NBL1 West Recap | Thursday Women's Round 16

A fully loaded Rockingham Flames showed what they might be capable of the rest of the NBL1 West Women's Division opening up Round 16 on Thursday night with a 17-point on the road to the Warwick Senators.

The Rockingham Flames welcomed back Tayah Burrows and her back court partnership with Perth Lynx teammate Alex Ciabattoni sent quite a message of what the 2019 SBL champions might be capable of the rest of the 2021.

Rockingham went on to beat the Warwick Senators 103-86 at Warwick Stadium on the back of 33 points from Ciabattoni, 24 from Burrows and 24 from Zoe Richards. Stacey Barr had 26 points for the Senators and 24 from Mackenzie Clinch-Hoycard.

Round 16 in the NBL1 West Women's Division now continues on Friday night with three big matches that sees the Perth Redbacks play host to the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Belmont Oasis.

The East Perth Eagles and Rockingham Flames then put their top four, and potentially even top two, credentials on the line when they meet at Herb Graham Recreation Centre.

The last game of Friday night takes place at Lakeside Recreation Centre and it's another huge one in terms of eighth spot with the Lakeside Lightning hosting the Mandurah Magic.

The Round 16 action then continues with four more tantalising match ups on Saturday evening starting with the Joondalup Wolves hosting the Willetton Tigers with top spot on the line at HBF Arena.

The Cockburn Cougars also play host to the Lakeside Lightning while the Perry Lakes Hawks play the East Perth Eagles and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns are back at home in a rematch with the Perth Redbacks.

NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 16 – THURSDAY NIGHT

WARWICK SENATORS 86 lost to ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 103

Only a game separated the Warwick Senators and Rockingham Flames ahead of Thursday night's Round 16 opener setting the stage for a terrific battle between two teams fighting over a top four spot.

The Senators and Flames opened Round 16 in the NBL1 West Women's Division on Thursday night with Warwick coming into the game just outside the top four at 8-6 while Rockingham was just inside at 9-5.

It was the start of a huge 24 hours for the Flames who also take on the third placed East Perth Eagles back on the road on Friday too, but they were buoyed by the return of Perth Lynx point guard Tayah Burrows.

She joined Alex Ciabattoni in the backcourt and they ended up delivering a remarkable performance combining for 57 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists between them. 

Add in the 12 points and 22 rebounds from Christina Boag and the Flames ended up delivering quite the impressive 103-86 victory to maintain their hold on a top four position.

Ciabattoni was unstoppable in the first quarter knocking down three three-pointers on her way to 15 points to set the tone of the night for the Flames as they opened up a 32-24 advantage by quarter-time.

With Stacey Barr and Mackenzie Clinch-Hoycard fighting hard, the Senators wouldn’t go away and by half-time had put themselves right back in the contest cutting Rockingham's advantage to 51-50.

The Flames had too much firepower, however, and pulled away throughout the second half with 26 points to 21 in the third quarter, and then 26 to 15 in the fourth to end up winning by 17 in impressive fashion despite the Senators putting up a competitive showing.

Not only did Alex Ciabattoni, Christina Boag and Tayah Burrows stand out for Rockingham, but the emerging Zoe Richards produced the best game of her young career with 24 points, eight rebounds, five steals, four assists and two blocks including an especially dominant third quarter.

Then there were the big guns for the Flames with Ciabattoni putting up 33 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals on shooting 14/20 from the field and 4/7 from three-point territory.

Burrows delivered 24 points, six assists and five rebounds as well for Rockingham while Boag came up huge with 12 points, 22 rebounds, five assists and three blocks on 5/7 shooting from the floor and 2/3 from beyond the arc.

Rockingham coach Tom Knowles couldn’t have been happier with the performance on the back of having a healthier squad available to put on the floor.

"This was a game that we definitely wanted to come out and throw everything to try and get so it's good to walk away with the win," Knowles said.

"We're still kind of a little bit shaky with a number of girls coming back from injury, but it's nice to see us get through a good game like that from that perspective because we haven't had a really good run of things the last few weeks that's for sure.

"We are getting back to full strength now, but we just have to get those girls that have been out for a little while and aren’t still quite 100 per cent from a physical capacity, and get them up to 100 per cent and hopefully then as a team we'll be starting to put things together like we hope we can."

There were plenty of positives for the Senators to still find in the game despite the final scoreline with Stacey Barr putting up 26 points and five assists while knocking down 4/9 from three-point territory.

Mackenzie Clinch-Hoycard stepped up too for 24 points and six rebounds with Tayla Hepburn adding 12 points, four rebounds and four assists, Chloe Forster 11 points, four boards and three assists, and Caitlyn Jones 10 points and seven assists.

While seeing Ciabattoni and Burrows combine for 57 points wasn’t a great surprise, Knowles knows the key to any successful side is having multiple options and that's why he was just happy with what Boag and Richards delivered.

However, there was a point he didn’t think he'd have this full squad back this season so he's relieved about it but also hopeful they all stay healthy now.

"Then you add in Chris Boag and comes out and smashes the rebounds, she can have 22 in a game, you have Zoe doing a lot of things and really growing as a player all the time, she's really good with the second efforts, getting steals and knocking down threes for us," Knowles said.

"As soon as you have to guard all five girls we have out on the floor it becomes pretty tough for the opposition, or at least we hope it does.

"No, we didn’t think we'd get everyone back. At one point we were pretty much certain that we wouldn’t have everyone by the end of the season but we've kind of nursed some people through for the next couple of weeks.

"Then obviously this is a tough double-header this week with the fill in game. We weren’t quite expecting that but there was nothing we could do about it and it was good to win the first one anyway."

Given the ins and outs of key players through injuries or other commitments, and then other players needing to still play while not fully healthy has meant it's been a roller-coaster first season in charge at the Flames for Knowles, he's delighted to be there.

"It has been a frustrating year at times when I've looked down the bench to see girls who can rip it up on the court but not being able to put them out there, or getting on the court and only going at 50 per cent," he said. 

"We've had multiple games where we've had two or three girls on the court not at 100 per cent and nursing injuries. But I'm loving it here at Rockingham. It's a great club with a great bunch of people and girls to coach. 

"They were really quite accepting when I came in and we didn’t change a whole bunch of things, just a few things along the way and they have bought into that. We've dealt with a lot of adversity too particularly over the last six weeks with injuries and stuff but I'm really pleased with how the change is going here for me at Rockingham."

Knowles did a terrific job ensuring the Eastern Suns were a competitive outfit in his previous stint as an SBL head coach getting them as far as a semi finals one season, but taking over a Rockingham team that won a championship in 2019 was a new challenge.

He knew he didn’t need to come in and start the program from scratch, but knowing a lot of the players previously and having coached Jorjah Smith and Alex Ciabattoni at Kalamunda previously certainly has helped him fit in quickly.

"Coming to a new club definitely has some challenges and there are some unknowns as well. I kind of knew a bunch of girls so I was lucky in that sense even if I hadn’t coached a lot of them as a head coach aside from Jorjah and Alex," Knowles said.

"It's definitely challenging coming to a new club and it's always going to take some time. I was never going to come in and just tell them this is my way and like it or lump it. I had a bit of a different attitude and hopefully it's starting to pay off and I've connected pretty well with the girls."

There's no time to rest on Thursday's result for the Flames, though, as they now prepare to take on the on-fire Eagles at Herb Graham Recreation Centre on Friday.

"We obviously want to get as high in the four as we can or just get in the four or stay there to begin with because there are other teams around us starting to play well too and there are no givens for sure," Knowles said. 

"We want to try to win every game now going through to the end of the season including this one against East Perth."