WITH the National Basketball League (NBL)1 West Women’s 2024 season wrapping up over the weekend, Warwick Senators star Chloe Forster had a massive game to lead her team to a massive win over the Lakeside Lightning in the final round.

The Senators hosted the Lightning at Warwick Stadium on Friday night in one of the first games to take place over the weekend. Both sides had qualified for finals, with the home side securing second spot, while Lakeside was sitting in seventh position. It seemed unlikely that the clash would affect the standings, but other results may have seen the two sides change spots, so there was still a level of importance.

The Senators got off to just about the perfect start, getting their offence rolling while restricting the output of the Lightning to lead by 12 at the first break. Things went from bad to worse for Lakeside, as Warwick pushed the lead out to 26 at the main change after holding the visitors to just seven points in the second period. Remarkably, the Senators’ dominance continued into the second half, leading by a whopping 44 points at the final change, and eventually cruising home to a 45-point victory.

Forster was an absolute star for the winning side, nearly posting an enormous triple-double and steering the ship as her side headed into the postseason in ideal form.

Warwick Senators (95) def. Lakeside Lightning (50)

Chloe Forster – 31 points, nine rebounds, 13 assists, four steals, one block

There was not much the Lightning could do to contain Forster on Friday night, with the 21-year-old taking over the match in several ways.

No other player was more damaging on the scoring front than Warwick’s talented youngster, as Forster posted 31 points on 12/21 shooting from the field. She also knocked down six triples on 11 attempts, looking to space the floor and punish the opposition with maximum points.

She was particularly damaging in the third quarter, dropping 17 points and helping put the game out of reach with an explosive 10-minute patch of offence.

On the glass, she was excellent at reading opposition misses, with eight of her nine rebounds coming on the defensive end. Although not the tallest player on either team, her pure ability to find the ball was on display.

Although she had the green light to fire off shots, Forster got her teammates involved with some expert passing, recording a whopping 13 assists. Her decision-making and timing was unparalleled and certainly opened things up offensively for the Senators.

Forster capped off an impressive 2024 campaign in style, dominating from start to finish in a big win and should be one of the key players in the coming weeks.