THE Joondalup Wolves are looking forward to opening their Women's SBL semi-final series with the Perry Lakes Hawks on their home floor this Saturday night and looking to make the most of the presence of Ellyce Ironmonger who will be unavailable next weekend.

The Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves finished the regular season in top spot and then comfortably beat the Cockburn Cougars in two games in the quarter-final match up wrapping it up on Saturday night at Wally Hagan Stadium.

Now the Wolves play the Perry Lakes Hawks in the semi finals with a place in the 2016 Grand Final on the line starting with Game 1 this Saturday night at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

Week 2 Women's Quarter Final Saturday night wrap 

While Klara Wischer, Shani Amos and Nikita-Lee Martin might receive a lot of the accolades for how well the Lady Wolfpack are performing in 2016, there's no question the importance of Ironmonger inside for Joondalup.

Ironmonger has had a terrific season averaging 8.8 points, 11.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists a game and she was tremendous in the quarter finals including 11 points, 18 rebounds and five assists in Saturday night's 21-point victory over the Cougars.

Ironmonger now potentially could have a significant impact in the semi finals against the Hawks with her size and presence inside, but she will only be available to play in Game 1.

Wolves coach Craig Friday couldn’t be happier with the impact Ironmonger has been able to have all season and now hopes to see her put forward another big effort on Saturday night.

"She's been great and she probably doesn’t get some of the accolades of the other girls because she doesn’t rack the points up but her presence both physically and on the boards has just been outstanding for us," Friday said.

"It gives the girls the confidence on the perimeter to play a little harder and close the gap a bit more knowing you have such a big presence behind you. She is actually a really good communicator on the court and she drives our defence really well, and is such a presence on the glass for us.

"It's no secret she's missing Game 2 and 3 of the semi finals because she's going to America for a wedding but she'll be back for the Grand Final. That's an adjustment we'll make and she is a massive presence for us and a good leader."

Friday was left quite satisfied with the effort of the Lady Wolfpack in the quarter-final series against the Cougars. Cockburn was always a threat with imports Candace Williams and Cherridy Thornton, but Friday was happy with his team's eight quarters against them to advance.

"We knew they were going to come pretty hard on Saturday night and I think we absorbed that and defended it pretty well," he said.

"Then as we shifted through the gears I thought we got pretty good control of the game in the third and fourth, and I felt pretty comfortable in the margin that we were able to separate early in the third quarter.

"We spoke about how the season record was irrelevant coming into the playoffs and we knew we were playing a dangerous team with a couple of imports and some kids that just want to have a crack. We had to be on our mettle and I thought we responded pretty well.

"In the first game we started like a house on fire and on Saturday night they came out with all guns blazing. We absorbed that and managed to fight our way out of that, absorb that and then separate. I thought we responded pretty well."

Not only did Wischer, Martin, Amos and Ironmonger have strong performances in the series against the Cougars for the Wolves, Friday got plenty out of the likes of Amy Kidner, Sherelle Knight and Chelsea Belcher as well as Joondalup showed it is a team with plenty of depth.

"Some people say we don’t have any depth but the people that we do use, they have a clear understanding of the role they have to play when they get on the floor. The communication from our starting group to second group is very good," he said.

"It's something we've worked very hard at so they do have a clear understanding of what they need to get done when they get on the court.

"That was something that I was a little bit curious about seeing how it would work come playoffs because a few of them are experiencing it for the first time, but so far so good. It will now be a tougher match up now with Perry Lakes."

The bonus of finishing as the minor premiers means that the Wolves get to host Game 1 this Saturday night at home and then Game 3 back at Joondalup Basketball Stadium if required as well.

But Friday is also happy to be playing the Hawks in the semi finals meaning it provides a chance to play on the Grand Final venue of Bendat Basketball Centre.

"We've had some good crowds this year and we've worked hard to get the home court advantage. We like playing on our court and hopefully it gives us an extra few points that might get us over the line, and then we head into Games 2 and 3 with some adjustments to make," Friday said.

"The other beauty of playing Perry Lakes is that it's the Grand Final court if we happen to get past them, but the home court is nice and it's good to play the first one at home.

"Previously the first games have been home for the lower team but I like the changes the SBL has made this year for the higher team to play Game 1 at home. Having the first game at home since."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin