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SATURDAY night in the Heritage Round of the Women’s SBL saw the Perry Lakes Hawks close in on a playoff berth, the Lakeside Lightning again flex their muscles and the Perth Redbacks continue to impress.

There were another three matches on Saturday night in the Women’s SBL as part of the Week 16 action as the league celebrated Heritage Round looking back on the history of the competition that began in 1989.

The Saturday night matches saw the Perry Lakes Hawks beat the South West Slammers 82-49, the Lakeside Lightning defeat the Willetton Tigers 86-72 and the Perth Redbacks down the Cockburn Cougars 82-63.

That came after the round got underway with three matches on Friday that saw the Rockingham Flames beat the Perry Lakes Hawks 58-51, the Cockburn Cougars defeat the Stirling Senators 87-84 and the Joondalup Wolves prevail 80-59 over the East Perth Eagles.

FRIDAY NIGHT WOMEN’S SBL RECAP – WEEK 16 
WOMEN’S SBL PREVIEW – HERITAGE ROUND 
CLARKE CONFIDENT SENATORS WILL BENEFIT FROM LESSONS LEARNED 

The Saturday night Women’s SBL action got underway at Willetton Basketball Stadium with the Tigers needing a win to stay in the top four hunt against the league-leading Lightning.

Willetton was able to stick with Lakeside for the first half, but couldn’t maintain it with the Lightning putting on a 29-13 third quarter to set up the eventual 14-point victory.

The win keeps the Lightning clear on top of the table with a 17-1 record and a nine-game winning run while Willetton has lost three straight to be 10-7.

The MVP of the past two years Ali Schwagmeyer had another strong performance for Lakeside with 23 points, four rebounds and three assists including nailing 4/7 from downtown.

Sydnee Fipps added 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists with Ash Grant finishing with 16 points, 12 boards and four assists.

Sam Roscoe also had nine points, three blocks, two rebounds and two assists for the Lightning, and Melissa Moyle returned for nine points and six rebounds, and Courtney Byrnes had seven points, five assists and four boards.

Ashli Payne put in a big performance for the Tigers with 28 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals while shooting 10/20 from the field, 5/8 from beyond the arc and 3/4 from the foul line.

Leah Cotton added 12 points for Willetton and Ajay Johnson nine to go with six rebounds, six steals and four assists.

It was then set for a fascinating battle at Bendat Basketball Centre between a Hawks team trying to break into the top eight and with the Slammers trying to hold on to their playoff position.

The Slammers missing back court duo Georgia Denehey and Raya Thompson didn’t help their cause, and the defending champions blew them off the floor in the first half.

Coming off a loss on Friday to Rockingham that ended their five-game winning run after being 1-9 to start the season, the Hawks returned to some imposing form on Saturday night against the Slammers.

They led by nine points at quarter-time and by half-time had the game in command up 45-22. They ended up cruising to the 33-point victory while the Slammers never got going shooting 14/62 from the field at 22 per cent and 4/22 from long-range at 18 per cent while outrebounded by 23.

The win improves Perry Lakes to a 7-11 record on the season while South West slips to 7-10 as the playoff race heats up.

Nat Burton was again a powerful force inside for the Hawks with 19 points and 12 rebounds on 8/16 shooting.

Toni Farnworth added 14 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds with Kate Anthony contributing 11 points and three boards, Maddison Hooper 10 points and Kristan Teasdale nine to go with nine rebounds.

It was a tough night for the Slammers with Tayah Burrows top-scoring with 10 points and four rebounds despite shooting 2/7 from the field.

Charlotte van Kleef had eight points and five rebounds but shot 3/12 from the floor despite going 2/5 from deep. Kate Fielding had seven points, five assists and four rebounds while Tori Fisher returned for six points and three rebounds but foul trouble limited her to 15 minutes.

The last game in the Women’s SBL saw the Cougars host the Redbacks at Wally Hagan Stadium.

Cockburn was attempting to back up its Friday night win over the Senators to stay in the playoff race, but the Redbacks are in hot form right now and continued that.

By half-time the Redbacks led the Cougars 49-37 and they went on to record the 19-point win to make it five straight and improve to a 14-4 record in second position. The Cougars are now 6-12 and still outside a playoff position.

Kayla Standish came up big for the Redbacks with 27 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots on the back of shooting 10/16 from the field, 2/4 from three-point range and 5/5 at the charity stripe.

Alix Hayward added 14 points and 12 rebounds for Perth, Jess Jakens 12 points and seven boards, and Makailah Dyer six points, six boards and four assists.

The Cougars were always going to find it tough going without reigning Player of the Round Kisha Lee, but Brianna Moyes did what she could with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Isabelle Miotti added 15 points and seven rebounds for Cockburn while Taryn Priestly contributed 10 points, six boards and five assists.

WEEK 16 WOMEN’S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Rockingham Flames 58 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 51
Stirling Senators 84 lost to Cockburn Cougars 87
East Perth Eagles 59 lost to Joondalup Wolves 80

SATURDAY
Perry Lakes Hawks 82 defeated South West Slammers 49
Willetton Tigers 72 lost to Lakeside Lightning 86
Cockburn Cougars 63 lost to Perth Redbacks 82

SUNDAY
Perth Redbacks v Mandurah Magic – Belmont Oasis 12.00pm