The Willetton Tigers guaranteed the NBL1 West Women’s Division regular season championship with a win to close proceedings on Saturday with the Cockburn Cougars also winning to lock away their playoff appearance.
The final round in the NBL1 West Women’s Division regular season got underway on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks beating the Cockburn Cougars 77-65 and the Warwick Senators defeating the Perry Lakes Hawks 92-87.
The Kalamunda Eastern Suns also defeated the East Perth Eagles 72-61 while the Mandurah Magic defeated the Lakeside Lightning and the Joondalup Wolves downed the Rockingham Flames 77-69.
Then on Saturday afternoon there were the last two matches of the regular season with Willetton needing a win to guarantee top position and Cockburn needing a win to guarantee their playoff spot too at the expense of Perry Lakes.
Both teams got what they were hoping for starting with the Willetton Tigers beating the Lakeside Lightning 84-66 at Lakeside Recreation Centre.
The Tigers were without Sam Lubcke but Alex Sharp took over with 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists to ensure the regular season championship. Emma Clarke finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots for the Lightning.
The Cougars then guaranteed their place in the playoffs defeating the South West Slammers 88-55 at Wally Hagan Stadium to bounce back from their loss to the Redbacks on Friday.
Taylah Simmons finished with 19 points for Cockburn, Jessie Edwards 18 and Molly Matthews 14 to keep the Slammers winless for 2021. Zaya Black did deliver 26 points, though, for the Slammers and Adele East 16.
NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN’S SEASON
ROUND 18 – SATURDAY
LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 66 lost to WILLETTON TIGERS 84
All the Willetton Tigers had to do was beat the Lakeside Lightning on Saturday afternoon to guarantee top spot, and they did so with the 18-point victory.
The Lightning were out of finals contention having lost their last four matches coming into Saturday’s season-ending clash at Lakeside Recreation Centre against the Tigers.
Willetton just had to win the game to stay in top spot at the end of the regular season but it was a bit of a tricky game with them without Sam Lubcke, and the Lightning still dangerous with a team consisting of Perth Lynx WNBL pair Ash Isenbarger and Emma Clarke.
Lakeside was determined to finish their season on a high and started impressively after Willetton did go up 5-2 early. Emma Clarke got the Lightning going before Alecia Knowles knocked down a three ball to put the home team in front.
Clarke then drained a three to give Lakeside the early 10-5 lead on the 8-0 run. A couple more Lightning triples to Kyrah Daniels and Jaime Skeggs saw the Lightning continue their impressive start, and the home team went into quarter-time on top 25-16.
Ash Isenbarger hit a three ball as well to open the second quarter for Lakeside to lead 28-16 as the Lightning put the onus back on the Tigers to respond if they wanted to win and claim that top spot.
Three-pointers from Talicia Hansen and Desiree Kelley started the comeback for the Tigers before five quick points from Alex Sharp and a triple from Emma Gandini had the visitors within a point.
Willetton turned that into an 11-0 run thanks to an and-one from Sharp as Willetton took the lead, and then carried on the momentum into half-time to be up 49-43 on the back of scoring 33 of the last 48 points of the opening half.
Willetton had found its groove even without the presence of Lubcke inside and with the Lightning not having the poise and experience in the backcourt of Mikayla Pirini, the Tigers turned up the defensive heat and it showed.
Ther were times the Lightning simply couldn’t get the ball past halfway either having the ball stolen from them, throwing it away with poor passes or using up the eight seconds.
Willetton took advantage of their defensive prowess by holding the Lightning to eight points in the third quarter. They scored 24 points themselves to assume control, and then ended up cruising to the 84-66 victory.
The win sees the Tigers end the regular season in top spot with a 15-3 record and three-game winning streak while the Lightning finish up at 5-13 having lost their past five matches.
Alex Sharp took over for Willetton in the absence of Sam Lubcke to finish the afternoon with 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while shooting 10/18 from the field and 5/5 from the free-throw line.
Sophie Maines also put up 11 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists for the Tigers, Desiree Kelley 11 points and three rebounds, and Sophie Doran 10 points and six boards.
Hayley Winter also had eight points, six rebounds and five assists for Willetton while Talicia Hansen hit two threes for six points and it was another defensive master class from Emma Gandini to go with six points, six steals and five rebounds.
It was a fighting performance from the Lightning to close the season with Emma Clarke top-scoring with 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots.
Courtney Green added 13 points while Ash Isenbarger contributed seven points, 16 rebounds and seven assists, Kyrah Daniels seven points and five boards, and Jaime Skeggs six points.
COCKBURN COUGARS 88 defeated SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 55
The Cockburn Cougars found some form and confidence at home on Saturday against the South West Slammers to prepare themselves for a playoff assault.
It has been quite the rollercoaster ride this season for the Cougars but they have regained some form just at the right time of the finals opportunity.
They started the season on fire winning their first three matches, and six of the opening eight but things then became a bit of a challenge and Cockburn was just fighting to stay in the top eight for the finals altogether.
Coming into the final round the Cougars, Perry Lakes Hawks and Mandurah Magic were locked in a fight over the last two playoff positions, and Cockburn left themselves vulnerable with a loss to the Perth Redbacks on Friday night.
However, Perry Lakes losing at the same time helped their cause and Cockburn just had to beat the winless Slammers at Wally Hagan Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
South West had lost all 17 of their matches by an average of 53.9 points this season but they started strongly on Saturday to be level with the Cougars at 22-22 by quarter-time.
The Slammers couldn’t quite maintain the rage and Cockburn put up 24 points in the second term while holding the Slammers to just eight to head into half-time leading 46-30.
The Cougars maintained control of the contest the rest of the game with another 22 points to 14 in the third quarter, and 20 to 11 in the fourth to claim the 88-55 win to finish the season on a 9-9 record to guarantee a playoff appearance.
Taylah Simmons top-scored for the Cougars to close the regular season with a performance made up of 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Jessie Edwards also produced 18 points, 16 rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals while Molly Matthews finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, Ruby Benn 10 points, three boards, three assists and two steals, and Tia Morgan seven points and four rebounds.
Zaya Black had a terrific finish to the season for the Slammers with 26 points and 10 rebounds on 11/19 shooting from the floor and 3/6 from three-point territory.
Adele East added 16 points and six rebounds with Skye Palmer contributing six points and two steals.