Week 17 Friday night SBL wrap

THE Cockburn Cougars, Lakeside Lightning and Joondalup Wolves all had double wins on Friday night to open Week 17 of the SBL while the Mandurah Magic Women and East Perth Eagles Men took away a victory at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

The Cougars Women returned to the top eight and the Men remained on top by beating the South West Slammers at Wally Hagan Stadium with the Wolfpack scoring two strong wins over the Willetton Tigers at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

The Lightning Women consolidated a playoff spot and the Men ended their losing run at the hands of the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Ray Owen Recreation Centre.

Slammers quickly refocus on hosting Suns after loss at Cockburn 
Cougars look to Senators after double win Friday over Slammers 

The Friday night Women's results saw the Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars beat the Print Sync South West Slammers 85-62, the Lakeside Lightning defeat the P&J Financial Solutions Kalamunda Eastern Suns 81-67, the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves down the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 64-50 and the Mandurah Magic beat the Schweigen Home Appliances East Perth Eagles 91-54.

Then in the Men's contests, the Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars beat the Print Sync South West Slammers 105-81, the Lakeside Lightning downed the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 105-99, the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup Wolves defeated the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 121-98 and the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles beat the Mandurah Magic 108-98.

Starting with the Women, the Lightning consolidated a playoff spot and made the Suns' job all that harder with their 14-point win at Ray Owen Recreation Centre.

The win sees the Lightning snap a three-game losing run to improve to 9-9 in sixth position while the Eastern Suns slip to 7-10 and fall out of the top eight as a result behind the Cougars.

The Lightning opened up an eight-point lead by quarter-time and were able to maintain that advantage the rest of the way, and extended it in the fourth period with 17 points to 11 to win by 14.

Lakeside won the rebound battle 51 to 42 and also forced Kalamunda into 18 turnovers to help set up the important win.

Alison Schwagmeyer top-scored for the Lightning with 21 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals while Courtney Byrnes contributed 17 points and 13 boards. Ashleigh Grant added 17 points, 11 rebounds and four assists for Lakeside and Devanny King 11 points and nine boards.

Stacey Barr top-scored for the Eastern Suns with 21 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals with Carley Mijovic adding 19 points and 19 boards. Natalia Soli'ai also had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Cougars returned to the top eight with a strong 23-point win over the young Slammers at Wally Hagan Stadium. The win improves Cockburn to an 8-10 record to move ahead of Kalamunda into eighth spot while South West falls to 2-16.

The Slammers, who have an average age of just 20, were able to fight hard to stick with the Cougars in the first half trailing by just eight points at the break, but the home team pulled away with 42 points to 27 in the second half to win by 23.

Candace Williams was a class above for Cockburn with 31 points, 26 rebounds and four assists with Cherridy Thornton fighting through a foot injury for 12 points, eight boards and three assists. Captain Chelsea Evans hit three triples on the way to 11 points and five rebounds.

Courtney Bayliss finished with 10 points and nine rebounds for the Slammers with Raya Thompson contributing 10 points, Dena English eight (four rebounds, four assists, two steals), Meg Ferraz eight and Ebony Bilcich eight.

In the clash of the heavyweights, the Lady Wolfpack had too much firepower for the Tigers winning at Joondalup Basketball Stadium by 14 points to retain top spot in the Women's SBL.

The win sees the Wolves improve to a 16-2 record to now be ahead of the Rockingham Flames (15-3) and Tigers (14-4) in the race for the minor premiership.

The Wolves won despite shooting just 23-of-79 at 29 per cent from the field with the Tigers not doing a whole lot better at 18-of-54 at 33 per cent. But Joondalup won the possession battle significantly taking 25 more shots with eight more rebounds and forcing Willetton into 19 turnovers.

Nikita-Lee Martin top-scored for the Lady Wolfpack with 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists with Shani Amos contributing 14 points, four boards, three assists and two steals and Ellyce Ironmonger 10 points and 19 rebounds.

Klara Wischer also finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, four steals and two assists despite shooting just 2-of-17 from the floor.

Desiree Kelley top-scored for Willetton with 17 points, 10 rebounds and two steals with Ebony Antonio adding 12 points and five boards. Foul trouble limited Louella Tomlinson to just 25 minutes and 11 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

The Magic continued their run of outstanding form having now won seven of their last nine matches beating the Eagles by 37 points at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

The contest was all but over by the end of the first quarter after the Magic scored 25 points to just four. Mandurah further pulled away with 29 points to 16 in the fourth period to score the 37-point win.

The Magic had a terrific shooting night going 35-of-67 at 52 per cent from the field while pulling in 51 rebounds to 29. The Eagles shot just 19-of-66 from the floor at 28 per cent and 6-of-23 at 26 per cent from downtown.

Adijat Adams had a night out for Mandurah with 29 points, 10 rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals on the back of shooting 11-of-16 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line.

Casey Mihovilovich finished with 17 points and eight rebounds for the Magic, Annette Davis 10 points and seven boards, and Emma Klasztorny nine points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

Haylee DeSousa top-scored for East Perth with 20 points with Kristan Pittard adding eight points, eight rebounds and two steals off the bench.

And in the Men's action, the Cougars maintained top spot with a 24-point win over the Slammers at Wally Hagan Stadium. Cockburn was without veterans Gavin Field and Daniel Thomas, but South West didn’t have the firepower to cover the loss of imports Royal Crouch and Tre Nichols.

Najee Lane had a big first half for the Cougars with 18 points and then Marcus Goode took over for a period in the third quarter as Cockburn secured the win to improve to an 18-3 record and remain a game ahead of the Wolves.

Goode finished with 30 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots shooting 13-of-18 from the field and 2-of-4 from downtown. Lane ended the night with 20 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Rhett Della started for Cockburn and finished with 17 points with Julian Pesava adding 10 points and Jaarod Holmes nine.

Sharieff Nepe played the best game of his career off the bench for the Slammers with 15 points and five rebounds while Teny Puot also stood up with 13 points, seven assists and five boards.

Trent Worthington added 12 points and six rebounds for the Slammers despite foul trouble with Corey Easley finishing with 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two blocks, Wade Hitchcock 11 points and Clive Weeden 10 points and four boards.

The Lightning snapped a 13-game losing run by beating the Eastern Suns by six points at Kalamunda. The win sees Lakeside recording its fifth win of 2016 and leaves the Suns as the only team with four wins so far for the season.

Lakeside went to Kalamunda on a mission to finally get a win on the board and as a result piled on 35 points to 22 in the first quarter, and 32 to 27 in the second that proved enough to hold on to an eventual six-point win despite the Suns getting the better of the second half.

TJ Hallice top-scored for the Lightning with 26 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals with Daniel Grida delivering 25 points and Tom Parkinson 24 to go with five rebounds and three steals.

Daniel Alexander scored just eight points but had eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Courtney Belger did all he could for the Eastern Suns finishing with 35 points, six assists, six steals and three rebounds shooting 10-of-24 from the field.

Brandon McGill added 14 points, seven assists and four steals for the Suns, Geordie Murray 13 points, Jarrad Prior 10 and Madison Stoveld nine.

The Tigers went to Joondalup confident having beaten the Wolves three weeks ago but they couldn’t replicate that with the Wolfpack proving too strong at home winning by 23 points to remain in contention with the Cougars for top spot.

The win improves the defending champions to an 18-4 record behind the 18-3 Cougars while the Tigers all but slip out of contention for a top two spot at 15-7.

Joondalup got off to fast start with 33 points to 20 in the first quarter and there was no Willetton comeback on this occasion with the Wolves pulling away after half-time with 54 points to 42 to end up winning by 23.

There wasn’t much between the shooting on the night but the Wolves got on top through hustle and winning the possession game on the back 61 rebounds to 34, and forcing the Tigers into 16 turnovers which they scored 21 points from.

Kevin Davis led the way for the Wolfpack with 29 points, 12 rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals shooting 11-of-14 from the field and 7-of-10 from the foul line.

Trian Iliadis finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Wolves while Greg Hire had 17 points, 10 boards and four assists in his 150th game for the club to become an unrestricted player. Seb Salinas had 12 points, six rebounds and four assists in his 349th SBL appearance.

Jay Bowie top-scored for the Tigers with 26 points and six rebounds with Kyle Armour contributing 21 points and seven assists, Damien Scott 13 points and Josh Johnson 10 to go with five rebounds as Willetton struggled in the absence of Nic Cody.

The Eagles also kept their playoff chances alive with a solid and hard fought 10-point victory over the Magic in Rockingham. The win improves East Perth to 10-13 to be ahead of the Perry Lakes Hawks again into eighth position while Mandurah slipped to 5-16 despite a competitive showing.

East Perth did pull away during the second quarter to lead 55-43 at the half but Mandurah fought hard to get back into the contest in the third quarter to be within three heading into the fourth. But the Eagles had too much at stake to drop the game and finished strongly to win by 10.

Rhys Vague had a strong night for the Eagles finishing with 25 points, 10 rebounds and three assists with Nikola Donlagic adding 22 points, four boards and three assists.

Tom Jervis contributed 18 points and 11 rebounds for East Perth off the bench with Sunday Dech adding 15 points and eight boards, and Joe-Alan Tupaea nine points, four rebounds and four assists.

Trevor Setty top-scored for the Magic with 28 points, 17 rebounds and four assists with Ben Smith coming up big opposed to Jervis with 25 points, nine boards, three assists and two blocked shots.

Tom Remmerswaal contributed 14 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two assists for Mandurah as well while Jordan Barlow had 11 points and four boards, and Daniel Munday eight points, six assists and four rebounds.

FRIDAY WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars 85 defeated Print Sync South West Slammers 62
P&J Financial Solutions Kalamunda Eastern Suns 67 lost to Lakeside Lightning 81
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 64 defeated Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 50
Mandurah Magic 91 defeated Schweigen Home Appliances East Perth Eagles 54

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars 105 defeated Print Sync South West Slammers 81
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 99 lost to Lakeside Lightning 105
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 121 defeated Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 98
Mandurah Magic 98 lost to Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 108

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin




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