With a strong group of locals and then one of the best star duos in the country, the Willetton Tigers continue to emerge as an NBL1 West Women’s Division title threat and that’s exactly how coach Simon Parker feels they should be seen.
The Tigers took on the Perry Lakes Hawks in the NBL1 West Women’s Division on Friday night at Bendat Basketball Centre and ended up coming away with the 70-59 victory.
That result improves Willetton to an 11-2 record on the season to remain on top of the standings with a game to come on Saturday night at Willetton Basketball Stadium against the Cockburn Cougars who have now lost four of their past five matches.
That has the Tigers well placed to make a run at winning the first ever NBL1 West championship in 2021 as Parker continues his legacy as one of the all-time great coaches the league has seen.
On the back of his 120-game playing career at Willetton in the 1990s, Parker took over as head coach of the Tigers women’s team in 2014 and has never looked back.
They have been around the mark every season, won a championship in 2016 and got to a Grand Final in 2015, and now Parker has done a tremendous job putting together a squad of mostly local players who are looking to contend again in 2021.
Their full array of depth and capabilities were on show in Friday night’s 11-point win over the Lady Hawks and Parker sees no reason why they can’t be aiming for the championship.
“I think we should be aiming for the championship from here if things stay the way they are with the way we’re playing,” Parker said.
“If we can stick to our process and focus on our defence, which is our biggest focus, then I definitely think we are a championship contender for sure.”
Willetton and Perry Lakes came into Friday night’s clash at Bendat Basketball Centre sitting first and eighth respectively on the table at the start of Round 15 of the NBL1 West Women’s Division, but it was a hotly contested first half.
Perry Lakes went into quarter-time leading 17-16 and their size advantage with Nat Burton, Megan McKay, Maddie Dennis and even Sarah Donovan was working well.
But Willetton were able to get going a little in the second quarter putting up 24 points including a pair of three-pointers apiece to Desiree Kelley and Alex Sharp to see them head into half-time leading 40-36.
The game was still up for grabs at half-time but it wouldn’t stay that way for long with the way Willetton came out and started the second half. The Tigers would go on a 13-0 run capped by a couple of Hayley Winter three-point bombs to stretch their advantage out to double-figures.
Willetton then hit the last six points of the third quarter to be up by 19 at three quarter-time but the Lady Hawks did show some impressive fight.
They refused to give the game away and after a couple of long bombs from Millie McCarthy, and some strong work inside from Burton and McKay, they were back within nine with 3:30 remaining.
That would be as close as they got, though, and the only score in the final three minutes was an Emma Gandini jumper for Willetton to give her team the 70-59 win.
It was a good shooting night from the Tigers who went 41 per cent from the field, but were especially impressive from beyond the arc going 11/24 at 46 per cent to make up for losing the rebound count by nine, and going to the foul line on nine fewer occasions.
Desiree Kelley stepped up to be tremendous for Willetton delivering 21 points and five assists while hitting 5/11 from downtown.
Alex Sharp put up another 15 points, 10 rebounds, five steals, four blocks and three assists for the Tigers while Hayley Winter finished with 11 points, eight assists and six boards, Emma Gandini nine points, six rebounds and three assists, and Sam Lubcke eight points and seven rebounds.
Nat Burton ended up top-scoring for Perry Lakes with 14 points and four rebounds with Mia Satie adding 12 points and eight boards, Millie McCarthy 10 points and six assists, and Megan McKay 10 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals.
For Tigers coach Simon Parker, he knew they had to be mindful of Perry Lakes’ powerful front court but was happy that his team had such an array of contributors even with the Hawks doing well on Lubcke.
“Obviously the game plan was to lean on Megan McKay a little bit on the post where she’s a pretty good player, but went into zone there a fair bit because they don’t really have that outside presence. We decided to pack it in and it worked pretty well for us,” Parker said.
“If we are going to be great, then those girls are going to get their numbers anyway and we need next rung of girls with Hayley, Emma, Des and the like to get their 10 or 15 points on their night too for us to be really good. And they are consistently doing that for us so it’s been good.”
You can make an argument that the pairing of Lubcke and Sharp is among the best in the NBL1 West and the country for everything they are providing the Tigers in 2021.
Parker hoped they could deliver what they are as a combination, but there were no guarantees coming into the season despite their individual talents.
“It’s a bit of an unknown how good players can be in your system. We saw Alex play in WNBL and she was really good in that and her highlight tape is amazing, and from what we’d seen of Sam looked really good too,” he said.
“We had been trying to get her out here for a couple of years to be honest and she has been fantastic for the league. Even Sam tonight, they clearly had a plan for her but just those adjustments and kick outs, she wasn’t too fazed by not getting her average.
“They are definitely pretty complete players and Alex is versatile enough where she can play anywhere from one to four so that’s been really good for us.”
Willetton’s success this season isn’t just about those two new additions to the group though.
A big part of is the core group remaining led by Kelley, Gandini and Winter with the new generation led by Sophie Doran, Sophie Maines and Kaya Wardle making good contributions.
It’s someone like Gandini who might continue to fly under the radar from the outside, but Parker realises her true value.
“Emma has put in a lot of extra work this year so she gets a lot of shots up and that’s paying off. She is also the best on-ball defender in the league and the pressure she creates helps us to force turnovers and we can generate turnovers out of that. She’s having a really good for year for us,” Parker said.
“Besides Alex and Sam, every player we’ve signed on our team this year is a Willo person even the two young girls on the bench who are development players. They’re all Willo kids and I’ll continue to stick with that because I think it’s the way to go.
“Then you just get the pieces in that you need but they are now four or five years now into their senior playing cycle and it’s just come to fruition to be honest. This is where they should be at.”
With a group of local players with a good blend of youth and experienced topped up with the quality of Sharp and Lubcke, Parker likes this group for 2021 but the future remains as bright as ever at Willetton with the next generation coming through.
“We’ve always been there and there abouts even in the last couple of years, and we’ve still been around the top four mark so that’s probably a credit for us to stay at that level the whole time while replacing players and all that sort of thing,” Parker said.
“That’s been good and the next group is now coming through as well and that’s exciting with the players we’ve got coming through the 16s and 18s who will come in and start taking over from these guys. That succession plan is there and I’m looking forward to being part of it.”
NBL1 WEST WOMEN’S DIVISION 2021
ROUND 15
THURSDAY
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 75 lost to Lakeside Lightning 81
FRIDAY
Perry Lakes Hawks 59 lost to Willetton Tigers 70
Lakeside Lightning 51 lost to Joondalup Wolves 74
Rockingham Flames 76 defeated South West Slammers 53
Cockburn Cougars 67 lost to Warwick Senators 94
SATURDAY
Joondalup Wolves v Perry Lakes Hawks – HBF Arena 5pm
Warwick Senators v East Perth Eagles – Warwick Stadium 5pm
Willetton Tigers v Cockburn Cougars – Willetton Basketball Stadium 5pm
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v Mandurah Magic – Ray Owen Sports Centre 6.30pm