Samantha Lubcke has announced herself as a genuine MVP threat in the inaugural NBL1 West Women’s Division on the back of a dominant performance in the Willetton Tigers’ Sunday victory away to the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.
The Tigers backed up a win on Saturday night against the Perry Lakes Hawks to also beat the Eastern Suns on Sunday afternoon and it was on the back of the performance of South Australian recruit Lubcke, but she had plenty of support as Willetton continued their strong start to the season.
Round 5 in the NBL1 West Women’s Division got underway with two matches back on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks defeating the East Perth Eagles 82-71 at Belmont Oasis, and the Joondalup Wolves downing the Warwick Senators 78-72 at Warwick Stadium.
Then on Saturday night, the Joondalup Wolves kept their undefeated start going with a 69-44 victory against the Mandurah Magic at HBF Arena while the Willetton Tigers impressed in beating the Perry Lakes Hawks at Willetton Basketball Stadium.
The Lakeside Lightning won big against the South West Slammers 98-48 at Lakeside Recreation Centre with the Cockburn Cougars remaining unbeaten and keeping the Kalamunda Eastern Suns winless with the 63-45 win.
The round then concluded back at Ray Owen Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon and the Tigers improved to a 3-1 record on the season while the Eastern Suns suffered their third defeat.
Willetton won the game on the road 98-71 and it was Samantha Lubcke who was an unstoppable force for the Tigers. Originally from Murray Bridge in South Australia before going to college at Southern Idaho, she was outstanding with 37 points and 10 rebounds.
Alex Sharp also had 20 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, Desiree Kelley 12 points and Emma Gandini 11. Jewel Williams had 18 points for Kalamunda, Rebecca Motroni 15 and 250-gamer Courtney Mansfield 11.
NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN’S SEASON
ROUND 5 – SUNDAY
KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 71 lost to WILLETTON TIGERS 98
Round 5 in the NBL1 West Women’s Division wrapped up on Sunday afternoon with the Kalamunda Eastern Suns hosting the Willetton Tigers.
Both teams got together to do battle on the back of playing the previous evening with the Eastern Suns also at home losing to the Cockburn Cougars while the Tigers had a tremendously impressive win over the Perry Lakes Hawks.
That meant that Kalamunda came into the game at Ray Owen Sports Centre still hunting their first win of the season under returning head coach Craig Mansfield while Willetton was attempting to continue their momentum from winning two of their first three games.
Willetton put together a huge first quarter too to set the tone for the rest of the afternoon, and they did open up with the game’s first four points through the impressive recruit Samantha Lubcke.
But the Suns hit the next six points through triples from Jewel Williams and Rebecca Motroni before the Tigers gradually worked their way on top and they closed the opening term with a three from Taryn Priestly to lead 34-22.
Kalamunda wasn’t going away and once again Williams hit two more three-pointers to open the second term, but Lubcke responded immediately inside for Willetton with back-to-back buckets.
The Eastern Suns stayed in touch with a three Mia Jacobs and then another from Motroni, but Lubcke continued to lead the charge for the Tigers and helped them to a 56-43 edge by half-time.
It was then in the third quarter that the Tigers fully blew the game open by piling on 30 points and holding the Eastern Suns to just the 10. That saw them head into three quarter-time leading 86-53 before going on to score the 98-71 victory.
It was a remarkably dominant performance from Willetton on the boards as they raked in 60 rebounds to just 28 from Kalamunda, including 26 offensive boards to six.
It was incredible display from Samantha Lubcke too who originally hails from Murray Bridge in South Australia, which just happens to be the same hometown as former two-time Coach of the Year Randy Miegel.
She put up 37 points and 10 rebounds on the back of shooting 12/17 from the field and 13/16 from the free-throw line.
Alex Sharp also had 20 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists for the Tigers while Desiree Kelley contributed 12 points, seven boards and three assists, and Emma Gandini 11 points, nine rebounds and two assists.
Jewel Williams ended up top-scoring for Kalamunda with 18 points and three assists on the back of knocking down 6/12 from three-point territory.
Rebecca Motroni also had 15 points while going a perfect 5/5 from three-point territory with Courtney Mansfield also finishing with 11 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals, and fellow Lakeside recruit Mia Jacobs eight points and four boards.