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THE Women’s SBL league-leading Mandurah Magic again flexed their muscles on Sunday afternoon at home beating the shorthanded defending champion Willetton Tigers by 44 points.

The last game of Week 14 in the Women’s SBL took place at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre on Sunday with the Mandurah Magic extending its lead atop the standings with a 98-54 victory over the Willetton Tigers.

There were three Women’s SBL matches on Saturday night with the Joondalup City Wolves beating the East Perth Eagles 64-41, the Mandurah Magic defeating the Lakeside Lightning 94-83 and the Stirling Senators downing the Perth Redbacks 83-75.

That came following three matches on Friday night that saw the Joondalup City Wolves give the Perry Lakes Hawks their first loss of 2017, winning 72-63 while the Lakeside Lightning defeated the Rockingham Flames 86-77 and the Cockburn Cougars beat the Stirling Senators 79-67.

WEEK 14 SATURDAY NIGHT WOMEN’S SBL RESULTS 
WEEK 14 FRIDAY NIGHT WOMEN’S SBL RESULTS 
WEEK 14 WOMEN’S SBL PREVIEW 
SENATORS LOOK TO CAPITALISE ON STRONG WOMEN’S SBL POSITION 
FLAMES ALREADY PLANNING FOR 2018 IN WOMEN’S SBL 
A PRESENT OF THE PAST – FLEUR MCINTYRE 

The Magic were coming into the midday Sunday clash off a tough game against the Lightning the night before also on their home floor.

They won by 11 points in the finish to replace Perry Lakes on top of the standings, but it still had been a physical affair as they prepared to face a fresh Willetton outfit.

While fresh, the Tigers were still missing Kate Malpass and Desiree Kelley, and while they did well to stick with Mandurah for the opening 15 minutes of the game, it wouldn’t last.

The Magic pulled away just before half-time to take an 18-point advantage into the break.

Mandurah then went on a 10-1 run to start the second half and that ended the game as a contest. The Magic went on to lead by as much as 51 points down the stretch before ending up winning by 44.

That improves Mandurah to a 16-1 record on the season to be leading the Lady Hawks who are 14-1 after losing on Friday night to the Wolves. The Tigers slip to 8-7 but remain in fifth position.

Nici Gilday had another standout performance for Mandurah finishing with 33 points and seven assists while shooting 12-of-20 from the floor, 3-of-7 from long range and 6-of-7 at the foul line.

Casey Mihovilovich added 21 points while Carly Boag had another 14 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and three steals in just under 20 minutes.

Bree Klasztorny ended up with eight points and five rebounds, Rachel Pettit eight points and three steals, and Kelly Bailey eight points and four boards.

Magic coach Randy Miegel was delighted with the big win on the back of a hard fought victory the previous night.

“With the calibre of player they’ve with Stacey Barr, Zoe and their import, with their size we were a little bit concerned how we would back up from the game against Lakeside because that was quite an up and down game. We were obviously happy to end up getting the victory,” Miegel said.

It’s been a fantastic weekend. We were really focused during the week on Lakeside and then we switched to Willetton after that game quickly. We knew the importance of the Lakeside game just to gap them and then to back it up against Willetton was icing on the cake.

Stacey Barr top-scored for the Tigers with 16 points and seven rebounds but the absence of Malpass, Kelley and Lara Napier proved too much to cover in the back court up against Mihovilovich and Gilday.

Jess Hootmann battled hard for 12 points, five assists and five rebounds for Willetton with Emma Lobb contributing 10 points, four boards and two steals.

Tigers coach always knew it was going to be a tough afternoon, but perhaps not 44 points tough.

“With our match ups we were always going to struggle to handle them but when you lack effort it’s never going to work for you. That’s probably the most disappointing part, just the lack of effort we saw out there,” Parker said.

“It’s tough when our girls who have stepped up from the under-18s to pick up Milo and Gilday, so it was always going to be impossible. Then our next sub was an under-18 too so it was hard to keep them under wraps.

“Just before half-time we missed a couple of plays, had some turnovers and missed some layups. Before that we were only 13 points down so we weren’t too far away if those plays had gone for us, but then after half-time we really lacked effort. That was disappointing.”

FRIDAY NIGHT ROUND 14 WOMEN’S SBL RESULTS
Perry Lakes Hawks 63 lost to Joondalup City Wolves 72
Lakeside Lightning 86 defeated Rockingham Flames 77
Cockburn Cougars 79 defeated Stirling Senators 67

SATURDAY NIGHT ROUND 14 WOMEN’S SBL RESULTS
Joondalup City Wolves 64 defeated East Perth Eagles 41
Mandurah Magic 94 defeated Lakeside Lightning 83
Stirling Senators 83 defeated Perth Redbacks 75

SUNDAY ROUND 14 WOMEN’S SBL RESULTS
Mandurah Magic 98 defeated Willetton Tigers 54

Photo by Vikki Hile