Semi Finals Week 2 Men’s SBL Preview

THE Joondalup Wolves and Geraldton Buccaneers have a chance to qualify for the Men’s SBL Grand Final on Saturday night while the Perry Lakes Hawks and Lakeside Lightning try to hold home court to force Game 3. The semi finals in the Men’s SBL got underway last Saturday night and it turned out to be […]

Semi Finals Game 2 Spotlight | Flames fire through to Grand Final

THE Rockingham Flames built a team to be ready for the business end of the season and despite personnel changes along the way, they secured their Grand Final berth in the Women’s SBL with a come from behind Game 2 win over the Perry Lakes Hawks on Friday night. Rockingham had dominated Game 1 against […]

Back home Roscoe primed to lead Senators to Grand Final

SAM Roscoe enjoyed her two years at Lakeside and is enjoying her time also playing in the United Kingdom, but the Warwick Senators will always be home and that’s why she was so excited to return in 2019 and now hopes to help them to a Grand Final this weekend. Roscoe grew up playing with […]

Semi Finals Week 2 Women’s SBL Preview

THE Grand Finalists in the Women’s SBL will be decided one way or another by this Saturday night with the Warwick Senators and Rockingham Flames needing just one win to advance while the Lakeside Lightning and Perry Lakes Hawks need two wins inside 24 hours. The semi finals in the Women’s SBL began with the […]

Semi Finals Week 1 Men’s SBL Wrap

THERE are four teams left in the Men’s SBL with precious little between them and each deserves to feel they can win the championship but now after Game 1 of their semi-final series’ the Geraldton Buccaneers and Joondalup Wolves are one step closer to a Grand Final appearance. The number of quality teams in the […]

Semi Finals Week 1 Women’s SBL Wrap

ROAD victories by the lower seeds were the order of the day to open the semi finals in the Women’s SBL with the Warwick Senators and Rockingham Flames now just one win from the Grand Final with the Lakeside Lightning and Perry Lakes Hawks with the job ahead of them. The Women’s semi finals for […]

Semi Finals Game 1 Spotlight | Wolfpack hold home court against Hawks

THE Joondalup Wolves caught fire early to be up 15 and then again led by 10 with 1:30 left but the Perry Lakes Hawks soon were within one pass connecting of snatching the lead before the Wolfpack held on to win 81-77 in a cracking semi-final Game 1 at HBF Arena. It’s hard to imagine […]

Hawks winning momentum reminiscent of 12 months ago

SOME of the faces might be different but for the second time in 12 months the Perry Lakes Hawks are firing when it matters most in the Men’s SBL and coach Matt Parsons is just as proud of their winning as he is of playing attractive basketball that people want to watch. After Parsons’ first […]

Buy in of three new faces instrumental for Wolfpack

SOMETIMES you live and die by the culture and atmosphere provided from the players you bring in and for Joondalup Wolves coach Ben Ettridge, he couldn’t be more impressed with what Kevin Davis, Earnest Ross and Ridell Camidge are providing as they chase another Grand Final berth. As you can see across the league, sometimes […]

Bigs not necessarily the focus for Mansfield and Lightning

THE Lakeside Lightning decided to go with three genuine bigs this Women’s SBL and as it turned out so have the other three surviving teams, but coach Craig Mansfield will be spending more time plotting the downfall of Stacey Barr than anything against the Warwick Senators. The Lightning are now gearing up to take part […]

Prue’s Lightning season won’t be defined by championship

WHETHER it’s his kids being a bit older or the incredible bond he feels in this playing group or that he remains the SBL’s great rebounder without rival, Jarrad Prue’s return the last 18 months has delivered more than he hoped irrespective if it ends with a championship. Prue had already put together one of […]

Semi Finals Week 1 Men’s SBL Preview

NO disrespect to the four teams eliminated in the quarter finals of the Men’s SBL, but the four teams left to battle it out in the semi finals are richly deserving and it sets up two tantalising match ups to determine the Grand Finalists of 2019. The Kalamunda Eastern Suns, Goldfields Giants, Warwick Senators and […]

Semi Finals Week 1 Women’s SBL Preview

IT’S semi-final time in the Women’s SBL beginning this weekend starting with the Perry Lakes Hawks hosting Game 1 against the Rockingham Flames while the Lakeside Lightning are also at home to the Warwick Senators. All four of the Women’s quarter-final match ups were decided in two games with the Lakeside Lightning beating the Kalamunda […]

Cherry’s growth as important to Hawks as anything

IT is easy to correlate the rise of the Perry Lakes Hawks this Women’s SBL season to the arrival of Megan McKay but coach Deanna Black believes the growth of Jamie Cherry is just as important while her key message remains making sure her players are enjoying themselves. The Hawks might have only finished the […]

Quarter Finals Week 2 Men’s SBL Wrap

THE Geraldton Buccaneers took three games to overcome the Warwick Senators in the quarter finals in the Men’s SBL while the Perry Lakes Hawks, Joondalup Wolves and Lakeside Lightning all advanced in two games. All eight teams taking part in finals action in the Men’s SBL for 2019 deserved to think they had a realistic […]

Quarter Finals Week 2 Women’s SBL Wrap

THE Perry Lakes Hawks, Warwick Senators, Rockingham Flames and Lakeside Lightning all won their Women’s SBL quarter-final series’ in two games to set the stage for two fascinating semi-final match ups to determine the Grand Finalists of 2019. All four of the quarter-final series’ ended up being decided on the weekend in two games with […]

Quarter Finals Game 2 Spotlight | Wolfpack made to earn it by Suns

EVEN without Josh Braun and Louis Timms, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns were never going to hand their scalp to the Joondalup Wolves in the quarter finals and that’s how it panned out even with the Wolfpack winning Game 2 at Ray Owen Sports Centre on Saturday night. The Eastern Suns had done a tremendous job […]

Quarter Finals Game 2 Spotlight | Lightning overcome spirited Suns

THE Lakeside Lightning had to fight back from a stunning shooting display early on Saturday night by the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Ray Owen Sports Centre but the defending champions soon steadied to advance to the semi finals for a third straight year. Coming off winning last year’s championship, Lakeside again finished on top of […]

Plenty of bite left in SBL’s ultimate competitor

AARON Ralph needs no reminding of the playoff heartbreak he’s suffered during his SBL career that is showing no signs of slowing down despite approaching 400 games and he’s still not afraid to dream of that ultimate prize while remaining focused on the job at hand. Ralph and the Geraldton Buccaneers now turn their focus […]

Magic determined to bring Game 3 back to Mandurah

THE Mandurah Magic will look to find ways to turnaround or get around some of the things they felt went against them in Game 1 against the Rockingham Flames but what coach Craig Watts and his team knows is how desperate they are to force a Game 3. The Magic have played in the past […]

Crawford pumped for Flames’ chance on home floor

THE Rockingham Flames showed plenty of heart to win Game 1 of their quarter-final series against Mandurah Magic last Friday night but even though they will have what coach Keegan Crawford calls the best game night in the league behind them on Saturday, he’s taking nothing for granted. Despite Rockingham’s men now not playing on […]

Stronger team chemistry key to Buccs of 2019

WORKING on having a greater team chemistry has been a big focus of Geraldton Buccaneers even if that means having slightly less individual brilliance, and coach Dayle Joseph hopes it continues to pay off as they try to close out their quarter-final series with Warwick Senators. The Buccs team of 2018 certainly wasn’t lacking for […]

Quarter Finals Game 2 Spotlight | Hawks prevail in tough battle with Flames

BASED on their semi-final battle 12 months prior and given they are both built to win a championship, it was always going to be quite the fight between Perry Lakes and Rockingham, and it didn’t disappoint with the Hawks closing the deal on Friday night. Perry Lakes overcame Rockingham in three high-quality and intense semi-final […]

Quarter Finals Game 2 Spotlight | Hawks fire again to eliminate Wolfpack

THE Perry Lakes Hawks are sure going to take some stopping this Women’s SBL season as they flew to an eighth consecutive win on Friday night in emphatic style to beat the Joondalup Wolves by 44 points to advance to the semi finals. It was only a month ago and Perry Lakes was far from […]

Recruiting depth pays dividends for Senators

THE plans during the regular season might have not gone exactly to script, but Warwick Senators coach Dion Dagostino is confident his team can now be firing when it matters most if they can finish the job against the Willetton Tigers. Coming into his first season in charge at the Senators, not only did Dagostino […]

Redhage primed to lead Hawks v Hire’s Flames

HAVING shared so much in their NBL careers together at Perth Wildcats, Shawn Redhage is now looking forward to leading his Perry Lakes Hawks into battle against Greg Hire and the Rockingham Flames. Redhage and Hire will both go down as two of the all-time greats of the Wildcats with both having won four championships […]

Wolves players thriving on receiving greater freedom

WHEN you have been the dominant team of the last decade with a 72 per cent winning record there’s little reason to change, but there’s always fine tuning to make after losing three Grand Finals and that’s what Wolfpack coach Ben Ettridge has looked to do in 2019. It has been a remarkable decade of […]

Credit to Utley for Suns return to finals action

WHILE Kalamunda Eastern Suns had taken steps forward the previous three years, there was still plenty of work for Mark Utley to do when he arrived as coach in 2019 and now even if they go into the finals undermanned, he deserves tremendous credit for them making it. The Eastern Suns haven’t played finals in […]

Creek proud to head up Giants revival

IT didn’t sit well with Wayne Creek to see the Goldfields Giants struggling in recent years so he put his hand up to do something about it to take over as coach in 2019 and with four strong additions to a handy core group it’s led to a first finals appearance since 2015. While it’s […]

Lakeside move everything Vigor hoped it would be

WITH a fresh challenge in Italy on the horizon, Michael Vigor’s professional basketball career has turned out quite nicely despite not ending up in the NBL but the SBL always remains a priority and to be playing at Lakeside Lightning has brought back all the reasons why. Following his three years as a development player […]

Hire has plenty on plate but Flames title his focus

GREG Hire hopes that his enjoyment of playing in the SBL isn’t diminished to the point it can’t remain a priority, but right now his focus is on trying to bring Rockingham Flames a championship while seeing the state’s best young talent like Luke Travers and Wani Swaka Lo Buluk up close. Despite retiring from […]

Buccs success the ultimate driving force for Hunt

LIAM Hunt’s outstanding SBL season might lead to professional basketball offers that he never previously considered, but that pales into insignificance to him in comparison to trying to win the ultimate prize with the Geraldton Buccaneers. Hunt spent a significant period of his childhood growing up in Geraldton where his father Dan put together one […]