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THE Lakeside Lightning responded to their first defeat of the 2018 Women’s SBL season beating the Joondalup Wolves on Saturday night while the Perth Redbacks continued their winning ways and the Stirling Senators kept the East Perth Eagles winless.

The results on Friday night to open Women’s Round in the SBL set the stage nicely for Saturday night.

The Friday fixtures saw the Kalamunda Eastern Suns beat the Rockingham Flames 74-71, the Willetton Tigers defeat the East Perth Eagles 84-47 and the Perth Redbacks hand the Lakeside Lightning their first loss of 2018, winning 94-86.

There were then three more matches on Saturday night with the Lakeside Lightning beating the Joondalup Wolves 74-56, the Stirling Senators downing the East Perth Eagles 75-30 and the Perth Redbacks prevailing 74-65 against the South West Slammers.

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The Saturday night action in the Women’s SBL began at HBF Arena with the Lady Wolfpack hosting a Lightning team coming off their first loss of 2018 just 24 hours earlier.

Lakeside won its opening eight games of the season coming off a semi-final appearance last year before suffering a loss on their home floor to the Perth Redbacks on Friday night.

That gave them plenty of motivation entering HBF Arena on Saturday night but the Lady Wolfpack took it right up to them in the opening half with scores locked at 33-33 at the break.

But the Lightning pulled away from there with 25 points to 13 in the third quarter before going on to win by 18 points and improve to a 9-1 record with the Wolves slipping to 4-6.

Sydnee Fipps top-scored for Lakeside with 19 points with Ali Schwagmeyer delivering another 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. The pair only combined to shoot 10/27 from the field and 0/7 from downtown but still found a way to contribute strongly.

Courtney Byrnes added 17 points, four rebounds and two assists for the Lightning with Sam Roscoe returning too to provide six points and eight rebounds in just 16 minutes of court time.

Amy Kidner top-scored for the Lady Wolfpack with 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Nikita Martin added 11 points and six rebounds for Joondalup, Shani Amos nine points, four boards and three assists, and Ellyce Ironmonger five points and eight rebounds.

The Eagles also hosted the Senators on Saturday night at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre with Stirling winning its fourth game of the season in the finish to the tune of 45 points.

Remarkably East Perth managed just the one-point in the first period with Stirling scoring 15. The Senators went on to lead 35-14 at half-time and 57-19 at three quarter-time before ending up with a 45-point triumph.

Caitlyn Jones finished up top-scoring for the Senators with 17 points and three assists while shooting 6/9 from the field and 3/4 from three-point territory.

Amber Land added 16 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists for Stirling with Jodee Sontay contributing 13 points and six boards, Emma Berryman eight points and Janee Johnson eight points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Cameron Flynn top-scored for East Perth with six points to go with six rebounds, four steals and three assists. Ella Dimanlig did have four points and five rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench too.

The Redbacks were coming off the high of handing the Lightning their first defeat of 2018 on Friday night as they hosted the improving Slammers on Saturday at Belmont Oasis.

It was a tight affair all evening too but the Redbacks were able to do enough in the fourth quarter to outscore the Slammers 19 points to 13 to claim the nine-point victory and improve to an 8-2 record on the season.

The Slammers slipped to 3-6 with the competitive loss ahead of hosting the defending champion Perry Lakes Hawks on Sunday at Eaton Recreation Centre.

Kayla Standish once again top-scored for the Redbacks with 18 points and six rebounds with Makailah Dyer contributing 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Alix Hayward finished with 11 points and five rebounds too for Perth with Bianca Donovan scoring nine points and Mikayla Pirini adding eight points and four assists.

Charlotte van Kleef did what she could to try and lift the Slammers to the win finishing with 21 points, four rebounds and two assists with Tori Fisher adding 10 points and 11 boards, Georgia Denehey 10 points, three boards and three assists, and Tayah Burrows nine points and three assists.

WEEK 9 WOMEN’S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Rockingham Flames 71 lost to Kalamunda Eastern Suns 74
Willetton Tigers 84 defeated East Perth Eagles 47
Lakeside Lightning 86 lost to Perth Redbacks 94

SATURDAY
Joondalup Wolves 56 lost to Lakeside Lightning 74
East Perth Eagles 30 lost to Stirling Senators 75
Perth Redbacks 74 defeated South West Slammers 65

SUNDAY
South West Slammers v Perry Lakes Hawks – Eaton Recreation Centre 2.00pm