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ROUND 10 in the Women’s SBL couldn’t have possibly been more contrasting for the Willetton Tigers beating the top team Joondalup Wolves and losing to the bottom placed East Perth Eagles on Saturday.

The Tigers became the hottest team in the Women’s SBL when they beat the Joondalup Wolves 75-68 at Willetton Basketball Stadium on Friday night.

But they were then left shocked on Saturday when East Perth snapped its 43-game, two-year drought with a 66-58 win over them at Herb Graham Recreation Centre.

ROUND 10 SPOTLIGHT | LADY EAGLES SHOCK EAGLES END LOSING RUN
ROUND 10 WOMEN’S SBL PREVIEW

The other Friday night Women’s SBL action saw the Warwick Senators beat the Cockburn Cougars 86-75 and the South West Slammers claim a heartstopper 77-76 against the Rockingham Flames.

Then also on Saturday evening, the Mandurah Magic defeated the Cockburn Cougars 80-64 and the Perth Redbacks prevailed 71-60 over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

ROUND 10 WOMEN’S SBL SEASON

FRIDAY

BETHANIE WARWICK SENATORS 86 defeated ROUND 1 FITNESS COCKBURN COUGARS 75

The Warwick Senators maintained their hold on a top four position in the Women’s SBL with an 11-point win over the Cockburn Cougars on Friday night.

The Senators returned to the winner’s list last Saturday night with a good win over the South West Slammers and were back to Warwick Stadium on Friday looking to keep that momentum going against Kisha Lee and the Cougars.

Cockburn did well to stick with Warwick for the first half too with the Senators only narrowly leading 44-42 at the main break.

But the Senators were able to hold the Cougars to just nine points in the third quarter and went on to score the 86-75 win to improve to 7-3 on the season while Cockburn remains winless after winning its opening two matches of 2019 to be 2-7.

The Cougars battled hard and even outrebounded the Senators 47-40 but in the end shooting made the difference on the night. Warwick went 37/75 at 49 per cent from the field while Cockburn went 26/71 at 36 per cent.

The Senators had plenty of strong contributors who were instrumental in the victory with Stacey Barr top-scoring with 18 points, seven assists, four rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

Sam Roscoe added 17 points, 11 rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists as well for the Senators with Samaria Howard producing 17 points, six rebounds and six assists, Tayla Hepburn 11 points and Nicole Jorre de St Jorre 10 points, five boards, five steals and three assists.

Kisha Lee put up 18 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars against the team she was an import with back in 2017.

Matilda Muir continued her breakout season with Cockburn too finishing with 20 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals while Nicole Roberts contributed 19 points and four rebounds, Ruby Benn nine points and six assists, and Vanessa Michael four points, nine boards and three blocked shots.

WILLETTON TIGERS 75 defeated CHAMBERS FRANKLYN JOONDALUP CITY WOLVES 68

The two hottest teams in the Women’s SBL did battle at Willetton Basketball Stadium on Friday night with the Willetton Tigers making it seven straight holding on for a seven-point win over the Joondalup Wolves.

It loomed as a tantalising match up with the Lady Wolfpack coming into the game on top of the standings with a seven-game winning streak and having lost just once this season under new coach Charles Nix while the Tigers have been resurgent having won six straight.

That set the tone for a terrific contest and it was the Tigers who raced out to a 7-2 start, and capitalising on that to still hold a 24-16 advantage by the end of the first period.

Willetton then delivered a dominant second quarter including going on a 9-0 run and holding Joondalup to just the 10 points. The Tigers scored 26 points themselves to open up a 50-26 advantage by half-time.

The lead ballooned to 28 points to start the second half with four quick points to Tigers import Laina Snyder.

While the Wolves fought hard to close the gap the rest of the way, the Tigers were never seriously threatened and held on for the 75-68 win to improve to 10-3 on the season having won seven in-a-row.

The Lady Wolfpack suffered just their second loss of their season as their seven-game winning streak came to an end.

Laina Snyder continued the stunning start to her SBL career that should have her leading the MVP race with another 24 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and two assists for the Tigers while shooting 10/18 from the field and 2/5 from downtown.

Emma Gandini continued her career-best form for Willetton too with another 19 points, six rebounds, five steals and two assists while nailing all four of her three-point attempts.

Wendi Bibbins added 10 points and nine rebounds, Desiree Kelley eight points and seven boards, Taryn Priestly seven points and five assists, and Hayley Winter five points, six assists and four rebounds.

Captain Amy Kidner top-scored for the Wolves with 16 points and five rebounds while Kayla Steindl produced 15 points and 10 boards, Amber Land 15 points and 10 rebounds, Mikayla Pirini seven points, five boards and five assists, and Isabelle Miotti six points and two assists.

PRINT SYNC SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 77 defeated CLASS 1 ORTHODONTICS ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 76

Darcee Garbin’s return for the Rockingham Flames brought an air of excitement into her team’s trip south but it was the South West Slammers who ended the night celebrating with a one-point thrilling win on their home floor.

The Slammers came into the game having lost their past four matches ahead of hosting a Flames outfit that had also lost their last couple, but were welcoming the Townsville WNBL and Australian Opals star Darcee Garbin into their line-up for the first time in 2019.

The potential of a Rockingham frontcourt featuring Garbin, Maddie Allen and Christina Boag is quite the salivating prospect, but they didn’t quite get off to a winning start on Friday night thanks to the Slammers.

Rockingham started strongly leading 26-20 by quarter-time but the Slammers put up 18 points to 13 in the second period and it was a slender lead for the Flames, 39-38 at half-time.

It was a contest destined to go down to the wire and it was virtually basket for basket throughout the fourth quarter.

The last term started with a triple to Courtney Bayliss to put the Slammers back in front 61-59 before Garbin responded inside for the Flames to level scores.

Christina Boag then put Rockingham up two as they continued to do well inside but Bayliss, in her 201st SBL appearance, knocked down another three to put the home team up 64-63.

Brittni Montgomery then got to the foul line and made both to put South West up three before Maddie Allen responded again inside for Rockingham but the Slammers got the immediate response courtesy of Makailah Dyer.

Rockingham continued to do well inside and when Allen converted a three-point play, scores were locked again at 70-70 with three minutes to play.

Allen then gave the Flames the lead and Boag kept them up one after a three-pointer for the Slammers to Dyer. Montgomery and Garbin then traded baskets leaving the Slammers with one last play to win the game down one coming out of a Nathan Grover timeout.

The response was going inside to Montgomery who made the winning basket on a Bianca Donovan assist and the Slammers won 77-76 to snap the four-game losing run while handing the Flames their third straight defeat.

Makailah Dyer produced her best game of the season for the Slammers finishing with 29 points, five assists and four rebounds on shooting 10/21 from the field, 4/9 from deep and 5/6 from the foul line.

Brittni Montgomery added 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Slammers with Courtney Bayliss producing 14 points and four rebounds, Bianca Donovan 10 points, six boards, three assists and three steals, and Kate Fielding four points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Darcee Garbin and Christina Boag had monster games inside for Rockingham with Garbin finishing with 28 points, nine rebounds and three steals, and Boag 25 points, nine boards and five assists while combining to shoot 23/37 from the field.

But they received little support with Maddie Allen adding nine points, six rebounds, four blocks and three assists, Ariana Hetherington five points and three boards, and Ella Kennedy five points and four rebounds in the absence of Tayah Burrows while import guard Janelle Adams went down injured.

SATURDAY

ROUND 1 FITNESS COCKBURN COUGARS 64 lost to CACHET HOMES MANDURAH MAGIC 80

The Mandurah Magic got back to winning on Saturday night beating the Cockburn Cougars by 16 points at Wally Hagan Stadium.

The Cougars were coming off a defeat to the Warwick Senators on Friday night but the Magic came into the contest fresh but needing to put an end to their three-game losing streak.

Cockburn started impressively and led 26-24 by quarter-time on their home floor but Mandurah responded in the second quarter and took a 43-39 lead into the half-time interval.

The Magic held the Cougars to another 13 points only in the third quarter and then just 12 in the fourth as they did enough to record the 80-64 victory.

The win improves Mandurah to a 5-6 record on the season while the Cougars slip to 2-8 having now lost their past eight matches after starting the campaign with wins against Willetton and East Perth.

Ginka Palusna top-scored for the Magic with 20 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals while shooting 9/17 from the field.

Carly Boag produced 17 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks as she works her way back to top form and shape after a knee reconstruction.

Delany Junkermeir also had 12 points and three rebounds for Mandurah with Kelly Bailey adding 10 points and four boards, Casey Mihovilovich six points, fire rebounds and five assists, and Emma Klasztorny six points and six boards.

Kisha Lee top-scored for Cockburn with 21 points, five rebounds and three steals with Ruby Benn adding 13 points and four boards, Matilda Muir 13 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists, and Haylee De Sousa seven points and three assists.

SCHWEIGEN EAST PERTH EAGLES 66 defeated WILLETTON TIGERS 58

The Willetton Tigers headed to Herb Graham Recreation Centre the hottest team in the Women’s SBL up against an East Perth team winless for two years, but the Eagles found something special to end the league’s most unwanted losing streak in stunning fashion.

It wasn’t the immediate strong start East Perth was after though. The Eagles scored just seven points in the first quarter with the Tigers leading 17-7 at quarter-time.

They then tailed 22-10 when Wendi Bibbins scored early in the second period for Willetton.

But when Ella Dimanlig hit a triple heading towards half-time, they trailed by just six and when she hit another a minute later, they were only five down.

Desiree Kelley and Laina Snyder combined for five quick Tigers points to steady their lead to 10, but another three from Dimanlig and then a layup from Cameron Flynn had East Perth within seven at the major break.

There was still no signs of what was to come though. Especially when Willetton came out and scored for the first four points of the second half to again lead by 11.

But the Eagles managed to restrict the Tigers to just six points the rest of the quarter and found a way to put up 16 themselves to be just one-point behind heading into the fourth period.

And then in the last quarter it was all East Perth as they produced the sort of basketball two years in the making. They did well to hold Willetton to just 13 points and put up 22 themselves to claim the stunning 66-58 victory.

It was far from a pretty game but that should matter nought to the Eagles with what they have been through.

East Perth themselves shot just 28 per cent from the field but did make 7/17 at 41 per cent from three-point range. They did well getting to the line too even if they did just make 19/32 free-throw attempts.

But the Eagles worked harder than they have perhaps in two years to get the result. They pulled in 66 rebounds including 23 on the offensive end for eight second chance points.

They did have 22 turnovers from which the Tigers scored 16 points from but Willetton only got to the foul line nine times the entire night while only shooting 26/93 from the field at 27 per cent and 2/24 from downtown at 8 per cent.

Cameron Flynn continued to show that she is an emerging star in the league leading East Perth with 16 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists including hitting 2/3 of her three-point attempts.

Ella Dimanlig came up huge as well with a season-best 15 points including 4/5 from long-range.

Import Janee Johnson had her moments still where she went in and out of the game, but had a double-double with 11 points, 13 rebounds and four steals while Bree Fisher contributed 10 points and seven boards, and Ross Aryang four points and 11 rebounds.

It was a night Willetton will look to forget quickly. Laina Snyder still produced 18 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and two steals, and Wendi Bibbins 10 points and 10 boards.

Emma Gandini added eight points and eight rebounds, Taryn Priestly seven points and four assists, Desiree Kelley six points and three steals, and Zoe Harper five points and five rebounds.

KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 60 lost to TEXTURE WA PERTH REDBACKS 71

The Perth Redbacks continued their resurgence in the Women’s SBL after a solid 11-point win over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns on Saturday night.

The two teams made their only appearances of the weekend on Saturday at Ray Owen Sports Centre with both the Eastern Suns and Redbacks attempting to improve on 3-7 records and stay in touch of a playoff position.

Kalamunda welcomed its second import Katie Yohn for the first time this season while Perth was trying to build some momentum following the additions of Lauren Mansfield and Morgan Pullins.

The Redbacks led narrowly at quarter-time but the Suns played well in the second period especially defensively to hold their opponents to just 12 points and take a 34-32 lead into half-time.

But the Redbacks took over in the second half with 20 points to 12 in the third period and then 19 more to 14 in the fourth on their way to the 71-60 victory.

The win improves the Redbacks to a 4-7 record on the season after losing the opening six games of the season. The Eastern Suns are now 3-8 having lost their past four matches.

The Redbacks dominated the boards, outrebounding the Suns 56 to 37 but they did have 29 turnovers from which Kalamunda scored 13 points.

The Redbacks missed all 10 of their three-point attempts too and shot just 24/61 at 39 per cent from the field but they did well getting to the rack.

They went 23/32 from the foul line which was pivotal in the final result against an Eastern Suns team that shot 24/75 at 32 per cent from the floor, 6/36 at 16 per cent from three-point range and just 6/9 from the free-throw line.

Rosie Deegan top-scored for the Redbacks with 22 points and 13 rebounds with Lauren Mansfield contributing 13 points and five assists, Morgan Pullins nine points and six boards, Nes’eya Williams eight points and nine rebounds, Denielle Lipscombe eight points and three boards, and Jess Jakens seven points and nine rebounds.

Jennie Rintala fought valiantly for the Eastern Suns with 22 points, seven rebounds and six steals with new import Katie Yohn delivering 20 points, five boards, three assists and three steals on debut.