NBL1 West Recap | Tuesday Women's Round 7

The Joondalup Wolves bounced back from their shock loss on Friday night to beat the Perry Lakes Hawks on Tuesday night in the NBL1 West Women's Division back on the same floor they celebrated in 2020.

Round 7 in the 2021 season of the NBL1 West Women's Division got underway back on Friday night and it was the East Perth Eagles causing the upset against the Joondalup Wolves, winning 75-58 at Herb Graham Recreation Centre.

It was then a big night of Saturday night action which saw the Perth Redbacks beat the Mandurah Magic 67-58, the Warwick Senators hammer the Lakeside Lightning 102-51, the Rockingham Flames beat the Cockburn Cougars 71-52, and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns defeat the South West Slammers 109-56.

There was one game to still be played in the round, though, and that took place on Tuesday evening at Bendat Basketball Centre, and it was the Lady Wolfpack bouncing back from their loss on Friday to prove too good for the Perry Lakes Hawks.

The Wolves ended up winning 73-66 on the back of another big night from Perth Lynx WNBL star Kayla Steindl as they kept pace with the Rockingham Flames at 5-1 atop the standings in the NBL1 West Women's Division after the opening seven rounds.

NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 7 – TUESDAY NIGHT

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 66 lost to JOONDALUP WOLVES 73

The Perry Lakes Hawks and Joondalup Wolves have been perennial powerhouses in the Women's competition in recent seasons and Tuesday night didn’t disappoint in providing another terrific, hard fought contest.

Under the coach of new mother Deanna Black, the Lady Hawks turned themselves into a force and they managed to win the SBL championship in 2017 as a result, and have been strongly competitive ever since.

The Wolfpack too have been strong in the Women's competition for a long time whether under the coaching of Craig Friday or now more recently Charles Nix, and that saw them breakthrough to win the West Coast Classic championship in fine style in 2020.

The Lady Wolfpack returned to the scene of that triumph at Bendat Basketball Centre on Tuesday night, but in unfamiliar territory needing to bounce back from their first loss of the NBL1 West season.

Joondalup were stunned by the East Perth Eagles back on Friday night to the tune of 17 points at Herb Graham Recreation Centre while Perry Lakes was playing its first game of the round but looking to rebound from their own three-match losing streak.

It turned out to be a tremendous contest as well with scores all locked together at 18-18 by quarter-time before the Wolves were able to open up a narrow 37-35 advantage by the half-time break.

The third quarter proved to be the decision one of the match with Joondalup outscoring Perry Lakes 20 points to 15 to be leading 57-50 by three quarter-time.

The Lady Wolfpack lead quickly got into double-figures early in the fourth quarter and despite the continued hot shooting for the Hawks of Maddie Dennis, the Wolves ended up winning strongly 73-66.

The win improves Joondalup to a 5-1 record on the season after seven rebounds while Perry Lakes is 1-4.

Turnovers were the order of the night for both teams which certainly wouldn’t have pleased either coach with Perry Lakes coughing up 27 of them and Joondalup 30. 

Ultimately the major difference was the Wolves' aggressiveness to get to the rack and take 27 free-throws to just 15 from the Hawks.

Kayla Steindl was outstanding once again for the Wolfpack with 25 points and 11 rebounds while shooting 7/12 from the floor and 8/9 from the foul line.

Rebecca Benson showed she's going to be a handy returnee for the Wolves too with 12 points and two assists while Chelsea Belcher added nine points, Nes'eya Williams eight points, nine rebounds, six steals and three assists, and Amber Land five points and six rebounds.

Maddie Dennis had a huge night for Perry Lakes with 27 points and six rebounds while knocking down 6/10 of her three-point attempts.

Sarah Donovan also delivered 18 points and nine rebounds for the Lady Hawks, but they dearly missed Nat Burton while Megan McKay had a night to forget with foul trouble playing just 12 minutes and going scoreless with three rebounds and two assists.