It was a thrilling night on Saturday in the NBL1 West Women’s Division with the Mandurah Magic and Rockingham Flames claiming clutch victories while the Kalamunda Eastern Suns also opened their account for 2021.
Round 6 in the NBL1 West Women’s Division began with the two matches on Friday night which saw the Perth Redbacks beat the East Perth Eagles 68-51 and the Rockingham Flames claim a nail-biter over the Perry Lakes Hawks 62-61.
All those teams backed up to play again on Saturday and remarkably it was another one-point triumph for the Rockingham Flames, this time over the Perth Redbacks at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.
The Flames claimed the 88-87 on the back of a three-point bomb from new recruit Jorjah Smith. She had previously played good basketball with the Kalamunda Eastern Suns, but had a brilliant start with the Flames.
Rockingham was down five with 48 seconds left, but Smith then connected on two three balls on consecutive possessions to turn that into the one-point match winning lead for the Flames.
Tayah Burrows had 22 points and six assists for the Flames, Alex Ciabattoni 19 points and nine assists, and Smith 17 points.
The East Perth Eagles were able to bounce back to head to Eaton Recreation Centre and beat the South West Slammers 93-36 on Saturday night. Makailah Dyer and Bri Bailey had 21 points each for the Redbacks with the latter hitting 7/10 from downtown despite missing the potential winner.
The Eagles held the Slammers to just the 12 points after half-time for the 57-point win with 24 points from Tahlia Fejo and another 14 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and three steals from Mary Goulding. Zaya Black had 13 points for the Slammers.
The Perry Lakes Hawks lost for a second time on the weekend as well with the Kalamunda Eastern Suns beating them 82-63 at Ray Owen Sports Centre.
It was a first win on the season for the Eastern Suns with 19 points from Courtney Mansfield, 18 from Jewel Williams and 17 from Sam Roscoe. Megan McKay had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Perry Lakes.
It was yet another cracking Saturday night contest with the Mandurah Magic winning 69-66 over the Warwick Senators at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre.
Carly Boag landed the killer blows with five points on two shots to turn a tied ball game into a five-point lead for Mandurah. She had 24 points, 19 rebounds, five steals and four assists as well in a monster performance. Stacey Barr top-scored for the Senators with 16 points.
The Willetton Tigers also continued their imposing form with the 73-61 win against the Cockburn Cougars at Wally Hagan Stadium.
Alex Sharp delivered 20 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for the Tigers while Samantha Lubcke provided another 18 points and nine rebounds. Taylah Simmons put up 23 points for Cockburn.
NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN’S SEASON
ROUND 6 – SATURDAY NIGHT
SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 36 lost to EAST PERTH EAGLES 93
To show how far they have improved this season Saturday night was a good test for the East Perth Eagles on the road to the South West Slammers.
East Perth had shown tremendous growth over their first three games winning two of them, but a couple of losses the past two Friday nights had meant they headed to Eaton Recreation Centre on Saturday night needing to bounce back strongly.
The Slammers came into the game still winless having had a rocky start to the season to say the least, but they were on their home floor and the Eagles were coming off a loss the previous evening at home to the Redbacks.
The Eagles quickly asserted their authority on the contest in the opening quarter by piling on the 31 points while allowing just 10 from the Eagles. It was more of the same in the second term with 22 points to 14 and East Perth went into the half-time break leading 53-24.
The Eagles then showed that they are now a much more imposing defensive outfit than they have been in a long time in 2021 as well by holding the Slammers to five points the entire third quarter, and seven in the fourth.
They were able to keep the scoreboard ticking over themselves and went on to the record the commanding 93-36 over the still winless and struggling to be competitive Slammers.
Tahlia Fejo had a night out for the Eagles as she continues to enjoy life at her new club having played at Cockburn last season, and Kalamunda previously. She put up 24 points, four steals, three rebounds and two assists while hitting 6/10 from downtown.
Mary Goulding continued her standout season with East Perth with another 14 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and three steals while Eryn Fisher finished with 12 points and seven boards, Fiona Madden nine points and three assists, Sariah Penese eight points and 10 rebounds, and Jade Gowland eight points, five boards and three assists.
Zaya Black top-scored for the Slammers with 13 points and six rebounds while Amarah Mohammad contributed seven points and Cian Parsons five points, 10 rebounds and three assists.
MANDURAH MAGIC 69 defeated WARWICK SENATORS 66
The Mandurah Magic were at home to the Warwick Senators on Saturday night attempting to snap a three-game losing slide, and they did so but only after coming out on top of a thrilling contest.
After opening their season with a win, Mandurah had lost its last three matches heading into Saturday’s battle with a Senators team having split their opening four contests in the NBL1 West so the stage was set for a fascinating contest at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre.
The Senators shot out of the blocks on fire despite the road trip down south and put up 27 points to just 13 from the Magic in the opening quarter. But it was almost a complete reversal in the second period with Mandurah scoring 24 points and holding Warwick to 10.
That saw scores all locked together at 37-37 by half-time and that set the stage for a cracking finish with the game seemingly destined to go down to the wire.
The Magic were holding onto a narrow advantage for much of the fourth quarter until Stacey Barr nailed a three with just over three minutes to go for the Senators to tie scores up once more.
Carly Boag wasn’t going to let Mandurah lose a fourth straight match, though and she hit a jumper following a steal, and then knocked down a triple after forcing another turnover to put Mandurah up five with just over a minute left.
Barr hit another couple of free-throws but the Magic held on the for the 69-66 win to snap their losing run.
Carly Boag had a monstrous night for Mandurah finishing with 24 points, 19 rebounds, five steals and four assists. The only three she hit of the game was the match-winning one.
Casey Mihovilovich put up 18 points and six rebounds for the Magic as she closes in on her 500th game while Bronte Corke added eight points and three assists, and Emma Klasztorny six points and six boards.
Stacey Barr finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Senators while Tayla Hepburn had 13 points and seven boards, Jayda Clark 10 points, and Nicole Jorre de St Jorre 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.
COCKBURN COUGARS 61 lost to WILLETTON TIGERS 73
It was the battle of on fire teams at Wally Hagan Stadium on Saturday night with the Cockburn Cougars putting their undefeated record on the line against quite the impressive looking Willetton Tigers outfit.
Cockburn came into the game on their home floor having won their opening three matches of life in the NBL1 West Women’s Division while Willetton had been building ominously with championship coach Simon Parker putting together an impressive line-up.
It was the only game of the weekend for both teams too and it was a tight first half with Willetton leading by two at quarter-time and by the same margin at half-time, just up 36-34.
The Tigers were able to pull away in the third quarter and by holding the Cougars to just 12 points, they extended their lead to nine by three quarter-time and then held that edge to score the 73-61 victory.
The win improves Willetton to a 4-1 record on the season while the Cougars are now 3-1 having tasted a loss for the first time in 2021.
The Tigers dominated the rebound battle the longer the game went and ended up pulling in 53 boards to 32, and 21 offensive rebounds to seven which proved pivotal in the final result.
Alex Sharp was dominant for Willetton with 20 points, 11 rebounds and five assists while Samantha Lubcke had another standout performance made up of 18 points and nine boards.
Desiree Kelley put up 14 points and five rebounds, Hayley Winter nine points and Emma Gandini six points, 10 rebounds and three assists.
Taylah Simmons top-scored for the Cougars with 23 points while Jessie Edwards put up 15 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots.
ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 88 defeated PERTH REDBACKS 87
The Rockingham Flames and Perth Redbacks appear two teams capable of going along way this NBL1 West season, and there’s nothing that happened on Saturday night to change that as they played out a cracking contest decided at the buzzer virtually.
Both teams had won three of their first four matches of the season coming into the clash at Mike Barnett Sports Complex, and each had also played on Friday night with the Flames having beaten the Perry Lakes Hawks at the death and the Redbacks taking care of the East Perth Eagles.
On their home floor, the Flames started the better to lead by seven at quarter-time but the Redbacks were able to work their back into the contest in the second term to close the deficit to just three by the half-time break.
Rockingham pushed its advantage back out to four by three quarter-time but Bri Bailey caught fire in spectacular fashion to knockdown three three-pointers in the opening four minutes of the fourth quarter to suddenly tie scores up and set up the cracking finish.
In her 201st game, Jess Jakens scored a couple of baskets to put the Redbacks in front soon after before Friday night’s Rockingham hero Alex Ciabattoni connected on another three-pointer.
Jorjah Smith then got rolling and hit another triple to keep Rockingham up two but that lead soon disappeared thanks to a three ball from Makailah Dyer, basket to Denielle Ashworth and yet another three from Bailey as the Redbacks led 87-82 with under a minute on the clock.
Rockingham were far from finished, though, and it was Smith who was the hero as she quickly turned herself into a fan favourite for the Flames having joined coach Tom Knowles in making the move from Kalamunda for 2021.
She drained two threes in the space of 20 seconds, the first to bring the margin back to two and the second to put Rockingham back in front.
The Redbacks still had time to go and the Flames had plenty of fouls to give, and they used them up to try to wind down the clock, but eventually Perth got a good look for three from Bailey who had gone 7/9 from downtown for the game, but it didn’t quite go and Rockingham won 88-87.
Jorjah Smith ended the game with 17 points and two steals for the Flames while hitting 5/11 from three-point territory.
Tayah Burrows also had 22 points, six assists and five rebounds with Alex Ciabattoni contributing 19 points and nine assists. Christina Boag had a big game too with 20 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Bri Bailey showed what a prodigious talent she is for the Redbacks with the 21 points on 7/10 three-point shooting while her backcourt partner Makailah Dyer finished with 21 points, six boards, three assists and two steals.
Shenae Hartree had 17 points, Denielle Ashworth 11 and Jess Jakens 10 while Maddie Allen had four points, 12 rebounds and 14 assists in a terrific all-round performance against the team she helped lead to the 2019 championship where she was named Grand Final MVP.
KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 82 defeated PERRY LAKES HAWKS 63
The Kalamunda Eastern Suns and Perry Lakes Hawks were attempting to snap losing runs when they did battle at Ray Owen Sports Centre on Saturday night.
Under the coaching of championship winner Craig Mansfield who has returned to the Eastern Suns this season, it hadn’t been the ideal start with losing the opening three matches but they also had plenty of players still to make up the finished squad that he will hope to finish the season with.
Perry Lakes had lost its last couple of games too even though they hadn’t been playing poorly including on Friday night when they only lost at the bell to the Rockingham Flames at Bendat Basketball Centre.
With both teams desperate for a win, it was a tight opening quarter but the Eastern Suns began to break away in the second quarter on their home floor to head into half-time leading 44-35.
Kalamunda then rammed home its advantage in the third quarter holding Perry Lakes to just the 12 points while scoring 22 themselves, and that was enough to secure the 82-63 win in the finish as they tasted victory for the first time in NBL1 West.
The inclusion for the first time of Sam Roscoe made a significant difference for the Eastern Suns as she rejoins Craig Mansfield as her coach after they teamed up to win a championship with Lakeside back in 2018.
Roscoe made her Kalamunda debut with 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks while the captain of that Lightning championship, Courtney Mansfield also put up 19 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Suns.
Jewel Williams also had 18 points, four rebounds and four assists, Rebecca Motroni nine points and Mia Jacobs nine to go with eight rebounds.
Megan McKay fought valiantly for Perry Lakes with 16 points and 12 rebounds while Sarah Donovan finished with 10 points and eight boards, Millie McCarthy seven points, Morgan Ballantyne seven points and four assists, and Mia Satie seven points and four rebounds.