NBL1 West Recap | Sunday Women's Round 4

THE last ever SBL champion Rockingham Flames flexed their muscles again on Sunday evening with a big win over the youthful South West Slammers at Eaton Recreation Centre.

The Sunday night encounter closed out Round 4 of the NBL1 West season but it was just the second weekend where action has been able to take place on the court. 

It got underway back in Round 1, but then a COVID-19 lockdown and the subsequent restrictions meant the previous two weeks of scheduled matches had to be postponed, but it all returned on the weekend for Round 4 of the inaugural NBL1 West season.

That saw all 12 teams in the Women's Division take part in the Saturday night action with some fascinating results, and tremendous contests across the board.

The six matches that took place saw the Cockburn Cougars remain unbeaten defeating the Mandurah Magic 71-50 with the Warwick Senators winning big 111-32 against the South West Slammers.

The East Perth Eagles continued their improvement beating the Lakeside Lightning 80-75 while the Rockingham Flames defeated the Willetton Tigers 85-72.

The Perry Lakes Hawks started their life in NBL1 West beating the Perth Redbacks 74-70 while the Joondalup Wolves also downed the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 78-65.

Round 4 in the NBL1 West Women's Division then wrapped up on Sunday evening at Eaton Recreation Centre with the South West Slammers hosting the Rockingham Flames.

It was always going to be a big ask for the young Slammers against a stacked Flames line-up, and that's how it panned out with Rockingham prevailing 80-39 on the road.

NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 4 – SUNDAY

SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 39 lost to ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 80

The last game of Round 4 in the NBL1 West season took place on Sunday evening with the South West Slammers hosting the Rockingham Flames at Eaton Recreation Centre.

Going back to the opening round of the 2021 NBL1 West season and the Slammers lost away by 51 points to the Mandurah Magic and then at home to the Warwick Senators by 50 points.

Meanwhile the Flames played just the one match in Round 1 also went down away from home to the Cockburn Cougars by seven points.

Both teams then had Saturday evening games in Round 4 as well with the Slammers losing to the Senators at Warwick Stadium by 79 points while Rockingham got its first win of the season at home to the Willetton Tigers, winning 85-72.

So with the Slammers coming off three losses by an average of 60 points to start the season, it was always going to be a significant test up against a strong Rockingham team with plenty of players still on board from the team that won the 2019 SBL championship.

The Flames do have a new coach with Tom Knowles having taken over from championship winner Keegan Crawford, but they did still have Christina Boag, Alex Ciabattoni and Tayah Burrows in the line-up fresh off WNBL campaigns to set the tone for them.

Rockingham shot out of the blocks down in Eaton with 28 points to 14 against the Slammers in the first quarter before another 21 points to nine in the second term to see them up 49-23 at the long break.

The Flames put the game further out of the reach of the Slammers with 21 points to nine in the third quarter, and while the fourth term didn’t reach any great heights with both teams only combining for 17 points, Rockingham cruised to the 80-39 triumph.

There was plenty to be impressed by with the performance from Rockingham with Tayah Burrows brilliant with 28 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals while shooting 9/14 from the field as she prepares for college life at Washington State University.

Alex Ciabattoni had a terrific WNBL season for the Perth Lynx and she had 14 points, five assists and four rebounds on Sunday for the Flames.

Christina Boag added 15 points and nine rebounds for Rockingham, Ariana Hetherington six points and Paris Duffield six points.

Zaya Black top-scored for the Slammers with 14 points and six rebounds while Karinda Farrant produced 10 points, three boards and three steals, and Leah York nine points.