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THE Willetton Tigers and Cockburn Cougars both scored emphatic wins in the Women’s SBL on Saturday night to set up their contest on Sunday while the Kalamunda Eastern Suns won impressively again over the Mandurah Magic.

Round 10 in the Women’s SBL began with two matches on Friday night that saw the Lakeside Lightning beat the Mandurah Magic 100-64 and the Rockingham Flames defeat the Perth Redbacks 74-62.

There were then three matches on Saturday night with the Willetton Tigers beating the Joondalup Wolves 94-54, the Cockburn Cougars defeating the East Perth Eagles 95-63 and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns downing the Mandurah Magic 83-60.

FRIDAY NIGHT WOMEN’S SBL RECAP – WEEK 10 
WOMEN’S SBL PREVIEW – WEEK 10 

The Saturday night action saw the Eagles hosting the Cougars at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre  with East Perth trying to win its first game of 2018 while Cockburn were looking to start building some momentum.

After just scoring a solitary point in the first quarter last week against the Stirling Senators, it was a much more competitive showing from the Eagles but the Cougars gradually pulled away to lead by eight points at quarter-time and then be up 51-28 at the half.

East Perth lost Bree Fisher on half-time to a shoulder injury but the Eagles still remained competitive in the second half despite Cockburn finishing up with the 32-point victory.

The win improves the Cougars to a 4-6 record on the season while the Eagles slipped to 0-12.

Kisha Lee delivered a big performance for the Cougars with 29 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and two steals while shooting 12/17 from the field and 5/5 at the free-throw line.

BJ Moyes added 17 points and three assists for Cockburn with Taryn Priestly contributing 14 points and five assists, Lauren Thompson eight points and seven rebounds, and Ruby Benn eight points, four boards, three assists and three steals.

The Cougars now take on the Tigers on Sunday at Wally Hagan Stadium and coach Megan Thompson is looking forward to that challenge taking confidence from the win over the Eagles.

“You talk about a development mode, we are rebuilding and even though we’ve got quite a few Cougars of old, we’ve got a lot of young blood in there plus Kisha and a couple of others. We are just trying to find our groove and I feel like we are getting there which is super exciting.

“I said to the girls that we often play to the standard of the team that we play against so we have done really well against some of the top teams. Willetton is obviously up there and we just have to bring our game and step up to their level.

“Our goal is to make teams have to play to our standard. So tonight going into the Eagles game, wanted to play to our standard and what we expect of ourselves and that’s when we’ll get success.

“Everyone hit the floor tonight and we had 25 points in the first quarter and 25 points in the fourth quarter with completely different dynamics on the floor. I love that our young blood can step in and it didn’t matter who was on the floor, we are really starting to gel.”

Akim Lual top-scored for the Eagles with an impressive performance made up of 22 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Eryn Fisher added 11 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and two steals with Cameron Flynn contributing 11 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists, Rose Aryang seven points, three boards and two steals, and Mya Dimanlig seven points.

Akim Lual top-scored for the Eagles with an impressive performance made up of 22 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Eryn Fisher added 11 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and two steals with Cameron Flynn contributing 11 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists, Rose Aryang seven points, three boards and two steals, and Mya Dimanlig seven points.

The Tigers also hosted the Lady Wolfpack on Saturday night at Willetton Basketball Stadium and Willetton proved too strong from the outset.

The Tigers led by five points at quarter-time, 14 points at half-time and 30 points at three quarter-time before going on to win the game by 40 and improve to 7-2 while the Wolves slipped to 4-7.

Veteran Ajay Johnson had a good night for the Tigers to end up top-scoring with 16 points, six assists, three steals and three rebounds on shooting 7/11 from the field.

Leah Cotton added 14 points and four assists for Willetton with Ashli Payne contributing 12 points, Carla Drennan 11 points and three rebounds, Sam Norwood eight points, seven boards and four assists, and Desiree Kelley eight points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Nikita Martin top-scored for the Lady Wolfpack with 12 points, two assists and two steals with Chelsea Belcher adding 10 points.

The last game of Saturday night’s action in the Women’s SBL took place at Ray Owen Sports Centre with the Eastern Suns hosting the Magic.

Mandurah started strongly coming off a disappointing loss to Lakeside at home on Friday night, but Kalamunda took over in the second quarter to lead 38-33 at half-time.

The Suns then went on with it too to outscore the Magic 45 points to 27 in the second half to come away with the 23-point victory.

The win improves Kalamunda to an 8-4 record on the season while last year’s Grand Finalists Mandurah slips to 6-4.

Eastern Suns captain Jorjah Smith top-scored with 22 points, four rebounds and three steals while nailing 6/11 from three-point territory.

Jewel Williams, fresh off being added to the All-Star Game, delivered 19 points and four rebounds too for the Suns with Jennie Rintala adding 15 points, six boards and five steals.

Alex Ciabattoni had another 13 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals too for Kalamunda in the emphatic victory.

Anita Brown top-scored for the Magic with 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists with Regina Palusna contributing 17 points and 11 boards.

Emma Klasztorny also finished with nine points, seven rebounds and seven steals with Kelly Bailey contributing seven points, five rebounds and two assists.

WEEK 10 WOMEN’S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Mandurah Magic 64 lost to Lakeside Lightning 100
Rockingham Flames 74 defeated Perth Redbacks 62

SATURDAY
Willetton Tigers 94 defeated Joondalup Wolves 54
East Perth Eagles 63 lost to Cockburn Cougars 95
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 83 defeated Mandurah Magic 60

SUNDAY
Cockburn Cougars v Willetton Tigers – Wally Hagan Stadium 12.00pm
Stirling Senators v South West Slammers – Warwick Stadium 2.00pm