NBL1 West Recap | Friday Round 8

The Cockburn Cougars kept their perfect NBL1 West women's record intact while the Mandurah Magic started their double with a win ahead of their captain's 350th game with strong home men's wins also for the Lakeside Lightning and Perth Redbacks.

The two women's Round 8 NBL1 West matches saw the Mandurah Magic beat the Lakeside Lightning 81-65 and the Cockburn Cougars defeat the Perth Redbacks 103-80.

Then in the men's contests, the Lightning beat the Magic 90-80 and the Redbacks won a nail-biter against the Cougars 82-78.

WOMEN

Magic win ahead of captain's 350th celebration

The Mandurah Magic built up the celebration of Rachel Haleen's 350th game in perfect fashion on Friday night with an 81-65 road win against the Lakeside Lightning.

Halleen will now celebrate her 350th game at the Magic on Saturday night against the Willetton Tigers after the Mandurah captain helped her team to the strong showing against the Lightning at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

HALLEEN REVELS IN SHARING 350TH WITH MANDURAH COMMUNITY

While the Lightning had their moments early in the game including scoring 10 straight points, the Magic had worked their way on top by quarter-time leading by eight points.

Mandurah continued to pull away the rest of the evening leading by 10 at half-time, 16 at three quarter-time and going on to record the 16-point victory.

The win is a second straight for Mandurah to improve them to a 5-2 record on the season while Lakeside slips to 3-8.

Carly Boag had a significant impact for the Magic in her second game back after a trip to China with 22 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two steals on 7/10 field goal shooting and going 7/7 at the line.

Sarah Toeaina added 15 points, five rebounds and three assists, Gabby Turner 14 points and three steals, Kat Tudor 13 points and five rebounds, and the league's games record holder Casey Mihovilovich eight points, four assists and three rebounds.

The Magic also unveiled new import Hannah Hank who got through almost 19 minutes for five points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Laci Hawthorne top-scored for Lakeside with 15 points and four rebounds but fellow import Kylee Smith struggled going scoreless with three rebounds and three assists on 0/6 shooting.

Caitie Jones had 13 points, 10 assists, four rebounds and three steals with Ruby Benn contributing 14 points, four boards and three assists, and Jade Gowland 11 points, four boards and two assists.

Cougars win on the road to stay perfect

The Cockburn Cougars shook off a slow start to keep their perfect NBL1 West record intact with the 103-80 road victory over the Perth Redbacks on Friday night.

The Cougars put their perfect record on the line at Belmont Oasis but it was the beginning of their first double-header of the season and also just their second game away from Wally Hagan Stadium so far in 2023.

Denielle Ashworth beats the buzzer ?

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They came up against a Redbacks team with 208-game WNBL veteran centre Lauren Scherf settling in for her second appearance.

Not only that they underwent a change in coach during the week with Michelle Fletcher stepping down and Jason Smith taking over with support from South West Slammers championship winner Darren Austin.

On the back of all that, the Redbacks shot out of the blocks with Brooke Malone knocking down three bombs from beyond the arc in less than the first five minutes.

However, the Cougars worked their way on top and it was sparked with some dazzling play by dynamic teenage guard Amelia Corasaniti.

When Steph Gorman drained a three, Cockburn grabbed the lead and were up 28-23 by quarter-time on the back of a triple from Kinley Paterson and bucket to Jessie Edwards.

Cockburn then put on the afterburners in the second quarter with 32 points to just 16 from the Redbacks to blow the game wide open to lead by 21 at the main break.

To the Redbacks' credit, they hit back in the third quarter and had the deficit down to nine at three quarter-time, but the Cougars pulled away again in the fourth with another 27 points to 13 to end up winning by 23.

The win improves the Cougars to a perfect 7-0 record ahead of hosting the East Perth Eagles on Sunday while the Redbacks are 1-8.

Steph Gorman ended up top-scoring for Cockburn with 20 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals while hitting 4/8 from beyond the arc.

Sarah Mortensen added 19 points and nine rebounds, Jessie Edwards 18 points, eight boards and four assists, and Jewel Williams 13 points. Captain Kirsty Whitfield finished with eight points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals in her 201st game.

Brooke Malone continued her emergence with the Redbacks with another 24 points and six rebounds while falling in love with the three ball and going 5/15.

Ashli Payne added 15 points and four rebounds, Lauren Scherf 15 points, five boards and five assists and 289-game veteran guard Denielle Ashworth nine points, seven boards and three assists.

Import DaJah Daniel missed her first game since arriving after averaging just 7.5 points and 6.8 rebounds in her six appearances to date.

Back-to-back threes for Ruby Benn ?

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MEN

Mackenzie shoots Lightning to win over Magic

Rowan Mackenzie showed just how well his game has developed at college as he led the Lakeside Lightning to a solid 90-80 home win against the Mandurah Magic on Friday night.

The Magic arrived at Lakeside Recreation Centre attempting to win their first game of the season but it was a crucial game for the Lightning to keep them in touch with the top eight.

Rowan Mackenzie got Lakeside back onto the winners' list, posting:

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Mandurah did make a flying start with two quick three-pointers to Dequan Abrom and then a finish in transition from wily veteran Ray Turner. That helped the Magic to the 8-2 lead but with Rowan Mackenzie and Hayden Brown getting rolling, the Lightning worked on top.

By quarter-time, the Lightning were leading 25-22 and another 25 points to 14 in the second period saw the home team on top by 14 at the main break.

Brown already had 18 points to his name at the half for Lakeside, but he didn’t return after suffering an injury and that will be a concern for the Lightning ahead of their clash with the South West Slammers on Saturday night.

While the Magic did keep fighting, the Lightning still did enough to have the answers to hold firm for the 10-point victory to improve them to a 4-7 record and snapping a four-game losing run. Mandurah is 0-8 in Mark Utley's first season back in charge.

Mackenzie was playing his second game back this season for the Lightning and 106th game overall, and clearly his time at Lubbock Christian University has only continued to help his growth and development.

He finished with 29 points, seven assists, two rebounds and two steals while knocking down 5/7 from three-point territory.

Along with Brown's 18 first half points, Daniel Green finished with nine points and nine rebounds for Lakeside, Josh Davey nine points, 13 boards and three assists, and Max Richards nine points, seven rebounds and two assists.

There was encouraging signs for Mandurah despite another loss with Ray Turner putting up 22 points, six rebounds and four steals, second-game import Celneque Bobbitt II 20 points and seven boards, Dequan Abrom 19 points, eight assists and six rebounds, and Jayden Crudeli nine points on 3/3 shooting from deep.

Hayden Brown put it down ?

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Hobbs helps Redbacks hold out Cougars

The Cockburn Cougars went ever so close to pinching it with some late Taj Benning heroics but ultimately Bryton Hobbs was too much as the Perth Redbacks scored the 82-78 win.

On the night were the Redbacks retired the No. 10 jersey of championship winning captain and games record holder Joel Wagner who also set a record unlikely to ever be touched leading the league in assists in his 395-game career, they looked to win on the back of that at Belmont Oasis.

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The Redbacks came into the game fresh off a stunning performance last Saturday night to hand the Rockingham Flames their first loss in almost a year but the Cougars were also off their second win of the season against the South West Slammers by 38 points.

It turned out to be a fascinating contest and by quarter-time the Cougars were holding a narrow one-point lead before the Redbacks scored 24 points to 17 in the second period to be leading 39-33 at the half-time interval.

Cockburn wasn’t going away, though, and managed 27 points to 20 in the third quarter to head into the fourth leading 60-59.

Then just when the Redbacks had appeared to do enough leading by six after a crafty finish from Bryton Hobbs with just over a minute to go, Taj Benning made a couple of dazzling plays for the Cougars.

The first was getting a lucky roll on a corner three-pointer to make it a two-point game and then he forced the back court turnover on Tevin Jackson to give Cockburn the chance to level scores or go ahead.

However, point guard Kieran Berry lost control of the ball, Hobbs swooped on it and ran down most of the clock racing up the other end. Eventually he was fouled and made both, and the Redbacks held on for the four-point win.

The victory sees Perth improve to 7-3 on the season with four straight wins while the Cougars slip to 2-7.

Hobbs continued his spectacular form for the Redbacks with 32 points, four rebounds and two steals on 11/22 shooting from the floor and 9/10 from the foul line.

Tevin Jackson added 17 points, three rebounds and two blocks, Maris Colton 11 points and four boards, Joel Vaiangina eight points, five rebounds and two steals, and Brian Voelkel five points, eight boards and seven assists.

Courtney Alexander II continued his impressive form for Cockburn with 15 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block on just 5/9 shooting and 5/8 at the line.

Taj Benning had a strong showing too with 22 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals with Luke Phillips contributing 17 points and five boards, Kieran Berry nine points, and Keegan Phillips seven points and seven rebounds.

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