DESPITE superstars Alison Schwagmeyer and Daniel Alexander having huge nights and the Lakeside Lightning putting in gritty performances, they came away winless against the Willetton Tigers on Friday night but they hope to turn that around Saturday against the Perth Redbacks.

Schwagmeyer turned on perhaps the best individual quarter of the season on Friday night for the Lightning at Willetton Basketball Stadium as she was dropping threes from way downtown and was simply unstoppable on her way to 19 points.

She finished with 28 for the night but the Tigers ended up overwhelming the Lightning without Courtney Byrnes to win 72-66.

Alexander then delivered a monster game for Lakeside in the Men's clash with 43 points and 15 rebounds but it wasn’t quite enough with him missing a desperation game-winning three at the end as Willetton held on for the 104-101 win.

That all added up to a night of what could have been for the Lightning but there's little time to reflect with attention immediately turning to taking on the Redbacks at Belmont Oasis Leisure Centre on Friday night.

The Lightning Women had a chance to move into fifth place with a win over the Tigers and that looked a distinct possibility the way Schwagmeyer was unstoppable in the first quarter.

But the longer the game wore on and the Tigers were able to wear the Lightning down a little and end up winning by six points leaving Lakeside at 11-10 and missing a chance to leapfrog the Mandurah Magic with just one game remaining.

As well as Schwagmeyer finishing with 28 points and eight rebounds for Lakeside, Devanny King worked hard for 13 points and 11 boards while Ashleigh Grant had 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Tia Ucich eight points and four assists.

Mansfield always knew it was going to be tough without Byrnes against the grand finalists of last year but he took plenty of good signs out of the game despite the loss.

"The start was fantastic and Ali obviously had a really big first quarter. But they adjusted and face guarded her quite a bit and we didn't necessarily handle that well at times," Mansfield said.

"Without Courtney Byrnes, it was interesting for me with the rotation but it was good to experiment with it a little bit.

"Willetton are a likely first round match up for us as well so to be able to push them here on their home court means during the finals we can play that little bit better. There were encouraging signs."

The Lightning Women now finish their season on Saturday night against the Redbacks with a bye in the final round. Both teams are coming off a Friday night loss to a top three team, but the Redbacks were blown out by the Wolves.

Mansfield isn’t sure what impact either result will have but he's looking forward to the challenge Perth presents.

"That's the thing, we lost a close one and played everyone big minutes but their game wasn’t as close so they might have been able to manage their minutes better," Mansfield said.

"But it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day because in the finals tomorrow night could be a Game 3 and players have to back up and play. We'll be without Courtney Byrnes again but we beat them a couple of weeks ago at home so the return match will be interesting.

"They've got some really good players and they play quite different to Willetton in style so that will be a little bit of an adjustment. We'll have to do better on Ajay Jones this time because last time she scored 27 on us."

The Lightning Men then came into the clash with the Tigers on the back of three impressive wins and looking to shake off a season of missed opportunities and narrow losses by knocking off another playoff contending team.

With Alexander on fire, the Lightning started well to lead by four at quarter-time and then 10 at the main break. Lakeside threatened to blow the game out early in the third period but the Tigers moved to limit Alexander moving Charles Funches onto him and double-teaming him at times.

Foul trouble also hindered Alexander and even though he still finished with 43 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks and two steals on 14-of-26 shooting from the field, 3-of-8 from long range and 12-of-13 at the foul line, it wasn’t quite enough.

Daniel Grida added 11 points and four rebounds for the Lightning, Matt Vinci 10 points, TJ Hallice nine points, eight boards and five assists, Corey Martin nine points and five assists, Corey Shervill eight points and four rebounds, and Tom Parkinson seven points and seven boards.

Lakeside coach Sam Oatman was left frustrated at yet another game his team has lost in heartbreaking fashion this year. Again they proved they could match a top team but just managed to lose based on the final minute.

"It was tough to feel like we let another game that we felt we were in control of slip right through our fingers again. Obviously we give credit to Willetton they are a very good team and they made some really big plays," Oatman said.

"Bowie was tremendous and I thought Funches played a really good game off the bench, and hit some big shots. I told the guys before the game he's only hit five threes all year and of course he hit his sixth and seventh, and a really tough two in the corner.

"We defended well enough to win but I felt like in the third quarter our offence stalled and there was no flow to it. We turned it over 14 times in the second half and it seemed like they scored almost every time after a turnover."

The Lightning delivered an impressive performance to beat the Redbacks a couple of weeks ago on their home floor and Oatman hopes for a similar performance at Belmont on Saturday, but he knows it won't be easy against a desperate playoff bound team.

"I really like the Redbacks. I think Nik has done a really job with them. I don’t know where they're going to end up finishing but I wouldn’t want to play them in the first round," Oatman said.

"They just play hard and physical, and they move the ball and they've got guys who can shoot it and their import Jourdan is phenomenal. I don’t believe Vigor is playing but just having Wagner back makes a big difference because he is a true point guard.

"He plays in a very similar way to how I played constantly trying to get in the paint and make plays for other guys. They also really need that game and they are going to want it but we'll be super hungry and confident as well. We don’t have anything to lose and especially after this loss we'll be ready to play again."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin