The Warwick Senators kept their season alive in the NBL1 West Women’s Division in emphatic fashion on Saturday night while the Willetton Tigers had to overcome a big early deficit to overcome the East Perth Eagles.
Week 1 of the finals in the inaugural NBL1 West season concluded on Saturday night with the Senators producing a surprisingly dominant performance against the Mandurah Magic while the Tigers only just escaped with a four-point home win against the Eagles to advance to a preliminary final.
The NBL1 West Women’s Division finals got underway on Friday night with the Joondalup Wolves moving into a preliminary final after a 90-48 thrashing of the Perth Redbacks at HBF Arena.
It was a much tighter affair at Mike Barnett Sports Complex with the Cockburn Cougars producing the upset 81-75 victory to eliminate the Rockingham Flames.
That all led into Saturday night which got underway with the elimination final between the fifth placed Warwick Senators and eighth placed Mandurah Magic.
The Senators started well and despite their best efforts with an experienced squad, the Magic were never quite able to get back to seriously threaten as Warwick won 97-64 to advance to a semi-final while Mandurah’s season comes to an end.
Tayla Hepburn put up 22 points for the Senators, Caitlyn Jones 16, Stacey Barr 15 and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard 15 while Casey Mihovilovich did what she could with 25 points and eight assists in the 509th game of her remarkable career.
Then at Willetton Basketball Stadium, the upstart East Perth Eagles made a remarkable start to throw the gauntlet right down to the regular season champion Willetton Tigers.
East Perth led by as much as 18 points by half-time but Willetton had closed the gap to two by three quarter-time and went on to win 77-73 to book in a preliminary final spot but the Eagles still get a home semi-final.
Desiree Kelley top-scored for Willetton with 19 points while Sam Lubcke had 18 and Alex Sharp 16 to go with 17 rebounds and eight assists. Mary Goulding had another 24 points, 17 rebounds, five steals and four assists for East Perth.
The two semi finals now on Friday night will see the Perth Redbacks host the Cockburn Cougars and the East Perth Eagles take on the Warwick Senators.
Willetton and Joondalup await the respective winners in Saturday night’s preliminary finals with the winners of those to meet in the following Friday’s Grand Final.
NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN’S SEASON
FINALS WEEK 1 – SATURDAY NIGHT
ELIMINATION FINAL – WARWICK SENATORS 97 defeated MANDURAH MAGIC 64
The Mandurah Magic might have found some terrific form to qualify for the finals in the NBL1 West Women’s Division, but the Warwick Senators didn’t allow them to show that on Saturday night in their elimination final.
The Senators played host to the Magic at Warwick Stadium with a spot in the semi finals against the East Perth Eagles on Friday night on the line, but it was a difficult game to know what to expect from going into it.
Warwick finished the regular season in fifth position with a 10-8 record but they had won just three of their last eight games although two wins were against fellow finalists East Perth and Cockburn while the other saw them knock out the Perry Lakes Hawks last Friday night.
Mandurah, meanwhile, had a horror start under new coach Vlad Alava losing seven of the opening nine matches, but he’s not a championship winner for nothing.
With remarkable veterans Casey Mihovilovich, Rachel Halleen, Carly Boag, Emma Klasztorny and Kelly Bailey leading their charge, the Magic won seven of the last nine matches including beating finalists the Wolves, Redbacks and Flames to book in another finals appearance.
It was the Magic who had more of the momentum coming into Saturday night’s elimination final at Warwick Stadium, but the Senators soon turned that on the head both through their strong and impressive play, and being on the right end of an increasingly lopsided foul count.
It didn’t take long for the Senators to end up in the bonus racking up five quick fouls on the Magic before Warwick turned a tied game at 21-21 late in the first quarter to a 31-21 quarter-time lead on the back of hitting the last 10 points.
That lead quickly grew to 14 for the Senators to start the second quarter with buckets to Stacey Barr and Tayla Hepburn but the Magic then got on a roll for the first time of the night and when Casey Mihovilovich hit from deep, it was just a four-point ball game.
The Magic had picked up the momentum but Warwick responded with a three-point play to Rebekah Throns and with the help of two tech fouls as well against the Magic, the Senators were back on top leading 52-33 by half-time.
The foul count was 13 to five in favour of the Senators at the half with Warwick taking 16 free-throws to six from Mandurah leaving the Magic frustrated, but the fact was the home team was playing better at the same time.
That became more and more evident throughout the second half with the Magic attempting to mount a comeback, but each time they picked up a piece of momentum the Senators had the answers by nailing a big shot up the other end.
That trend continued the rest of the way with the Senators still outscoring the Magic 45 points to 31 in the second half to secure the 97-64 win and advance to the semi finals where they take on East Perth at Herb Graham Recreation Centre on Friday night.
The Senators only shot 3/13 from the three-point line but overall went at a terrific 56.5 per cent from the field on the night on top of winning the rebound battle by 14. The Magic shot just 33.3 per cent for the evening.
Tayla Hepburn had an impressive game inside for the Senators with 22 points and six rebounds on 11/15 shooting.
Caitlyn Jones stood up for 16 points and seven assists as well while Stacey Barr threatened for a triple-double with 15 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists and four steals on shooting just 5/9 from the floor.
Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard added 15 points, four rebounds and three assists, Chloe Forster 12 points and four boards, and Rebekah Throns eight points and five rebounds.
Casey Mihovilovich now finishes the season on 509 games, within sight of the 512 games record, and she was her team’s standout performer once more giving the Magic 25 points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals while hitting 4/11 from three-point range.
Carly Boag battled hard for 21 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and four steals as well for Mandurah but they just didn’t get enough helpers on the night.
QUALIFYING FINAL – WILLETTON TIGERS 77 defeated EAST PERTH EAGLES 73
It was the perennial powerhouses up against a team who has come from nowhere going at it at Willetton Basketball Stadium, and it turned out a fascinating contest to decide who would move straight into a preliminary final.
Willetton won eight championships in the SBL from 12 Grand Final appearances in the women’s competition so it’s no surprise to see them start up life in the NBL1 West again so impressively.
Under the astute coaching of Simon Parker, the Tigers finished on top of the table at the end of the regular season to earn home court advantage for Saturday’s qualifying final.
East Perth was its opponent and despite having won just one of their previous 54 games when Blake Srdarev, the former Willetton assistant coach, did a tremendous job throughout 2021 to see them qualify for the playoffs from fourth position.
The Eagles had struggled losing their past three games coming into the finals dealing with the absence of sharpshooter Tahlia Fejo, but Srdarev sure had his team coming out ready to fire on the back of his Coach of the Year award.
After Willetton scored the game’s first two points, East Perth hit the next eight made up of a triple from Sariah Penese, three-point play from Mary Goulding and basket to Eryn Fisher.
The Eagles also finished the opening term strongly with the returning Jade Gowland hitting a three to give them a 23-19 quarter-time edge.
That soon became a 10-point lead early in the second quarter for East Perth and then when Opal Mader got on a roll with five quick points, the Eagles were threatening to blow it wide open with a 16-point edge.
That had grown to an 18-point lead for East Perth by half-time and the onus was right back on Willetton to respond or be staring down the barrel of ending up in a semi-final on Friday night fighting for their lives as regular season champs.
Desiree Kelley gave the Tigers the perfect start to the second half connecting on a three ball. She soon hit another to bring Willetton back within 10 points, and then her third inside five minutes made it a single figure game once more.
Hayley Winter also connected from beyond the arc for Willetton to make it a four-point game and then the Tigers were just two points down by three quarter-time when MVP Alex Sharp scored.
East Perth wasn’t about to be easily overrun, though, and a triple to Mader and then free-throws to Fisher to open the fourth term had them back up by five. They did lead by as much as six again shortly after thanks to Goulding but the Tigers just weren’t going to let it slip.
Winter connected on her second three of the second half, Sam Lubcke converted a three-point play and then two free-throws from Sharp had scores level with 6:30 to go.
Sharp nailed a big three to put Willetton up two with four minutes on the clock and when Kelley drilled her fourth from deep in the half, the Tigers were out to a five-point edge.
A couple of Eagles buckets kept the visitors close but the Tigers had the answers firstly at the foul line and then when Emma Gandini scored to give them a 75-70 on the way to the eventual 77-73 win.
Captain Desiree Kelley top-scored for Willetton with 19 points and 10 rebounds including knocking down five three-pointers.
Sam Lubcke also delivered 18 points and seven rebounds, Alex Sharp 16 points, 17 boards, eight assists and two steals, and Hayley Winter 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Mary Goulding had another standout performance for East Perth with 24 points, 17 rebounds, five steals and four assists with Opal Mader contributing 19 points and six boards, BJ Moyes 10 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Eryn Fisher six points and five rebounds.