NBL1 West Recap | Friday Women's Round 9

What a Friday night it was in the NBL1 West Women's Division to open Round 9 with the Perry Lakes Hawks returning to the winner's list, the East Perth Eagles stunning the Rockingham Flames and the Cockburn Cougars continuing their winning ways.

There were three matches on Friday night to open up Round 9 of the NBL1 West Women's Division and they turned out to be three enthralling encounters.

The evening's action began at Bendat Basketball Centre with the Perry Lakes Hawks able to record their second win of the season, beating the Lakeside Lightning 91-74.

Megan McKay had a strong game for the Lady Hawks with 22 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists and three steals with Millie McCarthy hitting 4/5 from deep for 20 points. Ash Isenbarger's form is building nicely for Lakeside with another 25 points and seven rebounds.

The upset of the evening came courtesy of the vastly improved East Perth Eagles at Mike Barnett Sports Complex. Away from home against the ladder-leading Rockingham Flames, East Perth was superb taking out the 83-77 victory.

Mary Goulding again was the standout for East Perth with 21 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists while Jorjah Smith put up 23 points for the Flames and Alex Ciabattoni 21.

The Cockburn Cougars then kept their impressive form going improving to 6-2 on the season with the 69-56 victory against the Mandurah Magic at Wally Hagan Stadium.

Jessie Edwards put up another 20 points for Cockburn and Taylah Simmons 19 with Emma Klasztorny producing 15 points, five rebounds and four steals for Mandurah.

Round 9 in the NBL1 West Women's Division now continues on Saturday evening with the Perth Redbacks back at home at Belmont Oasis to play host to the Warwick Senators.

The South West Slammers are also at home to the Perry Lakes Hawks with the Willetton Tigers hosting the East Perth Eagles, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns facing the Joondalup Wolves, and then two losers from Friday, the Lakeside Lightning and Rockingham Flames do battle at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 9 – FRIDAY NIGHT

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 91 defeated LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 74

The Perry Lakes Hawks and Lakeside Lightning both needed a win when they did battle to open Round 9 at Bendat Basketball Centre on Friday night.

The Lady Hawks had lost their past five matches in-a-row since opening their season with a win against the Perth Redbacks while the Lightning have had a rocky road with big wins over the Slammers twice but also heavy losses so far to Willetton, East Perth and the Warwick Senators.

So there was plenty on the line on Friday night in a match up between two teams who reached the semi finals in the West Coast Classic a year ago.

Perry Lakes started strongly on its home floor desperate to avoid a sixth consecutive loss to lead 27-19 by quarter-time.

The Hawks then added another 21 points to 17 in the second term to head into the half-time break leading 48-35.

Perry Lakes continued on with the job from there to outscore Lakeside another 43 points to 38 in the second to claim their second victory of the season, winning 91-74.

The Hawks dominated the boards pulling in 52 rebounds to Lakeside's 39 including 21 offensive rebounds while also moving the ball well for 28 assists on their 32 made field goals.

The presence of Perry Lakes' bigs inside also helped them get to the foul line for 28 free-throws opposed to 18 from Lakeside.

Megan McKay delivered a huge performance for Perry Lakes made up of 22 points, 14 rebounds, seven and three steals on shooting 9/15 from the floor.

Millie McCarthy also put up 20 points and four rebounds for the Hawks with Maddie Dennis adding 13 points and three boards, Nat Burton 11 points and six rebounds, and Mia Satie 10 points, six boards, six assists and four steals.

Ash Isenbarger put in a big showing for the Lightning made up of 25 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists including hitting 5/10 of her three-point attempts.

Kyrah Daniels added 13 points and four assists for Lakeside, and Jae Flynn 12 points and three boards.

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 77 lost to EAST PERTH EAGLES 83

The East Perth Eagles continue to be the great surprise packets of the NBL1 West Women's Division after their win on the road over the Rockingham Flames on Friday night.

The Eagles have struggled for competitiveness in recent years of the SBL competition in the women's program, but that has turned around markedly with the performance by coach Blake Srdarev exceptional.

While East Perth had been impressive, taking on the league-leading Rockingham at Mike Barnett Sports Complex was a whole different challenge, but it was one the Eagles were well and truly up for.

The Eagles shot out of the gates quickly away from home on Friday night with 25 points in the opening quarter while limiting Rockingham to just the 15, but as expected the Flames hit back hard in the second quarter.

Rockingham scored 28 points in the second period and held East Perth to just the 15 and that saw the Flames head into half-time leading 43-40.

The challenge was there to see just how far the Eagles have improved this season and they grabbed the invitation with both hands to outscore the Flames in the second half 43 points to 34.

That was enough to see the Eagles record the 83-77 win against the Flames as they improve to 5-4 on the season while Rockingham remains in top spot at 6-2 despite the defeat on their home court.

Mary Goulding produced another standout performance for East Perth with 21 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists on 9/17 shooting from the field.

Tahlia Fejo also put up 17 points and three assists for East Perth with Opal Mader contributing 17 points and five rebounds, and experienced point guard BJ Moyes seven points, three rebounds and two assists.

Jorjah Smith put up 23 points and four rebounds for Rockingham with Alex Ciabattoni adding 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists, Christina Boag 12 points and seven boards, and Tayah Burrows 11 points, six rebounds and six assists.

COCKBURN COUGARS 69 defeated MANDURAH MAGIC 56

The Cockburn Cougars continued their impressive form in the first half of the NBL1 West Women's Division season while the struggles of the Mandurah Magic kept going too on Friday night.

The Cougars ended up delivering their third straight victory by providing too good for the Magic at Wally Hagan Stadium with Mandurah having now lost three in-a-row since a narrow win at home over the Warwick Senators.

Cockburn had added motivation too on Friday night with the celebration of experienced guard Nicole Roberts' 300th appearance playing for the Cougars.

Her teammates ensured it was a milestone occasion to remember too but they did take a while to work their way on top of the visiting Magic.

Cockburn led by just the solitary point at quarter-time and had only narrowly extended their lead at half-time to 37-32.

The Cougars pulled away a little further with 18 points to 12 in the third quarter and then were able to close out the deal to win 69-56 and improve to a 6-2 record on the season while the Magic are struggling at 2-6.

Both teams struggled taking care of the ball throughout the game with 48 turnovers between them, but they evened out at 24 apiece. Ultimately the major difference was in shooting with the Cougars going at 47 per cent from the field and the Magic just the 33 per cent.

Jessie Edwards was an imposing presence down low once again for Cockburn with 20 points and seven rebounds with Taylah Simmons adding 19 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

Nicole Roberts also played over 19 minutes in her 300th game with the Cougars to finish with seven points, five rebounds and two assists.

Emma Klasztorny battled valiantly as always for Mandurah to finish with 15 points, five rebounds and four steals with Carly Boag adding 12 points and 11 boards, and Kelsey Brett seven points.