The 2023 NBL1 West season began on Friday night with women's victories for the Willetton Tigers, Lakeside Lightning and East Perth Eagles while men's wins for the Rockingham Flames, Perth Redbacks and Perry Lakes Hawks.
The NBL1 West season got underway on Friday night and in the women's action, the Willetton Tigers beat the Rockingham Flames 66-57, the Lakeside Lightning defeated the Perth Redbacks 74-68 and the East Perth Eagles won a heartstopper 77-76 against the Perry Lakes Hawks.
The results were then all flipped in the men's match ups with the defending champion Flames beating Mark Worthington's Tigers 89-80 while the Redbacks thumped the Lightning 103-60 and Perry Lakes overcame a slow start to defeat East Perth 100-77.
WOMEN
Sharp brings WNBL form back to Tigers in win over Flames
The Willetton Tigers started the new season in solid fashion beating the Rockingham Flames 66-57 on Friday night.
With both teams well short of full strength to open the new season, ultimately the difference was Perth Lynx WNBL star Alex Sharp who brought her form back with her to Willetton where she's a former league MVP and championship winner.
Rockingham went into the half-time break leading 35-28 but Willetton worked on top in the third quarter holding the Flames to just seven points and maintained the edge in the fourth period to win by nine.
Sharp ended the night with 24 points, 15 rebounds and three assists with Kiara Waite adding 11 points and eight boards, Eva Cooke nine points, Sophie Doran nine points and six rebounds, and fresh off her WNBL debut, Desiree Kelley eight points, six boards, three assists, three steals and two blocks.
Tayah Burrows also had a breakout WNBL season with the Lynx and produced 20 points, five rebounds and five assists for Rockingham. Christina Boag added 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Teyla Evans nine points, six boards, three assists and three steals.
New Lightning captain stars in season-opening win over Redbacks
It was the perfect start to life under a new coach and captain for the Lakeside Lightning, with a season-opening 74-68 victory.
Kate Oeij took over as caretaker coach at Lakeside for the back end of last season but was appointed the head coach for 2023 and with new captain Caitie Jones relishing with her leadership role too, the Lightning were impressive at Belmont Oasis.
With the contest a see-saw battle over the first three quarters with the Redbacks leading 56-52 by three quarter-time, the Lightning took over with 22 points to 12 in the fourth term to end winning by six.
New Lightning captain Jones was tremendous with 28 points, five rebounds and four assists while hitting 5/14 of her three-point attempts.
Ruby Benn added 11 points and 10 rebounds, Tayah Morgan 10 points and three rebounds, and Kylee Smith eight points and eight boards.
Mikayla Pirini produced 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Redbacks with Denielle Ashworth delivering 10 points and five boards, and Bri Bailey 10 points.
Weather forecast in Perth: clear skies, 18 degrees ??
— NBL1 (@NBL1) March 31, 2023
But it's raining buckets between the Redbacks and the Lightning! ?
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Eagles open up in style under new coach with thrilling win
It's been a great off-season of change at the East Perth Eagles and the start of what they hope will be the road back to success began on Friday night with a thrilling 77-76 road win over the Perry Lakes Hawks.
Craig Allen has taken over as coach at East Perth in 2023 having previously done well to lead the Perth Redbacks to a top four finish after being a long-time assistant at the Willetton Tigers.
With exciting new arrivals including Maddie Allen who he coached at the Redbacks and Sam Lubcke who starred in a championship for Willetton, and it all came together on Friday night, just.
East Perth led by 11 points just before three quarter-time and still by nine with seven minutes to go, but the Hawks weren’t going anywhere. With four minutes to go, a triple from Millie McCarthy put Perry Lakes in front.
The home team had all the momentum but the Eagles finished impressively starting with a three-pointer from Tessa Morrison. Madison Torresin then scored the go-ahead layup in the final minute and it was enough with both Emma Clarke and Ash Isenbarger missing shots at the win for the Hawks.
Torresin finished with 29 points, nine rebounds, six steals and four assists for East Perth on 4/9 three-point shooting. Lubcke added 23 points and four rebounds, Morrison nine points, five assists and four steals, and Allen nine points and nine rebounds.
Isenbarger top-scored for Perry Lakes with 21 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks with McCarthy contributing 14 points and five assists, and Maddie Dennis 14 points and four rebounds.
WHAT. A. FINISH.
— NBL1 (@NBL1) March 31, 2023
Trading the lead back and forth all quarter, Madison Torresin's lay up was the winning basket for East Perth in a thriller! ?
West showed up in Round 1!
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MEN
Reigning MVP stars for Flames against Wortho's Tigers
All eyes were on Willetton Basketball Stadium on Friday night to open 2023 and in the end Devondrick Walker starred as his Rockingham Flames beat the Willetton Tigers 89-80.
Rockingham began its NBL1 West and National Championship defence on the road on Friday night with Walker, Marshall Nelson, Tom Jervis, Ryan Godfrey and company all back on deck.
On the other side, it's a Willetton team loaded up with Mark Worthington coming out of retirement to join Brisbane Bullets pair Gorjok Gak and Hunter Clarke along with seasoned veterans Damien Scott, Michael Vigor and Andrew Black.
So the stage was set for a mouth watering contest and with three-time NBL champion and MVP Bryce Cotton on deck to watch too before a month long holiday back in the US, it didn’t disappoint.
It was a tight, physical and intense battle all night with Willetton still leading 64-60 by three quarter-time, but Walker and the Flames took over in the fourth term with 29 points to 16 to claim the nine-point victory.
Reigning NBL1 West MVP Walker finished with 37 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals on 13/19 shooting from the floor and a phenomenal 9/13 from three-point land.
Jeremy Combs added 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Ryan Godfrey 10 points, two assists and two steals, and Tom Jervis 10 points, 11 boards, seven blocks and three assists.
Gorjok Gak delivered 18 points and 15 rebounds for Willetton with Darnell Hoskins Jr adding 15 points and Mark Worthington six points and three rebounds in 23 minutes in his first game in the competition since 2008.
Just a small sample of Devondrick Walker's best buckets tonight ?
— NBL1 (@NBL1) March 31, 2023
This guy was in a different ????????? - 3??7?? points ?
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Redbacks send a message in start of a new era with big win
It's been an off-season of change at the Perth Redbacks and the new era got the best possible start on Friday night with a 103-60 thumping of the Lakeside Lightning.
Women's championship winning Charles Nix has taken over as coach of the Redbacks in 2023 and brought with him a host of new faces including former Perry Lakes point guard Bryton Hobbs, and Joel Vaiangina, Maris Colton and Jacob Formosa from the Joondalup Wolves.
There's also his former South West Slammers import Brian Voelkel along with former Perth Wildcats development player Chuatwech Reath, and based on what they showed on Friday night big things could be expected from the Redbacks in 2023.
The Redbacks were in control of the contest from the outset leading by 10 points at quarter-time, 13 at half-time and 24 at three quarter-time before going on with the job with 30 points to 11 in the fourth period to win by 43.
Hobbs ended the game with 21 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists for the Redbacks with Vaiangina contributing 16 points and eight boards, Louis Timms 15 points and five rebounds, Tevin Jackson 14 points and two steals, and Colton 12 points and three boards.
It was a rough start to the season for Lakeside under new coach Mike Malat with Dom Jackson top-scoring with 12 points with Max Richardson adding 11 and Daniel Green eight to go with seven rebounds.
Sioeli Vaiangina is coming in hot! ?
— NBL1 (@NBL1) March 31, 2023
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Deep Hawks show their quality overcoming slow start to Eagles
The Perry Lakes Hawks were rocked early by the East Perth Eagles but showed their depth, class and experience the rest of the night to start the new season with a 100-77 home victory.
East Perth raced out to an 18-4 start at Bendat Basketball Centre but the game took a turn once two-time championship winning co-captain Rob Cassir changed the tide of the game for Perry Lakes, and the Hawks never looked back from there.
While the Eagles still led 28-17 by quarter-time, it was all the Hawks from there as they outscored East Perth 83 points to 49 the rest of the game to start the 2023 season with the 23-point win.
In his 307th career game, Cassir was instrumental for Perry Lakes and his numbers of 13 points, six steals, three rebounds and two assists only partly tell the story.
Matt Leary top-scored for the Hawks with 19 points while two All-First Team member Daniel Alexander added 13 points and six boards, Ben Purser 12 points and three assists, Nick Floyd 12 points and seven rebounds, and the returning Mitch Clarke 10 points and seven assists.
Things turned sour for East Perth after quarter-time with Justin King top-scoring with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Jerami Grace added 13 points and two assists, Sebit Reath 16 points and 15 boards, and Noah Straatsma 12 points and two blocks.
Matthew Leary took over in the third quarter for Perry Lakes ?
— NBL1 (@NBL1) March 31, 2023
The young guard scored 9?? of his side's 29 points!
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