 matches. Sturt’s home floor is the Sturt Basketball Stadium on East Parkway in Marion, a venue that’s undergone $1.2 million in upgrades since 2024, including new seating and a video scoreboard installed last October.

Ticket prices for the finals weekend are $18 for adults and $10 for concession, with kids under 12 free. Games start at 2pm each Saturday and Sunday across July 25-26 and August 1-2.

Netball: Woodville’s last chance for a double

In netball, Woodville District Netball Club goes into the Statewide Premier League finals as minor premiers in both the open and under-21 divisions, a feat that’s only been achieved once before since the league started in 2009. Woodville trains out of the Priceline Stadium on Park Terrace and runs six senior teams across two divisions, making them the largest college-affiliated netball club in the state.

The open grand final is scheduled for July 27 at 4pm, with the under-21 grand final at 2pm. Admission is free for the preliminary rounds on July 20, but ticketed for finals day, general admission $12, with a family pass for $30. The stadium can hold 3,500 spectators, and last year’s grand final sold out two days before game day.

This year’s field also features a dark horse: North Adelaide Netball Club, based out of the North Adelaide Oval, finished third but beat Woodville twice in the regular season, once by 12 goals on June 8 and again by a single goal on June 29. That head-to-head record means North Adelaide might force a grand final rematch, which would be the first time since 2019 that Woodville hasn’t won the flag in a straight finals series.

All finals are streamed live via the SA Netball Facebook page, and the full fixture is published on the South Australian Netball Association website. For fans wanting to watch in person, gates open at 1pm on finals day at Priceline Stadium, and parking is available at the nearby Mile End railway station car park.