What a Friday night it was in the penultimate round of the NBL1 West Women’s Division season with the Willetton Tigers almost winning by 100 points while the Mandurah Magic kept their season alive and the Perry Lakes kept their form going.
It was always going to be a tough weekend for the winless Slammers against the top two teams but it couldn’t have got off to a worse start against Willetton on Friday night while the Magic and Hawks won crucially to keep up that battle for one of the final two playoff positions up for grabs.
Round 17 in the NBL1 West Women’s Division got underway back on Tuesday with the Perry Lakes Hawks defeating the Mandurah Magic 80-52 at Bendat Basketball Centre.
The Warwick Senators then won a crucial clash with the East Perth Eagles 95-89 at Herb Graham Recreation Centre on Thursday night and the Joondalup Wolves defeated the Cockburn Cougars at HBF Arena.
Then on Friday night, the Mandurah Magic bounced back from their loss on Tuesday impressively to beat the Perth Redbacks 81-66 at Belmont Oasis to keep their playoff aspirations alive.
Carly Boag was huge for the Magic with 28 points and 12 rebounds while Casey Mihovilovich was hugely influential with 17 points and 11 assists. Jess Jakens finished with 20 points for the Redbacks.
The Perry Lakes Hawks kept their momentum going with another big win to go closer to locking in a playoff spot, defeating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 74-51 at Bendat Basketball Centre.
Maddie Dennis top-scored for Perry Lakes with 17 points and eight rebounds while Jewel Williams had 14 points and three steals for the Eastern Suns.
The biggest win of the NBL1 West season then took place at Willetton Basketball Stadium with the Willetton Tigers putting the South West Slammers to the sword with the eventual 129-33 victory.
Alex Sharp continued the recent trend of triple-doubles in the league with 27 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for the Tigers while Grace Foster had 25 points, Sam Lubcke 24 and Emma Gandini 18 in the 96-point hammering. Adele East scored 18 of the Slammers’ 33 points.
Round 17 in the NBL1 West Women’s Division wraps up with three big games on Saturday night including the Mandurah Magic playing their third game of the week up against the Rockingham Flames at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre.
The South West Slammers somehow try to bounce back against another top two team the Joondalup Wolves at Eaton Recreation Centre and then there is the Warwick Senators hosting the Willetton Tigers at Warwick Stadium.
NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN’S SEASON
ROUND 17 – FRIDAY NIGHT
PERTH REDBACKS 66 lost to MANDURAH MAGIC 81
The Mandurah Magic came out hungry to bounce back from what could still be a costly loss to the Perry Lakes Hawks to beat the Perth Redbacks on Friday night and keep their playoff hopes alive.
The Magic had been in impressive form winning four of their last five matches to put themselves back in the playoff hunt coming into Tuesday night’s game. But they didn’t fire a shot against Perry Lakes at Bendat Basketball Centre going on to lose the game by 28 points.
That could still be a cruel blow to their playoff prospects but coming into Friday’s game against the Redbacks at Belmont Oasis, their challenge was up against a team already guaranteed to play finals and just looking to keep winning to try and finish up as high as possible.
But with Casey Mihovilovich and Carly Boag playing inspired and determined basketball, and Makailah Dyer having an uncharacteristically off shooting night for the Redbacks, the Magic just looked so locked in that they were never going to drop this one from the outset.
The Magic led 24-19 by quarter-time on the back of a three from Kelsey Brett just before the end of the opening period.
It was a tight affair throughout the second quarter, though, and the game was well and truly up for grabs at the half-time break with Mandurah only clinging to a 43-40 advantage.
Mandurah took over in the third quarter, though, and when Emma Klasztorny knocked down a three-pointer, they were up 11 halfway through the period.
It then became a bank party the rest of the quarter with Mihovilovich nailing two three-pointers before three quarter-time both off the backboard. Sarah Allen did the same for the Redbacks but the Magic had worked their way well on top heading into the fourth leading 67-50.
The Magic knew they needed to win to keep their playoff hopes alive following Tuesday’s loss to Perry Lakes and they never looked like letting the Redbacks seriously back into it in the final term as they went on to score the crucial 81-66 win.
Carly Boag was a dominant force inside for the Magic with 28 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals on efficient 12/17 shooting from the field.
Casey Mihovilovich might now be well over 500 games into her career, but she had just as big an impact as ever for Mandurah with another 17 points, 11 assists, four steals and three rebounds.
Kelsey Brett also had nine points for the Magic, Emma Klasztorny nine points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists, and Rachel Halleen eight points and three boards.
Captain Jess Jakens top-scored for the Redbacks with 20 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists while shooting 8/11 from the floor.
Sarah Allen stepped up with 13 points for the Redbacks shooting a perfect 5/5 from the field and 3/3 from the three-point line with Raya Thompson adding 11 points and five rebounds, and Makailah Dyer 11 points despite a tough 3/15 shooting night with 0/7 from downtown.
PERRY LAKES HAWKS 74 defeated KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 51
The Perry Lakes Hawks continue to close in on securing a spot in the playoffs for the inaugural NBL1 West season after beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns by 23 points on Friday night.
The Lady Hawks were coming off a crucial 80-52 win against the Mandurah Magic to open Round 17 also at Bendat Basketball Centre back on Tuesday night, and were looking to repeat the dose against the Eastern suns on Friday.
The Suns might be out of contention for the playoffs but do possess a front court capable of taking it up to that of the Hawks led by Sam Roscoe and Ellyce Ironmonger while any back court with Jewel Williams is always a threat.
Add in that they are coached by championship winner Craig Mansfield and Perry Lakes couldn’t afford to take Kalamunda for granted knowing any loss in the run into the end of the regular season could be fatal to their finals prospects.
But on the back of the momentum of that win over the Magic after breaking East Perth’s winning run last Saturday night, the Hawks started strongly again against the Eastern Suns with 24 points to 13 in the opening term.
It was another 19 points to eight in the second and the game was just about over as a contest by half-time with Perry Lakes leading 43-21.
The Suns made more of a game of it by playing better in the second half with 16 points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth, but the Hawks did enough to get the job done with 31 points of their own through the second half to claim the 74-51 victory.
It was a hugely dominant performance on the boards from the Hawks with 59 rebounds to just 35 from the Eastern Suns including 23 at the offensive end to eight.
Maddie Dennis top-scored for Perry Lakes with 17 points and eight rebounds on a supremely efficient 8/11 shooting from the floor.
Mia Satie delivered another 12 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals for Perry Lakes with Megan McKay flirting with a triple-double with 10 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
Nat Burton added 10 points, eight rebounds and three steals with Millie McCarthy adding seven points, five boards and four assists.
Jewel Williams top-scored for the Eastern Suns with 14 points and three steals while Ellyce Ironmonger finished with eight points and 10 boards, Rebecca Motroni eight points and two assists, and Mia Jacobs seven points.
WILLETTON TIGERS 129 defeated SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 33
It wasn’t that big of a surprise to see a big win for the Willetton Tigers over the South West Slammers, but the 96-point margin might have been quite beyond anyone’s expectations.
With Willetton needing to keep winning to maintain their hold on top spot in a fascinating battle over the regular season championship with the Joondalup Wolves who they lost to in overtime last week, the Tigers were never going to take it easy on the Slammers.
The Slammers had lost all 15 of their matches this season by an average of just over 50 points, but Friday night against the Tigers at Willetton Basketball Stadium saw things head to record levels.
Willetton put up 40 points in the first quarter and the signs were ominous of what was to come the rest of the evening with South West managing just the nine points.
There would be no let up whatsoever the rest of the night from the Tigers as they piled on another 32 points to 10 in the second term to head into half-time leading 72-19.
The Slammers then managed just the five points the entire third quarter with Willetton scoring another 29, and then it was 28 points to nine in the fourth term with the Tigers going on to record the remarkable 129-33 victory on their home floor.
Willetton finished the game with 57 rebounds to 29 while forcing the Slammers into 32 turnovers and holding them to shooting 9/50 from the field and 1/16 from three-point range. Willetton shot 48/87 at 55 per cent and 18/38 at 47 per cent from three-point range.
Alex Sharp recorded the third triple-double in the competition over the past week putting in a brilliant performance made up of 27 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists and four steals on 11/15 shooting.
Grace Foster added 25 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Tigers, and Sam Lubcke 24 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two assists.
Adele East ended up scoring 18 of the 33 points for the Slammers while Javene Fitch contributed six points and two rebounds, and Cian Parsons four points and six boards.