NBL1 West Recap | Women's Saturday Round 8

Kiara Phillips delivered a stunning game-winning three to keep the Joondalup Wolves undefeated this NBL1 West Women's season on Saturday night while Jessie Edwards and Ruth Hamblin were among the others to produce standout Round 8 performances.

There were Saturday night's NBL1 West Women's victories for the Joondalup Wolves, Warwick Senators, Cockburn Cougars, Lakeside Lightning and Willetton Tigers.

Round 8 in the NBL1 West Women's competition began on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks beating the East Perth Eagles 76-69 at Belmont Oasis.

It was a thrilling contest at HBF Arena and it got the most spectacular finish with the Joondalup Wolves' 2022 recruit Kiara Phillips hitting the walk off three-pointer to break the deadlock and keep the Wolfpack undefeated with the 80-77 victory against the Mandurah Magic.

It was part of Phillips 11-point, three three-point evening for the Wolves with Teige Morrell adding 22 points and seven rebounds. Sarah Toeaina put up 16 points for the Magic while Carly Boag hit four massive threes to start the fourth quarter.

The Warwick Senators again flexed their muscles to burst the South West Slammers' bubble after their first win in three years last week. Warwick won at Eaton Recreation Centre 129-68.

The Cockburn Cougars were impressive in a 96-79 home victory against the Perth Redbacks with Jessie Edwards delivering 32 points and 16 rebounds, and Kat Tudor hitting six triples on her way to 28 points.

The Lakeside Lightning overpowered the Goldfields Giants at home on Saturday night with a 73-55 victory. Ruth Hamblin was massive for the Lightning with 24 points and 18 rebounds while Danielle McCray had 19 points and seven boards for Goldfields.

The trend continued for the defending champion Willetton Tigers to finish strongly and they came from behind at half-time to beat the Rockingham Flames 86-74.

Tayla Hepburn and Alex Sharp both had 21 points for the Tigers while Mehryn Kraker finished with 25 points for the Flames.

Round 8 in the NBL1 Women's competition will now wrap up on Sunday from 11am with the Perry Lakes Hawks playing the Goldfields Giants at Bendat Basketball Centre.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 8 – SATURDAY NIGHT

JOONDALUP WOLVES 80 defeated MANDURAH MAGIC 77

The Joondalup Wolves maintained their undefeated start to the 2022 NBL1 West season in the most spectacular fashion at home to the Mandurah Magic on Saturday night.

The two powerhouse teams who have eyes on the 2022 title locked horns at HBF Arena on Saturday night and what a contest it turned out to be.

Both teams opened up handy leads in the opening quarter but by quarter-time scores were all square at 23-23.

The undefeated Wolves did manage to open up a handy 43-38 lead by half-time and then a 9-0 run during the third term helped them to a lead by as much as 11 before they were still on top 60-51 at three quarter-time.

The Magic weren't done, though, and a spectacular start to the fourth quarter including four three-point bombs from Carly Boag saw the visitors grab the lead along way from home up in Joondalup.

However, just when it appeared the game might be destined for overtime, the Wolfpack came out of a timeout and Robbi Ryan found Kiara Phillips who drained the three ball with time expiring.

It went down and HBF Arena erupted with the Wolves remaining undefeated with the 80-77 victory as off-season recruited Phillips had her best moment so far in 2022 in green to prove the hero.

On top of hitting the game winner, Phillips scored in double-figures for the first time this season for the Wolfpack with 11 points on 3/4 shooting from beyond the arc.

Teige Morrell continued to be a dominant force down low for Joondalup with 22 points and seven rebounds with Robbi Ryan adding 14 points, three boards and three assists, Nes'eya Williams 11 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Tia Ucich nine points and six boards.

Carly Boag caught fire with those four fourth quarter triples on her way to 15 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals for the night for the Magic.

Alex Wittinger added 15 points and six rebounds for Mandurah, Sarah Toeaina 16 points and three boards, and the games record holder Casey Mihovilovich nine points and five assists.

 

SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 68 lost to WARWICK SENATORS 129

While the South West Slammers limited the damage late on their home court, the Warwick Senators still came away with the 61-point victory on Saturday night.

The Slammers were back at home at Eaton Recreation Centre on a high after their first win in three years last week when they broke through against the East Perth Eagles in spectacular fashion.

That snapped a 41-game losing streak for the Slammers but it was a big task against the Senators on Saturday night even at home and it didn't take Warwick long to flex their muscles.

The Slammers did even score five straight points to lead by three early, but it wouldn’t last with the Senators taking over from there with 10 consecutive points to end up leading by 18 at quarter-time.

The Senators took over further in the second quarter with another 39 points to 11 including at one stage going on a remarkable 27-0 run to open up a 48 advantage before leading 71-25 at the half-time break.

It was more of the same in the third quarter with the Senators' lead growing to 68 points but to the Slammers' credit, they fought valiantly in the fourth term and outscored Warwick 29 points to 25.

It didn’t stop the Senators still cruising to the 129-68 victory to improve to 7-2 on the season following eight rounds while the Slammers are 1-8.

Stacey Barr continued her terrific season for Warwick with another 29 points, nine rebounds and three assists while Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard keeps putting her hand up for another WNBL contract with 23 points, 12 boards, five steals and four assists.

Chloe Forster contributed 19 points and four rebounds for the Senators, Nat Burton 17 points, four boards, four steals and three assists, Jessica Goodluck 12 points, three rebounds and three steals, and Charlotte Blackburn seven points and five rebounds.

Tylinn Carter finished the evening with 24 points and eight rebounds for the Slammers with Alex Ciabattoni adding 21 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

The pair combined for 45 of the Slammers' 68 points, 17 of the 48 rebounds, four of 11 assists, and made 19 of the 25 field goals.

 

COCKBURN COUGARS 96 defeated PERTH REDBACKS 79

The Cockburn Cougars bounced back impressively from just their second loss of the season to beat the Perth Redbacks by 17 points at home on Saturday night.

Cockburn went down to the Rockingham Flames last Saturday night to lose just their second game of the season ahead of hosting a Perth team at Wally Hagan Stadium who snapped a three-game losing slide on Friday to open Round 8 against the East Perth Eagles.

Even though the Redbacks started well on the back of that win the previous night to score nine straight points and end up leading 25-21 by quarter-time, but the Cougars took over the rest of the evening.

Cockburn turned it around in the second quarter with 29 points to 17 to go into the half-time break leading 50-42.

The Cougars lead grew to double-figures in the third quarter and then another run of 11 straight points in the fourth term saw that advantage grow to as much as 18 points.

Cockburn ended up winning 96-79 to improve to 6-2 on the season following eight rounds while the Redbacks are now 3-7.

While the Redbacks did collect five more rebounds than the Cougars, but Cockburn took 20 extra field goals for the night and eight more free-throws even if they did just shoot 38.2 per cent from the floor opposed to 42.0 per cent from the Redbacks.

However, Cockburn had 19 offensive boards to 13 and forced the Redbacks into 24 turnovers on the way to the 17-point victory.

Jessie Edwards was a powerful force once more for the Cougars finishing with 32 points and 16 rebounds on 13/21 shooting from the field.

Kat Tudor knocked down six three-pointers on her way to 28 points, 10 rebounds and three assists while Jewel Williams added 22 points, eight assists, four boards and three steals.

Makailah Dyer battled hard for the Redbacks with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists but shot just 6/18 from the floor despite hitting 3/6 from three-point territory.

Shenae Hartree added 16 points and six rebounds for the Redbacks, Jess Jakens 13 points and eight boards, Parker Esary 12 points and nine rebounds, Kayonna Lee 10 points and 10 boards, and Mikayla Pirini eight points, seven assists and five rebounds.

 

LAKESIDE LIGHTING 73 defeated GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 55

With Ruth Hamblin a dominant presence, the Lakeside Lightning produced a dominant first half on their way to an 18-point win against the Goldfields Giants on Saturday night.

The Lightning were back at home to host the Giants at Lakeside Recreation Centre looking to bounce back from a loss to Willetton last Friday night.

The home team started impressively too with 25 points to 16 in the first quarter and then that advantage grew to as much as 23 points in the second quarter with the Lightning heading into half-time leading 50-27.

The Lakeside lead got out to 25 points in the second half and they went on to score the 73-55 victory to 4-4 on the season after the opening eight rounds while the Giants are now 1-6 in their inaugural NBL1 West season.

Ruth Hamblin was a dominant force from the outset for Lakeside to finish with 24 points, 18 rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals while shooting 12/18 from the field.

Mia Jacobs added 14 points, four rebounds and three steals for the Lightning, Caitie Jones 13 points and eight assists, and Opal Mader 10 points and four assists.

Danielle McCray battled hard all evening for the Giants to finish with 19 points and seven rebounds with Emma Klasztorny contributing nine points and 10 boards, Alexandra Clinch Hoycard eight points, and Jemma Gatti eight points, nine assists, six rebounds and three steals.

 

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 74 lost to WILLETTON TIGERS 86

The defending champion Willetton Tigers did it again. After a tight battle all evening with the Rockingham Flames, they pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 12-point win.

Rockingham came into the game at Mike Barnett Sports Complex on Saturday night having won three straight and the Flames might have started well, but the Tigers soon got rolling.

Willetton ended up leading by as much as 13 points during the opening period before going to quarter-time on top 30-20.

However, Rockingham did well to turn things back around with a massive second term made up of 29 points to 12 which saw them lead by 49-42 at the half-time break.

Willetton was able to turn things back around, though, to end up scoring nine points in-a-row to take the advantage, and then go on with the job with another 9-0 in the fourth period to end up winning 86-74.

The win is a seventh straight for Willetton since an opening night loss to Joondalup when they were without Perth Lynx WNBL pair Alex Sharp and Emma Gandini. The loss puts Rockingham back to 4-4 following the opening eight rounds of the 2022 season.

Reigning MVP and Grand Final MVP Alex Sharp put up 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Willetton with Tayla Hepburn starting to find her groove having crossed from the Warwick Senators in the off-season with 21 points and 12 boards.

Emma Gandini added 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals, Desiree Kelley 12 points, nine boards, five assists and two steals, and Hayley Winter six points, four rebounds and four assists.

Mehryn Kraker was impressive for the Flames delivering 25 points and four assists while knocking down 5/11 from three-point land.

Christina Boag contributed 17 points and 10 rebounds for Rockingham, and Patty Brossmann 12 points and 13 boards.