NBL1 West Recap | Friday Women's Round 1

The 2022 NBL1 West Women's season began on Friday night and it was the Warwick Senators, Cockburn Cougars and Kalamunda Eastern Suns all opening up the new campaign with hard earned victories.

It was the opening night of the NBL1 West season and after being down by as much as 12 during the third quarter, the Warwick Senators managed to fightback and beat the Perry Lakes Hawks 90-85 at Bendat Basketball Centre.

Stacey Barr had a trademark 29 points for the Senators in the while Chloe Forster showed she's ready to go up another level in 2022 with 29 points as well while Nicole Jorre de St Jorre is showing no signs of slowing down with 14 points and six assists.

Ruby Vlahov showed she is another young player ready to take the next step this season finishing with 24 points for the Hawks.

The Cockburn Cougars have some high expectations for 2022 and they started the new campaign off with a 91-84 victory against the East Perth Eagles at Wally Hagan Stadium.

Jessie Edwards produced a monster performance for the Cougars inside for 35 points and 22 rebounds while new import guard Kat Tudor had 27 points. Jorjah Smith and Tahlia Kelly had 16 points each for the Eagles.

New Kalamunda Eastern Suns head coach Tim Rendulic then got off to a winning start beating one of the team he formerly worked at, the Perth Redbacks 83-69 at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

It was Ella Thornton-Elliott the difference in the end hitting seven threes for the Suns against her former team for 23 points. Makailah Dyer hit six triples for the Redbacks on her way to 31 points.

The opening round in NBL1 West Women's action will continue now on Saturday night with the defending champion Willetton Tigers at home to the Joondalup Wolves first up at Willetton Basketball Stadium at 5pm.

Then at 6pm, Peel rivals the Rockingham Flames and Mandurah Magic clash at Mike Barnett Sports Complex and then at 7.30pm, the Goldfields Giants make their first appearance in the competition at home in Kalgoorlie to the Lakeside Lightning.

Then on Sunday, the Perth Redbacks host the South West Slammers at Belmont Oasis.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 1 – FRIDAY NIGHT

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 85 lost to WARWICK SENATORS 90

Both the Perry Lakes Hawks and Warwick Senators turned out with largely youthful line-ups to open the NBL1 West season at Bendat Basketball Centre on Friday night, and they delivered an entertaining affair.

It has been an off-season of change at the Lady Hawks with championship winning coach Deanna Black moving and being replaced by another former title winner in the league, Craig Mansfield.

Their imposing frontcourt of last year featuring Nat Burton and Megan McKay has moved on, but Maddie Dennis remains and based on what we saw on Friday night, Ruby Vlahov is ready to step up and have a big season.

The Senators are still led by the experience and quality of Nicole Jorre de St Jorre and Stacey Barr, but are incredibly young for the most part outside of that backcourt pairing so the stage was set for a fascinating season-opening contest.

After a tight opening quarter, Perry Lakes was able to work their way on top in the second period and went into half-time leading 47-39.

That lead grew to as much as 12 points as well during the third quarter for the home team but the Senators were able to finish the third quarter strongly and got the deficit back to five at three quarter-time.

Early threes in the fourth quarter from Chloe Forster and Nicole Jorre de St Jorre saw the Senators suddenly take the lead and in the end it was Stacey Barr who took over late with her team's last six points to help secure the 90-85 victory.

The Senators were able to come away with the despite the Hawks shooting 35/68 at 51.5 per cent and the winners went 33/74 at 44.6. However, Stacey Barr and Chloe Forster were tremendous for the Senators.

Barr put up 29 points, seven rebounds and four assists including hitting 4/8 from downtown while Forster set a new career-high with 29 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals including connecting on 4/6 from beyond the arc.

Nicole Jorre de St Jorre ran the team well for another 14 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals with Hayley Alone contributing six points and two steals, and Alyssa Duncan three points to go with six assists and five rebounds.

Ruby Vlahov came up huge as well for Perry Lakes with 24 points, three rebounds and two steals on 10/15 shooting from the floor. Annika Renkema added 16 points and six rebounds, Jenna Teasdale 14 points and 11 boards, Maddie Dennis nine point and five rebounds, and Malia Tharpe three points, six assists and five boards.

COCKBURN COUGARS 91 defeated EAST PERTH EAGLES 84

With both teams semi finalists from a year ago, this was a fascinating way to open the NBL1 West season on Friday night and the Cockburn Cougars and East Perth Eagles didn’t disappoint on Friday night.

Both the Cougars and Eagles reached the semi finals last season and will be looking forward to building on that further in 2022 with Cockburn have strengthened their stocks while it's been an off-season of great change at East Perth with the arrival of coach Megan Thompson.

Jessie Edwards and Jewel Williams were involved with everything early for the Cougars to race to a 7-2 lead before consecutive triples from Haylee De Sousa saw the home team on top 13-6 soon after.

New import Kat Tudor then hit five quick points and the Cougars led 18-6 but with the last five points of the quarter East Perth had limited Cockburn's lead to 24-20.

While the Cougars maintained a narrow lead for much of the second quarter too, by the time Jorjah Smith hit a triple shortly before half-time, the Eagles were back level with Cockburn ending up leading 48-46 at the half.

It was then all the Cougars in the third quarter as they put up 28 points to 18 and had opened up a 76-64 advantage by three quarter-time.

The Eagles weren’t lying down, though, and they were building momentum through the fourth quarter but only enough to bring the final margin to seven points with the Cougars getting off to a strong winning start.

Without doubt, the difference between the two teams was Cougars big Jessie Edwards. Ready to come out this year and show she should be back in the WNBL after missing a spot this season, she couldn’t have started in a more dominant and emphatic fashion.

Edwards played all but 2:30 of the game and delivered 35 points, 22 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots while shooting 12/14 from the field and 11/12 from the foul line.

Kat Tudor marked her NBL1 West debut in style too producing 27 points, six rebounds and two steals for Cockburn while former Kalamunda guard Jewel Willliams started her life with the Cougars with 13 points, nine assists and five steals.

Haylee De Sousa also had nine points and four assists.

Maria Blazejewski finished with 16 points, three rebounds and three assists in her NBL1 West debut for East Perth with Jorjah Smith starting well at her third club with 16 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Tahlia Kelly had a terrific year last season before getting injured and started 2022 with 15 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists while Cameron Flynn contributed 10 points and four boards, and point guard BJ Moyes 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 83 defeated PERTH REDBACKS 69

There was plenty of storylines to follow with the Kalamunda Eastern Suns hosting the Perth Redbacks to open the NBL1 West season at Ray Owen Sports Centre on Friday night.

Tim Rendulic has done a significant apprenticeship before earning his first heading coaching chance at the Eastern Suns this season including a stint at the Redbacks so it was only fitting his debut came against Perth on Friday night.

He's also been able to recruit another former Redback Ella Thornton-Elliott to join him at the hills this season along with former Wolfpack pair Georgia Denehey and Eleanor Hartill.

Rebecca Motroni made a surprise off-season move to join the Redbacks too after being a stalwart playing 197 games with the Eastern Suns.

So that set the stage for an enticing opening night match and with Makailah Dyer on fire knocking down three triples of her own in the first quarter, the Redbacks were able to lead 21-18 by quarter-time.

It was then a high-scoring affair from both teams in the second quarter combining for 53 points with the Redbacks still managing to lead 48-44 by the half-time break.

It was more of a grind in the third quarter with just the combined 24 points and that meant scores were all tied and the stage set for a big finish.

It was then all the Suns in the final period and it was Ella Thornton-Elliott against her old team the difference knocking down three huge triples. Gun recruit Alexis Bland also hit from downtown and the Eastern Suns opened the new season with the 83-69 victory.

Thornton-Elliott had the game of her 13-match career on debut for the Eastern Suns with 23 points on 7/15 shooting from beyond the arc.

Alex Bland also put up 19 points and eight rebounds, Georgia Denehey 15 points, 10 boards and six assists, Marissa Pangalos 12 points, five assists and four rebounds, and Eleanor Hartill eight points, 19 boards, five assists and three steals.