ANZAC Day produced a remarkable afternoon of action at Willetton Basketball Stadium with the Kalamunda Eastern Suns winning an overtime thriller in the Women's clash to hand the Willetton Tigers a first loss for 2016, while the Men had a stunning 81-point victory.

The Tigers' Men played their final home game with Alan Black as coach and scored 147 points in an 81-point win over the Eastern Suns while it was Kalamunda who prevailed in an overtime thriller in the Women's contest with Willetton losing for the first time of the season.

The three Women's matches on Anzac Day saw the Kalamunda Eastern Suns win a heart stopper 92-91 over the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers, the Textile WA Perth Redbacks down the Schweigen Home Appliances East Perth Eagles 76-59 and the Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars defeat the Lakeside Lightning 80-72.

The Men's matches saw the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers beat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns with a remarkable 147-66 scoreline while the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles defeated the Textile WA Perth Redbacks 102-94 and the Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars defeated the Lakeside Lightning 112-92.

In the Women's contests, it was a nail-biter between the Tigers and Eastern Suns at Willetton Basketball Stadium that went to overtime.

In the end, the Suns handed the Tigers their first defeat of the season on the back of a game-winning three-pointer from Stacey Barr to see Kalamunda improve to a 3-3 record for 2016.

The Tigers appeared in control at half-time leading by six points but the Eastern Suns delivered a strong third period to take the lead before Willetton managed to force the game into overtime.

And at the end of the extra time, Barr nailed a massive three for the Suns and also had a huge block down the other end as Kalamunda handed Willetton its first loss of 2016.

The Suns did well forcing the Tigers into 26 turnovers but Willetton kept finding a way to stay in the contest largely on the back of dominating the rebound count and shooting at a slightly better percentage.

As well as her big plays late, Barr finished with 27 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and three steals. She did shoot just 8-of-29 from the field and 3-of-10 from downtown but made the big plays with the game on the line.

Carley Mijovic made her first appearance since signing with the Suns and contributed a strong performance with 24 points and six boards.

Sabrina Jeridore added 11 points, three rebounds and two steals for Kalamunda, Jorjah Smith nine points, Sarah-Jane McMahon nine points, eight rebounds and four steals, and Natalia Soli'ai nine points and five boards.

Kate Malpass top-scored for the Tigers with 22 points and 13 assists despite 10 turnovers. Ebony Antonio also had 21 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals for Willetton while Louella Tomlinson contributed 17 points, 16 boards, four steals, four blocks and three assists.

Desiree Kelley added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Tigers, and Zoe Harper 11 points and six boards.

The Redbacks also defeated the Eagles by 17 points at Belmont Oasis Leisure Centre with Perth bouncing back from its opening two losses of 2016 to improve to a 4-2 record. East Perth wasn’t quite able to back up winning its first game of the season over the Slammers on Saturday night.

Perth opened up a gap during the second quarter to lead 38-28 at half-time but East Perth had a strong third period to trail by just three heading into the fourth. But the Redbacks dominated with 24 points to 10 in the final quarter to win by 17.

The Redbacks overcame 24 turnovers by dominating the glass with 48 rebounds to 33 while controlling the paint at both ends scoring 44 of their 76 points inside while East Perth managed just 18 of its 59 in the paint.

Jess Jakens had a strong showing for the Redbacks with 16 points and 11 rebounds with Ashley Gilmore contributing 14 points and 11 boards, Ajay Jones 13 points and five assists, and Lisa Wallbutton 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Elainah Coffin top-scored for the Eagles off the bench with 11 points while Jodie Milligan added nine points and five assists, Jodee Sontay eight points and seven rebounds, and Gemma Houghton eight points. Nicole Jorre St Jorre also had six points and seven boards.

The final Women's match of the round saw the Cougars beat the Lightning by eight points to improve to a 3-5 record and celebrate Taryn Priestly's 200th game in the SBL.

Priestly celebrated her 200th game milestone with 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals off the bench.

The Cougars started strongly with 25 points to 19 in the first period and managed to maintain that advantage.

Despite 23 turnovers, Cockburn won the rebounding battle 44 to 33 and did manage to score 24 points from the 19 turnovers by Lakeside. The Cougars also shot 44 per cent from the floor and made 6-of-12 three-point attempts. Lakeside managed 40 per cent from the floor and 16 per cent from beyond the arc.

Candace Williams had another 26 points and 15 rebounds for Cockburn with Cherridy Thornton contributing 21 points and Chelsea Evans 11.

Alison Schwagmeyer had another big performance for the Lightning with 34 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals while shooting 12-of-21 from the field and 9-of-10 at the foul line.

Courtney Byrnes added 17 points for Lakeside and Ashleigh Grant eight points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

Then in the Men's Anzac Day action, the Tigers put in a remarkable offensive performance to score 147 points and then hold the Eastern Suns to just 66 in a stunning 81-point victory at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

The win improves the Tigers to a 5-3 record on the season while the Suns remain winless after eight games. But Kalamunda had been doing well offensively averaging 113.6 points a game but things didn’t exactly go as well on Monday.

The Tigers piled on 41 points in the first quarter and 40 on the second before adding a further 35 in the third period, and 31 in the fourth with the Suns falling away for just the 30 second half points.

Willetton shot 52-of-96 from the field at 54 per cent while nailing 15-of-41 from three-point range at 36 per cent. They also pulled in 62 rebounds to 42 from Kalamunda and forced the Suns into 24 turnovers where they were able to score 36 points directly from.

Kyle Armour led the scoring for the Tigers but they had nine players hitting at least seven points.

Armour finished with 30 points and four assists with Damien Scott contributing 26 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals.

Jay Bowie added 21 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and five steals for Willetton, Nic Cody 16 points, Mark Heron 14 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots, Daniel Casey 12 points and five boards, and Lachlan Evans 12 points.

Josh Johnson also had nine points and eight rebounds for the Tigers, and Andrew Black seven points, seven boards and seven assists.

Tim Squire scored 18 points and had eight rebounds from the bench for Kalamunda with Jacopo Marsili adding 11 points.

The Eagles bounced back from a loss to the Slammers on Saturday night beating the Redbacks by eight points at Belmont Oasis to record their second win of 2016 while Perth slipped to 2-5.

East Perth got on top during the first half to lead 54-37 at half-time and then further extended their lead with 30 points to 26 in the third quarter before Perth had a strong fourth period to close the final margin to just the eight points.

Drew Williamson top-scored for the Eagles with 25 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists while nailing four three-pointers.

Amen Osayande also contributed 19 points and eight rebounds for East Perth, Thomas Korf 19 points and eight rebounds, Rhys Vague 18 points and 14 boards, and playing-coach Joe-Alan Tupaea 10 points, four assists and three rebounds.

Jourdan DeMuynck top-scored for the Redbacks with 27 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and two steals while Lewis Thomas finished with 19 points and 13 boards, Ben Smith 19 points and Jack Wagner 11 points.

The Cougars also responded to a loss to the Wolves on Friday night by defeating the Lightning by 20 points at Wally Hagan Stadium on Anzac Day.

It was a big day for two Cougars veterans too with Rhett Della celebrating his 300th game in the SBL and Daniel Thomas appearance No. 200. Della finished the game with six points, nine rebounds and two steals, and Thomas 14 points and six assists including nailing 4-of-7 from three-point range.

Gavin Field also finished with 23 points, seven assists, three blocks and two rebounds for Cockburn, Marcus Goode 23 points and 17 rebounds and Najee Lane 18 points, eight boards, five assists and three steals.

Julian Pesava contributed 16 points, four rebounds and three steals for the Cougars, and Sheldon McIntyre 10 points, three assists and two steals.

Reigning Player of the Week Daniel Alexander top-scored for the Lightning with 29 points and 12 rebounds with Seva Chan contributing 16 points, TJ Hallice 14 (eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks), Corey Martin 12 and Hayden Bell 11 (seven boards).

ANZAC DAY WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 91 lost to Kalamunda Eastern Suns 92
Textile WA Perth Redbacks 76 defeated Schweigen Home Appliances East Perth Eagles 59
Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars 80 defeated Lakeside Lightning 72

ANZAC DAY ATURDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 147 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 66
Textile WA Perth Redbacks 94 lost to Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 102
Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars 112 defeated Lakeside Lightning 92

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin