Four matches on Saturday night in the NBL1 West Women’s Division saw the Perth Redbacks made it a double-win weekend while the Perry Lakes Hawks kept on winning while the Willetton Tigers and Rockingham Flames returned to the winner’s list.
Round 10 in the NBL1 West Women’s Division began with two matches on Friday night with the Joondalup Wolves defeating the Perth Redbacks 84-71 and the Warwick Senators holding on in a thriller 88-85 against the Lakeside Lightning.
That led into four matches on Saturday evening to close out the Round 10 action beginning with the Perth Redbacks snapping a three-game losing streak by beating the South West Slammers 98-37 at Eaton Recreation Centre.
Makailah Dyer top-scored for the Redbacks with 20 points while Maddie Allen pulled in 23 rebounds to go with 10 points. Jasmine Barrett put up 11 points for the Slammers.
The Perry Lakes Hawks then made it three wins in succession by defeating the Cockburn Cougars who had been on their own three-game winning streak, 74-45 at Wally Hagan Stadium.
Megan McKay was a dominant presence for the Hawks finishing with 15 points and 22 rebounds while Taylah Simmons put up 18 points for Cockburn.
The Willetton Tigers had to come from behind but held the Mandurah Magic to just four final quarters points on Saturday night at Willetton Basketball Stadium to win 66-53.
Alex Sharp put up 29 points and 14 rebounds for Willetton, and Sam Lubcke 21 points and 15 boards. The legend herself Casey Mihovilovich delivered 19 points and four assists for Mandurah.
The Rockingham Flames bounced back from a couple of losses as well to beat the Lakeside Lightning 81-58 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.
Alex Ciabattoni scored 17 points for Rockingham, Christina Boag 16, Paris Duffield 14 and Tayah Burrows 12 while Ash Isenbarger fought valiantly for Lakeside with 25 points.
NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN’S SEASON
ROUND 10 – SATURDAY NIGHT
SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 37 lost to PERTH REDBACKS 98
The Perth Redbacks suffered a third straight loss at home on Friday night but they were able to bounce back against the winless South West Slammers 24 hours later.
The Redbacks lost to the league-leading Joondalup Wolves at Belmont Oasis on Friday night meaning they took a three-game losing streak with them to Eaton Recreation Centre on Saturday evening and needing a bounce back win.
Despite the struggles of the Slammers so far this season, the Redbacks still couldn’t afford to take them lightly and they sure came out especially motivated at the defensive end.
Perth restricted South West to score just four points the entire first quarter and the Redbacks put up 23 points themselves to be on top to start to regain some confidence.
It was more of the same in the second period too with the Redbacks able to put up another 26 points while holding the Slammers to just the nine and that saw the visitors head into the half-time well in control leading 49-13.
There was no let up after the break from the Redbacks and in fact they went up another level offensively to put up 32 points in the third quarter. They also held the home team to another eight points to go into three quarter-time leading 82-21.
That was quite the remarkable scoreline with anything potentially possible for the final margin but the Slammers did find something to finish the game with 16 fourth quarter points.
The Redbacks still outscored them with another 17 to end up winning 98-37 to snap their losing run and steady at a 5-5 record while consigning the Slammers to being 0-10.
The Redbacks pulled in double the rebounds for the game with 68 to just 34 from the Slammers including 26 offensive boards to end up taking 20 extra field goals and eight more free-throws on the night.
Against the team she played with in 2019, Makailah Dyer put up 20 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Redbacks.
Maddie Allen dominated inside with 10 points, 23 rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocked shots with Denielle Ashworth finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Raya Thompson 15 points and four steals.
Ella Dimanlig produced her best performance since joining the Redbacks from East Perth in 2021 with 13 points while Bri Bailey had eight points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Sarah Allen six points, three boards and three assists.
Jasmine Barrett put up 11 points for the Slammers while hitting 3/4 from three-point territory while Zaya Black contributed nine points and six boards, and Cian Parsons seven points, 10 rebounds, five steals and two assists.
COCKBURN COUGARS 45 lost to PERRY LAKES HAWKS 74
The Cockburn Cougars and Perry Lakes Hawks were both in form teams entering Saturday night’s meeting at Wally Hagan Stadium, but ultimately the Lady Hawks were too big, too strong and too good.
The Cougars have been one of the great surprise packets so far this season in the NBL1 West Women’s Division under the coaching of Tyrone Thwaites, and they brought a 6-2 record into the clash with Perry Lakes.
The Hawks had been struggling losing five straight games up until finding some winning form the last two weeks against the Lakeside Lightning and South West Slammers so the stage was set for a fascinating battle.
However, the longer the game went on the more dominant the Hawks became with their inside presence too much for the Cougars led by Megan McKay, Nat Burton and Sarah Donovan.
Perry Lakes started well away from home with 19 points to 11 in the first quarter, but Cockburn was able to turn the tide in the second term with 21 points to 15 to see scores only narrowly in the favour of the Hawks 34-32 at half-time.
The game might have been up for grabs at the half but it took a remarkable turn in the second half, starting with the Cougars only putting up three points the entire third quarter.
Perry Lakes was able to score 18 points themselves and then the Lady Hawks continued on in the final term with another 22 points to 10 to end up winning 74-45.
The 29-point victory is a third straight for the Lady Hawks who now hold a 4-5 record while the Cougars are 6-3 following the loss at home.
It was the bigs who made all the difference for Perry Lakes with Megan McKay, Sarah Donovan and Nat Burton combining to finish with 40 points and 37 rebounds.
As a team, the Hawks pulled in a mammoth 60 rebounds to just 30 from Cockburn including 16 offensive boards to seven.
The Hawks’ reliance on their inside game saw them attempt just six three-pointers all game while the Cougars had a horror shooting performance with 13/57 at 23 per cent from the field. They did well getting to the foul line 29 times, but only made 15 of those.
McKay ended up the dominant presence on the court with 15 points, 22 rebounds and four assists for Perry Lakes with Donovan adding 13 points and six boards, and Burton 12 points and nine rebounds.
Annika Renkema also had eight points for the Hawks, Mia Satie six points and six rebounds, and Maddie Dennis five points, five rebounds and two steals.
Taylah Simmons fought hard for Cockburn with 18 points and three rebounds with Jessie Edwards adding eight points and six boards, and Molly Matthews five points.
WILLETTON TIGERS 66 defeated MANDURAH MAGIC 53
The Willetton Tigers had to come from behind against the Mandurah Magic on Saturday night but they did so by holding their opponents to four fourth quarters points to end up winning by 13.
The Tigers and Magic have a fascinating history against one another over the past decade, and while a lot of the faces have changed, enough of them remain to still keep that rivalry going and it was another fascinating battle at Willetton Basketball Stadium.
The two teams came into the game having had vastly different starts to life in NBL1 West with the Tigers winning five of their seven matches while the Magic had struggled losing six of their eight.
Precious little separated the two teams throughout the first half with the Magic leading the Tigers 17-16 by quarter-time. Willetton then outscored Mandurah 17 points to 16 in the second period and scores were all locked away at 33-33 by half-time.
Mandurah then opened the second half on fire with a basket to Carly Boag, triple to Kelsey Brett and another three ball to Casey Mihovilovich to suddenly lead by eight. The lead grew to nine soon after with a three ball from Boag as well.
The upset was right on the cards but the Tigers steadied and it was Alex Sharp and Sam Lubcke who dominated the rest of the game. They helped Willetton turn it around to close the third quarter and take a one-point lead into the fourth.
And in that last term, it was all the Tigers as remarkably they held the Magic to just the four points while scoring 16 themselves and going on to score the 66-53 win to improve to 6-2 on the season while the Magic continue to struggle at 2-7.
Mandurah did well to stay in the game as well long as they did considering they lost the rebound battle by 19, had 22 turnovers and shot just 19/54 from the floor at 35 per cent. But that was actually better than the 33 per cent the Tigers went at.
Alex Sharp and Sam Lubcke were the difference in the end and produced huge games for Willetton. Sharp finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds including shooting 9/12 from the field and 4/4 from three-point land. Lubcke ended up with 21 points and 15 rebounds.
Hayley Winter also had 10 points and four assists for the Tigers, and Desiree Kelley eight rebounds and Emma Gandini two points, six rebounds and four steals.
Casey Mihovilovich continues to fight as hard as she has throughout what is soon to be a record setting career with Mandurah with another 19 points, four assists and three steals while hitting 3/7 of her three-point attempts.
Carly Boag added nine points, 14 rebounds, four steals and three assists for the Magic, and Sydney Meares eight points and four boards.
ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 81 defeated LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 58
The Rockingham Flames handed the Lakeside Lightning a second defeat inside 24 hours with a 23-point win at home on Saturday night.
The Flames were playing their only game of Round 10 in the NBL1 West competition while the Lightning were coming off a heartbreaking loss at home to the Warwick Senators on Friday.
Rockingham did come into the contest at Mike Barnett Sports Complex on the back of losses to East Perth and Lakeside, so this was a quick rematch between the two teams after the Lightning beat the Flames last weekend on their home floor.
The Flames were looking for a measure of revenge for that and they started well with 25 points in the opening quarter to lead the Lightning by seven at quarter-time.
Lakeside clawed their way back into the contest, though in the second quarter with 20 points to 17 to cut the Rockingham lead to 42-38 by the half-time interval.
Rockingham pulled away a little further during the third quarter to be up eight by three quarter-time, but the Flames then blew the Lightning away in the fourth term with 21 points to six to come away with the emphatic 81-58 victory.
The win improves the Flames to a 7-3 record on the season while the rollercoaster ride continues for the Lightning at 3-6 after 10 rounds.
Alex Ciabattoni top-scored for the Flames with 17 points and three assists while she had plenty of support along the way.
Christina Boag put up 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals, Paris Duffield 14 points, Tayah Burrows 12 points and three assists, Ariana Hetherington eight points and four assists, and Zoe Richards eight points and four rebounds.
Ash Isenbarger continued her massive form for the Lightning with 25 points and four rebounds including nailing 6/8 from three-point territory.
Courtney Green also had 10 points and five rebounds for the Lightning.