NBL1 West Recap | Saturday Women's Round 11

The Joondalup Wolves, Perth Redbacks and East Perth Eagles all continued their impressive form in the NBL1 West Women's Division on Saturday night win strong Round 11 victories.

The Lady Wolfpack made it four straight wins to consolidate top position with their win on Saturday night while the Redbacks made it consecutive wins and the Eagles continued their rise from the doldrums in 2021 under coach Blake Srdarev. 

Round 11 in the NBL1 West Women's Division began on Friday night with the Willetton Tigers defeating the South West Slammers 100-44 with the Lakeside Lightning beating the Cockburn Cougars 83-45 and the Rockingham Flames overcoming the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 72-50.

That led into the Saturday night action starting with the Joondalup Wolves defeating the Rockingham Flames 71-60 at HBF Arena.

Kayla Steindl put up 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Lady Wolfpack with Alex Ciabattoni finishing with 21 points and three assists for the Flames.

The East Perth Eagles continued their impressive resurgence in 2021 with another win on Saturday night, downing the South West Slammers 102-55 at Herb Graham Recreation Centre.

Bree Fisher put up 19 points and three assists for East Perth in her best performance of the season while Zaya Black finished with 17 points and seven assists for the Slammers.

The Perth Redbacks were also impressive at Bendat Basketball Centre coming away with the 82-59 victory against the Perry Lakes Hawks.

Jess Jakens had 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Redbacks with Maddie Allen going ever so close to the triple-double with nine points, 17 rebounds and nine assists. Megan McKay finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and four steals for Perry Lakes.

There is then one more fascinating match up to close the round on Sunday afternoon with the Warwick Senators playing the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Warwick Stadium from midday.

NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 11 – SATURDAY NIGHT

JOONDALUP WOLVES 71 defeated ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 60

The Joondalup Wolves maintained their hold on top spot in the NBL1 West Women's Division with a strong win over the Rockingham Flames at home on Saturday night.

The Lady Wolfpack were making their only appearance of Round 11 and came into the clash at HBF Arena with Rockingham on a three-game winning run while the Flames were fresh off a win against the Eastern Suns on their home floor the previous evening.

The stage was set for a fascinating match up but the fresh Wolves were on fire from the start and they put 30 points in the opening quarter to already have a 15-point lead to their name by quarter-time.

Rockingham was able to steady from there and the Flames outscored the Wolves 19 points to 14 in the second quarter, and then 18 to 15 in the third but Joondalup still had a 59-52 advantage by three quarter-time.

The Lady Wolfpack then pulled away further in the fourth quarter to end up winning 71-60 to make it four wins in-a-row for an 8-1 record while the Flames are now 8-4 after splitting their two Round 11 match ups.

Kayla Steindl had a significant say in the final result for the Wolves finishing with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

She got plenty of support too with Amber Land putting up 16 points and seven rebounds, Rebecca Benson 12 points on 4/7 shooting from three-point range, Georgia Denehey eight points and five assists, and Tia Ucich eight points and two rebounds.

Alex Ciabattoni backed up her big game on Friday for the Flames in the win over the Eastern Suns with another 21 points, three steals, three assists and two rebounds against the Lady Wolfpack.

Christina Boag added 11 points, 10 rebounds and three steals for Rockingham, Zoe Richardson seven points and nine rebounds, Ariana Hetherington six points and Brooke Malone six points and four rebounds.

EAST PERTH EAGLES 102 defeated SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 55

The East Perth Eagles continued to show just how far they have improved again in 2021 on Saturday night with a dominant showing at home against the South West Slammers.

Life continues to be tough for the Slammers Women in 2021 and it didn’t get any easier against the Eagles at Herb Graham Recreation Centre on Saturday night.

East Perth came into the game on their home floor with a two-game winning streak and with coach Blake Srdarev having been named the Coach of the Month for the past four weeks that has seen them play impressive basketball and put them right in the mix for a playoff berth.

East Perth couldn’t afford a slip up at home to the Slammers, though, and the Eagles quickly worked their way on top with 25 points in the opening quarter to lead by seven points at quarter-time.

The Eagles were then able to really blow the game open in the second quarter as they piled on 33 points and held the Slammers to just 11 to head into half-time in control leading 58-29.

It was more of the same in the second half with East Perth outscoring South West 44 points to 26 to end up recording the 102-55 victory.

It was a third straight victory for the Eagles as they improved to a 7-4 record on the season while the Slammers are now 0-11 on the season to date after 11 rounds.

East Perth ended up pulling in 50 rebounds to 36 for the game including 19 offensive boards to just nine from the Slammers. The Eagles also forced South West into 29 turnovers and they ended up getting to the foul line for 24 free-throws opposed to 10.

There were plenty of impressive performers for the Eagles as well and none better than Bree Fisher who put up her best showing of 2021 so far with 19 points, three assists and two rebounds while knocking down 4/8 from three-point range.

Eryn Fisher also had 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Eagles while Sariah Penese put up 11 points, six rebounds and four steals, Tahlia Fejo 11 points and three boards, Mary Goulding 10 points, nine boards and six assists, and Emerson Taylor 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Zaya Black fought valiantly for the Slammers to end up with 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the night. Cian Parsons also had 10 points and nine rebounds, Holly Bourne seven points and Shannon Verhagen six points and three rebounds.                                                                                                                                                                               

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 59 lost to PERTH REDBACKS 82

The Perth Redbacks put on their best performance of the NBL1 West Women's Division season so far on Saturday night beating the Perry Lakes Hawks by 23 points at Bendat Basketball Centre.

The two teams had already done battle earlier in the season at Belmont Oasis and on that occasion it was Perry Lakes winning a thriller by four points against the Redbacks.

From there, the Lady Hawks would lose their next five matches before stemming the tide and winning three in-a-row coming into hosting the Redbacks on Saturday evening.

It had been a rollercoaster ride for the Redbacks too who won three of four games after that loss to Perry Lakes before then suffering three consecutive defeats ahead of bouncing back to beat the South West Slammers 98-37 last Saturday night at Eaton Recreation Centre.

That all led into a tantalising match up on Saturday night at Bendat Basketball Centre with the Redbacks starting strongly to lead 20-13 by quarter-time against the Hawks.

Perry Lakes was able to work back on top during the second quarter outscoring Perth 23 points to 18 and it was a tight affair by half-time with the Redbacks narrowly leading 38-36.

It was a dominant second half showing from the Redbacks, though, as they outscored the Lady Hawks 18 points to eight in the third quarter, and then 26 points to 15 in the fourth.

That saw the Redbacks make it back-to-back wins with the 82-59 victory to improve to a 6-5 record on the season while Perry Lakes slipped to 4-6 as a result of the loss.

There were plenty of Redbacks players who came up huge to contribute to the win and none more so than captain Jess Jakens who delivered 25 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists on shooting 12/17 from the floor.

Makailah Dyer continued her good form for another 21 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists while Maddie Allen was a dominant all-round presence to threaten a triple-double with nine points, 17 rebounds and nine assists.

Raya Thompson also had 12 points, five assists, four steals and three rebounds, and Denielle Ashworth 10 points, three assists and three boards.

Megan McKay did all she could to try and lift Perry Lakes to another victory with 21 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Maddie Dennis also delivered 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the Hawks, Nat Burton eight points and five boards, and Millie McCarthy five points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.