THE Lakeside Lightning and Willetton Tigers Women's SBL teams both bounced back from Anzac Day losses to score strong wins last weekend with respective coaches Craig Mansfield and Simon Parker pleased with the performances.

The Lightning went down to the Cockburn Cougars on Anzac Day meaning Mansfield was looking for a bounce back effort on Saturday night against a Stirling Senators team fresh off the break and an impressive win over the Perth Redbacks.

In the end, Lakeside prevailed 82-76 at Lakeside Recreation Centre to improve to a 3-4 record on the season ahead of a clash this Friday night against the Mandurah Magic also at home.

Mansfield was pleased with the win over the Senators in particular the even spread of contributors led by 24 points from Courtney Byrnes; 19 points, seven steals, six rebounds and five assists from Alison Schwagmeyer; and 18 points and nine boards from Ashleigh Grant.

"I was really pleased with the team effort against Senators, we were able to maintain focus and concentration for almost the entire contest and executed a lot better than we have in the last two weeks," Mansfield said.

"Our attack was balanced, pressure was up and we got some great contributions off the bench. There were a couple of patches that they got momentum through great perimeter shooting, in future coaches and players need to adjust quickly to our opposition."

Meanwhile, the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers suffered their first loss of the season back on Anzac Day when Stacey Barr nailed the game-winning three on the buzzer to get the Kalamunda Eastern Suns over the line at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

That left a sour taste in the mouth of the Tigers heading into Friday night's clash with the South West Slammers in Eaton, and they came away with a strong 28-point victory.

Parker was pleased with the way his team responded to their first, and so far only, loss of 2016 and is happy with the way the group has continued on from the momentum built from making the Grand Final last year with a similar group.

"We had a tough one against the Suns so it was pretty good to bounce back against the Slammers, especially down there on a Friday night. It was also an opportunity to sight up a couple of youngsters," Parker told SBL Slam on Sonshine FM 98.5.

"One of the things for us last year was that everyone clicked and when we lost one piece we had someone else to fill that spot. If you start chopping and changing, and bringing people in all the time you can take a step backwards but you need to keep going forward.

"That's what we tried to do. We probably could have added another piece but at this stage we have decided not to do that and we wanted to give these girls another opportunity."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by June Halliday