NBL1 West Recap | Friday Round 12

There were contrasting statements made by the Willetton Tigers women and Rockingham Flames men in Friday night's NBL1 West while the Cockburn Cougars women stayed unbeaten and East Perth Eagles snatched one from the Cougars men.

There were three Friday night's women's matches in the NBL1 West to open Round 12 with the Willetton Tigers beating the Rockingham Flames 98-87, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns beating the Perth Redbacks 100-78, and the Cockburn Cougars defeating the East Perth Eagles 101-43.

Then in the men's matches, the Flames won big 115-83 against the Tigers while the Redbacks defeated the Eastern Suns 92-74, and the Eagles won the thriller 94-93 against the Cougars.

PARKINSON REFLECTS ON JOURNEY THAT ALMOST NEVER WAS 

ALWAYS TEAM FIRST AS JORRE DE ST JORRE REACHES 450

WOMEN

Captain Kelley inspires Tigers to big win over Flames

The Willetton Tigers made quite the significant statement by ending the winning run of the Rockingham Flames in Rockingham and scoring a fifth consecutive win themselves.

Both teams came into the clash at Mike Barnett Sports Complex in hot form with the Flames improving to fourth spot with nine straight wins while the Tigers had won four in-a-row to be in third place.

So the stage was set for a tremendous contest and for the first half it was a tight, competitive affair with the Tigers only narrowly leading by four at quarter-time, and then stretching that to five while leading 45-40 at half-time.

Willetton then came out an inspired outfit to start the second half with 216-game captain Desiree Kelley the inspiration behind that as they outscored Rockingham 30 points to 16 in the third period.

That saw the Tigers open up a 19-point lead which grew to 23 in the fourth stanza before they scored the 11-point win to improve to 11-3 on the season with five in-a-row. The nine-game winning streak of Rockingham came to an end with the Flames now 9-4.

Kelley produced a standout performance for Willetton giving every indication she deserves more of a WNBL opportunity after being a development player at the Perth Lynx this past season. She finished with 30 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and four steals while hitting 5/10 from downtown.

She had plenty of help too with Melisa Brcaninovic putting up 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals, Alex Sharp 18 points, 19 boards, six assists and four steals, and Jess Jakens 13 points and seven rebounds as she approaches her 250-game milestone at her new club.

Mehryn Kraker did what she could to keep Rockingham in the contest with 26 points, seven assists, four steals and three rebounds.

Casey Samuels had a strong performance for the Flames too with 23 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three assists while Tayah Burrows added 14 points, four steals, three assists and two boards, and Teyla Evans 12 points, six rebounds and four steals.

Mehryn Kraker with the steal and the finish ?

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Suns snap losing streak in style over Redbacks

The Kalamunda Eastern Suns kept their playoff hopes alive in the NBL1 West by snapping an eight-game losing streak with the 100-78 win against the Perth Redbacks.

There were plenty of members of the Suns team back on their old home floor at Belmont Oasis to take on a Redbacks team also on a six-game losing slide, including coach Tim Rendulic and his players Makailah Dyer and Ella Thornton-Elliott.

Kalamunda then opened the game on fire and led 8-1 after the first two minutes and before long the Suns advantage was 17-5, 27-12 and they would end up putting 36 points on the board in a scintillating opening period.

The Eastern Suns would still lead 47-33 by half-time and then went on with the job in the second half with another 32 points to 20 in the third period, and would lead by as much as 26 before ending up winning by 22.

The victory snaps the eight-game losing slide for the Suns and improves them to 4-9 on the season to stay in the playoff mix while the Redbacks are 1-12 having lost their past seven.

Sam Roscoe was a dominant presence against a Redbacks team who has now seen the last of the four-game cameo from Lauren Scherf. Roscoe delivered 26 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists while hitting 6/8 from three-point land.

Natalie Chou also had a standout showing with 16 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals with Makailah Dyer delivering 20 points, eight boards and three assists with 3/5 three-point shooting against her old team.

Georgia Denehey returned for the Suns with 10 points, five assists, four rebounds and two blocks with Jaymee Firkins contributing 10 points and four boards. Eryn Fisher also had eight points, eight rebounds and four assists.

It was another tough outing for the Redbacks who are now not only without Scherf, but also second import Ashli Payne, but Brooke Malone continues to be a shining light with another 24 points and eight rebounds.

Mikayla Pirini also had 20 points, three assists and three steals, and DaJah Daniel 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Cockburn keeps rolling at expense of East Perth

The Cockburn Cougars didn’t take long to assert their authority over the East Perth Eagles on Friday night to remain perfect this season with the 101-43 victory.

The Cougars arrived at Herb Graham Recreation Centre on Friday night putting their unbeaten record on the line against an Eagles team trying to snap a four-game losing run to stay in the playoff hunt.

Cockburn put up 24 points to nine in the opening quarter and while the 24 points was nice, it was the hounding, pressure defence to take the Eagles totally out of their game that was the most impressive aspect.

That didn’t let up the rest of the evening and the Cougars produced another 29 points to 13 in the second period to head into the half-time interval leading 53-22.

The dominance was even more stark in the third period from Cockburn with 27 points to just four from East Perth. That saw the Cougars lead grow to 54 points and it became 63 in the fourth period before they settled on the 58-point victory.

It was a remarkably dominant performance from Cockburn with 61 rebounds to 37 which helped them to take an extra 18 field goals to East Perth and 13 more free-throws.

Jewel Williams produced another strong performance as point guard for the Cougars with 25 points and four assists while draining 7/12 from three-point territory.

Sarah Mortensen put up another 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals, Jessie Edwards 10 points and 11 boards, Amelia Corasaniti nine points and three assists, and Steph Gorman nine points, six assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Patty Brossmann also had eight points, 13 boards and five assists, Zaya Black eight points and two steals, and Kinley Paterson six points, four rebounds and three steals.

It was a rough night for East Perth who were missing Maddie Allen and Sam Lubcke again from their front court. Tessa Morrison finished with nine points and six rebounds, and Madison Torresin seven points and five boards.

Jewel Williams caught ? tonight making 7?? shots from beyond the arc ?

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MEN

Flames make statement to knock Tigers from top four

The one-two punch of Devondrick Walker and Jeremy Combs combined with how much the Willetton Tigers missed Damien Scott conspired to see the Rockingham Flames score a statement 115-83 Friday night win at home.

After a little bit of a hiccup mid-season losing three games in-a-row, Rockingham had won its last three games despite the absence of captain Ryan Godfrey coming into Friday's clash at Mike Barnett Sports Complex with the fourth placed Willetton.

The Tigers were looking to bounce back from last week's loss at Lakeside but were missing prolific 319-game scorer Scott, and the Flames didn’t take long to blow them out of the water.

Already by quarter-time and Rockingham was leading 34-18 and the Flames would never be under threat the rest of the evening.

The defending champs opened up a 26-point lead during the second quarter with that advantage blowing out to 42 in the third, and 43 in the fourth before they ended up beating the Tigers by 32 points.

It was an emphatic performance from Rockingham who already were back on top of the standings coming into the round and improved to a 12-3 record. The Tigers now drop out of the top four at 10-5 with the back to back losses.

Reigning MVP Devondrick Walker was an unstoppable force once more for Rockingham backing up his 41 points with 11 three-pointers last week with another 32 points, five rebounds and two assists on 8/12 shooting from three-point range.

Fellow import Jeremy Combs put up 26 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals with Cody Hill adding 18 points and two assists with 4/5 shooting from beyond the arc.

Tom Jervis also had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Marshall Nelson 10 points and seven assists, and Justin Beard six points, four boards, four assists and two steals.

South East Melbourne Phoenix NBL signing Gorjok Gak put up 19 points and nine rebounds for Willetton with Josh Ibukunoluwa adding 14 points and five boards, Travis Fee 10 points, Tom Gerovich 11 points and five assists, and Andrew Black nine points and five assists.

Jeremy Combs dropped the ?

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Redbacks flex muscles again to beat Suns 

The Perth Redbacks welcomed in David Okwera and kept their momentum going to close in on a top four position in the NBL1 West beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 92-74.

The Redbacks responded in the best possible way to a loss the previous week to the Warwick Senators to beat the then league-leading Perry Lakes Hawks last Friday night meaning they had won six of the past seven ahead of hosting the Suns at Belmont Oasis.

The Suns had lost their last couple after a streak of winning four of five including a stunning win over the Rockingham Flames, but the Redbacks were full of confidence from the outset at home on Friday night.

It was a dominant opening from the Redbacks and already by quarter-time they were in control leading 29-10.

The Perth lead grew to 23 points during the second quarter and the home team was still on top 58-38 at the main break.

The lead was again as much as 23 in the third quarter and the Redbacks would go on to win by 18 which improves them to fourth position with a 10-4 record. Kalamunda has now lost three straight to be 7-7 and just clinging to a place in the top eight.

The Redbacks added in Perth Wildcats NBL signing David Okwera on the back of the 36 games he's played at Melbourne United, but again it was the number of contributors that they had that was key.

Okwera had seven points, three rebounds, three blocks and two assists in his 20 and-a-half minutes but Bryton Hobbs starred with 23 points on 3/6 shooting from beyond the arc.

Joel Vaiangina also had 18 points, four rebounds, four steals and three blocks, Tevin Jackson 14 points and nine boards, Maris Colton 12 points and three rebounds, and Brian Voelkel four points, 13 boards and nine assists.

Joe Cook-Green top-scored once again for the Eastern Suns with 21 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals while Reece Maxwell contributed 17 points and five boards, Albert Almanza 14 points with 4/11 shooting from deep, and Seb Salinas eight points, five boards and five assists in game 505.

David Okwera wasn't having any of that ?

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Eagles snatch crucial win from Cougars

The East Perth Eagles produced a stunning finish to snap the winning streak of the Cockburn Cougars and to keep the race for playoff spots in the NBL1 West a fascinating one.

Cockburn came into the game in its best patch of form for the season having won the past three matches to be knocking on the door of the top eight despite having lost emerging forward Luke Phillips for the season and having been without Seva Chan for the past nine matches.

East Perth was fired up back at home to make it consecutive wins too for the first time this season while also welcoming in new import Lukas Milner along with the return of another of their naturalised stars Justin King.

The Eagles were able to race out to a 12-point lead early but the Cougars fired back with an 11-0 scoring run and by quarter-time it was they who were leading 30-28.

Cockburn then threatened to run away with the contest in the second quarter leading by as much as 11 and still being in control 54-45 at the main break.

The Cougars remained in control for much of the second half too leading again by 11 during the third quarter, and still being 11 up in the fourth with minutes to play after a finish from Taj Benning after Josh Hunt forced the turnover on Jerami Grace.

However, the Eagles weren’t going to lie down even if their new import had already fouled out without scoring. Sebit Reath made a couple of buckets to bring the deficit back to seven, and then Taylor Young brought the deficit back to five.

The Eagles then closed to within two when Young scored after another Cougars turnover. Justin King made it a two-point game and then Sebit Reath drained a three to put East Perth in front with 3:30 on the clock.

The lead continued to switch hands over the next couple of minutes but just when the Eagles had a chance to make it a two possession game, Benning's back court pressure forced Young into an eight second violation.

But Benning missed a chance to tie scores up after that before Lee Roberts made two free-throws up the other end to make it a four-point game. 

The Cougars had a late prayer when Benning was fouled and made the first. He deliberately missed the second and Cockburn competed enough for the offensive rebound to force it out of bounds off East Perth.

Field had a good look at a three that would have tied up scores, but it didn’t go and Courtney Alexander II's putback left the Cougars a point short with the Eagles snatching a thriller.

Taylor Young produced his best performance for East Perth with the import point guard ending the night with 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists on 12/17 shooting from the floor and 3/4 from downtown.

Sebit Reath contributed 21 points and 14 rebounds, Justin King 15 points, six assists, three steals, two blocks and two rebounds, and Lee Roberts nine points, nine boards and two assists.

It will be a tough loss for the Cougars to stomach given the control of the game they had with Courtney Alexander II finishing with 26 points, 14 rebounds, four steals and two assists.

Taj Benning added 19 points, 13 boards, four assists and two steals, Gavin Field 18 points, three rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks, and Keegan Phillips 12 points, six boards, three assists and two steals.