NBL1 West Recap | Women's Friday Round 13

The Joondalup Wolves kept their unbeaten NBL1 West Women's season rolling in the most stunning miracle comeback performance on Friday night in First Nations Round while there were thrilling wins also for the Lakeside Lightning and Cockburn Cougars.

The three matches to open Round 13 in the NBL1 West on Friday night were all thrillers with the Cockburn Cougars beating the Perry Lakes Hawks by two points, the Lakeside Lightning downing the East Perth Eagles by five and then the Joondalup Wolves snatching one at the death from the Rockingham Flames.

Friday night's NBL1 West action got underway at Wally Hagan Stadium with the Cockburn Cougars winning a tight one against the Perry Lakes Hawks 77-75.

Kat Tudor put up 24 points with five three-pointers for the Cougars while Alina Hartmann had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Sara Loomis came up big for Perry Lakes with 24 points.

For all but the dying seconds on Friday night at HBF Arena saw the Rockingham Flames on track to hand the Joondalup Wolves their first defeat of the 2022 season despite the absence of star import Patty Brosssmann.

The Flames led by as much as 14 points, but the Wolfpack refused to lie down even without coach Marcus Wong and it was only fitting that during NAIDOC Week, Laniesha Paddon made the biggest shot of her 32-game career to tie scores up.

Then on her missed free-throw the offensive rebound was nabbed by Teige Morrell who then scored the game winner on the putback to see the Wolves go to a perfect 15-0 record with the 76-73 win.

Despite the loss, Taylor Ortlepp knocked down five three-pointers on her way to 29 points for Rockingham.

It was another tight contest at Lakeside Recreation Centre with the Lakeside Lightning holding out the East Perth Eagles for the 76-71 victory.

Ruth Hamblin put up 27 points and 14 rebounds for Lakeside while Maria Blazejewski finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds for East Perth.

First Nations Round in the NBL1 West continues on Saturday evening with the East Perth Eagles backing up to host the Kalamunda Eastern Suns while the Mandurah Magic take on the Willetton Tigers and the Rockingham Flames also back up to play host to the Warwick Senators.

The Goldfields Giants and South West Slammers play back-to-back match ups this weekend in Esperance firstly on Saturday night and then Sunday with the Willetton Tigers also hosting the Perth Redbacks on Sunday.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 13 – FRIDAY NIGHT

COCKBURN COUGARS 77 defeated PERRY LAKES HAWKS 75

The Cockburn Cougars fired back from a significant deficit to score a memorable two-point home victory against the Perry Lakes Hawks on Friday night despite not having Jessie Edwards.

First Nations Round in the NBL1 West Women's competition began at Wally Hagan Stadium between Cougars and Hawks teams sitting in the bottom half of the top eight and looking to build some momentum.

Perry Lakes opened the game on fire to lead 8-2 early on but the Cougars hit back with their own 7-0 run to cut the Hawks lead to 15-13 by the end of one.

Cockburn built some momentum to start the second quarter on the back of three-pointers to Alina Hartmann, Jewel Williams and Kat Tudor to be up 23-15. Haylee De Sousa then hit from downtown too and the Cougars were up 26-15.

However, Perry Lakes responded in remarkable fashion by scoring 17 straight points spearheaded by Emma Clarke and Sara Loomis to see them work their way on top and lead 35-31 by the main break.

Five quick points to Loomis to start the second half saw Perry Lakes go up nine with that advantage growing to 13 later in the third quarter thanks to a three-point make from Mia Satie.

The Hawks still led by eight at three quarter-time but a four-point play to Tudor breathed life back into the Cougars to open the fourth quarter.

A three-point play from Williams then put Cockburn on top before Morgan Ballantyne responded to restore the narrow Perry Lakes advantage.

The lead continued to seesaw until another three-point bomb for Cockburn from Tudor before she also knocked down two free-throws to put the home team up four with five minutes to play.

There was still plenty more to play out with the Hawks back on top after an and-one from Ballantyne before they went up three with a bucket to Malia Tharpe. However, a triple to Hartmann put Cockburn back up one and soon after Satie connected from deep again to level scores.

In the end, it was a huge bucket late from Tudor after she drove to the rack that broke the deadlock and won the game for the Cougars 77-75.

As well as coming up huge late, Kat Tudor had a strong night overall for Cockburn with 24 points and seven rebounds while hitting 5/13 from three-point land and 7/9 at the foul line.

Alina Hartmann added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Cougars, Jewel Williams 13 points and seven assists, Ella Summers nine points and eight rebounds, and Haylee De Sousa nine points, three boards and three assists.

Sara Loomis produced her standout performance of the season for the Hawks finishing with 24 points, three rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists on 9/16 shooting from the floor, 3/5 from three-point land and 3/4 at the free-throw line.

Emma Clarke added 14 points and nine rebounds for Perry Lakes, Mia Satie 12 points, 11 boards and six assists, Ellie Newman 10 points and five rebounds, and Morgan Ballantyne seven points and four assists. 

 

JOONDALUP WOLVES 76 defeated ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 73

The Rockingham Flames did everything for just about 39:45 to hand the Joondalup Wolves their first loss of the 2022 NBL1 West Women's season on Friday night but they couldn’t quite complete the deal.

The Wolves put their undefeated record on the line without coach Marcus Wong with Corry Easther taking over for the night while the Flames arrived at HBF Arena missing star import Patty Brossmann who took 19.2 points and 11.2 rebounds a game with her.

Despite that, the Flames managed to lead by four points by quarter-time and then went on an 8-0 run during the second term to lead by as much as 14 points, and still hold a 37-30 edge by half-time.

Rockingham maintained their advantage throughout most of the second half too going on another 7-0 run in the third quarter to maintain a double-figure lead and still be on top 59-48 by three quarter-time.

With under five minutes to go, Rockingham still led by 10 after a tough finish from Christina Boag who did a power of work in the absence of Brossmann.

If the Wolfpack wanted to stay undefeated in 2022, they had to dig deep and that's exactly what they did on their home floor.

Kiara Phillips provided a spark knocking down a three-pointer but she soon left the game with what appeared an ankle injury.

Wolves import stars Teige Morrell and Robbi Ryan then made big buckets to make it a three-point game with just over two minutes on the clock.

The intensity and drama continued when eventually on what could have been the last possession with the shot clock turned off, it was Indigenous star Laniesha Paddon during NAIDOC Week who made the biggest bucket of her 32-point game career for Joondalup.

She was found on a brilliant pass from Ryan and finished well to tie scores up. She also drew the foul and couldn’t quite make the extra, but that turned out a positive because Morrell grabbed the offensive rebound.

She managed to put it back for the go ahead basket and she also drew a foul. 

Morrell did make the extra to give the Wolves the three-point lead and without a timeout, Rockingham could do nothing but throw up a three-quarter court prayer and it was the Wolfpack escaping with the 76-73 win to stay unbeaten and improve to 15-0 in the most remarkable fashion.

The Flames will be disappointed to not have closed the deal having led virtually all night and they shot the ball better going 46.8 per cent from the floor opposed to 38.2 from the Wolves.

Robbi Ryan finished the game with 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for the Wolfpack with Nes'eya Parker-Williams coming up big for First Nations Round with 16 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Teige Morrell added 14 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and four steals, Kiara Phillips 12 points and four boards, and Tia Ucich nine points and three rebounds.

Taylor Ortlepp will soon depart to join Carlton for the upcoming AFLW season but she's in some fine form on the basketball court delivering five three-pointers on her way to a season-best 29 points to give her 70 points in her last three matches.

Mehryn Kraker also had 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for Rockingham, captain Ariana Hetherington seven points, five boards, three assists and three steals, Alecia Knowles six points and three rebounds, and Pania Davis six points and two boards.

 

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 76 defeated EAST PERTH EAGLES 71

The big three of the Lakeside Lightning came up huge on Friday night but they still had to fight right to the end to overcome the East Perth Eagles.

The Lightning hosted the Eagles at Lakeside Recreation Centre as part of First Nations Round in the NBL1 West competition and it turned out to be a tremendous contest from the outset.

East Perth might have arrived on a seven-game losing streak, but they started impressively opening up a 12-point advantage during the first quarter and to still lead 26-17 by quarter-time.

However, Lakeside worked their way on top during the second stanza scoring eight straight points at one stage and ending up scoring 17 points to eight to tie scores up by half-time.

Lakeside was able to build on that momentum in the third quarte to go on an 8-0 run to lead by double-figures, but East Perth wasn’t going away and scored 10 consecutive points of their own to grab the lead late in the piece.

That set up a grandstand finish when Jorjah Smith nailed a three-point to put the Eagles on top with four minutes to play.

Sara Dickey responded for Lakeside with the next two scores to restore the Lightning lead and they wouldn’t trail again with big shots from Ash Isenbarger and Ruth Hamblin sealing the deal in the eventual 76-71 victory.

The win consolidates the Lightning inside the top eight with a 7-6 record while the Eagles have now lost eight straight at 3-11 despite the encouraging performance.

Ruth Hamblin was a dominant presence for Lakeside finishing with 27 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots on 12/22 shooting from the floor and she also hit two from downtown.

Sara Dickey added 19 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Lightning, Ash Isenbarger 18 points, six assists, four rebounds and two blocked shots, and 309-game veteran Taryn Priestly six points, five assists and four boards.

Maria Blazejewski finished the night for East Perth with 23 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two steals with Tahlia Kelly stepping up big time during NAIDOC Week for 20 points and five boards while hitting 4/8 from three-point range.

Jorjah Smith added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Eagles, BJ Moyes nine points, seven rebounds and six assists, and Ellyce Ironmonger seven points, seven boards and three assists.