Recap NBL1 West | Round 9 Friday

Featured images: Tiarna McGillivray 

Laci Hawthorne, Sarah Allen, Taylor Young and Sebit Reath ensured the East Perth Eagles had a Friday in NBL1 West to remember over the Joondalup Wolves while the Cockburn Cougars and Perry Lakes Hawks split their battles.

The two women's Friday night NBL1 West matches saw the Cockburn Cougars defeat the Perry Lakes Hawks 88-73 and the East Perth Eagles beat the Joondalup Wolves 78-74.

Then in the men's contests, Perry Lakes defeated Cockburn 103-85 and East Perth downed Joondalup 95-86.

RECAP NBL1 WEST | ROUND 8 SUNDAY

TRAIL BLAZING WINTER EMBRACING MEN'S COACHING CHALLENGE

WOMEN

Perry Lakes Hawks (73) lost to Cockburn Cougars (88)

Daniel Raber produced her best NBL1 West performance while the Cockburn Cougars unveiled Maria Blazejewski in the 88-73 win against the Perry Lakes Hawks.

The Cougars were playing their first game at Bendat Basketball Centre since winning last year's championship as they attempted to bounce back from last week's loss to the Warwick Senators that ended their home winning streak.

They were up against a Perry Lakes team having won its past two matches too and welcoming Eryn Fisher back from injury and Sam Ashby from college at the University of the Pacific.

The Cougars had their import front court of Raber and Blazejewski together for the first time even without Jessie Edwards, and by the end of the first quarter the reigning champions had opened up a 33-23 advantage.

That lead for Cockburn grew to as much as 17 points in the second quarter before they went into the half-time break still leading 51-36.

The Cougars made sure of the bounce back victory in the third quarter with their advantage getting out to a game-high 27 points before they went on to score the 15-point victory.

The win improves Cockburn to a 9-3 record on the season with Daniel Raber dominant with 32 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and three steals on shooting 13/21 from the floor and 5/5 at the free-throw line.

Steph Gorman also had 15 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals with Alex Ciabattoni contributing 13 points and four assists, Jewel Williams 12 points, four assists and three steals, and Regan Turnour-McCarty seven points and six rebounds.

Perry Lakes slips to 7-4 on the season with the defeat despite Ash Isenbarger continuing her standout form with another 24 points, five rebounds and two assists.

Maddie Dennis added 12 points, four rebounds and two assists, Mia Satie nine points, six rebounds and four assists, and Millie McCarthy eight points, six assists and three boards.

The Cougars are next in action at home to the Willetton Tigers in a Grand Final rematch next Friday night while the Hawks will be on the road to the Lakeside Lightning.

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 73 (Isenbarger 24, Dennis 12, McCarthy 8)

COCKBURN COUGARS 88 (Raber 32, Gorman 15, Ciabattoni 13)

Joondalup Wolves (74) lost to East Perth Eagles (78)

The East Perth Eagles have produced a remarkable final quarter to deliver the upset of the NBL1 West season with the come from behind 78-74 win over the Joondalup Wolves.

Coming into the Friday night contest at HBF Arena and the Wolves were sitting third at 6-2 and coming off a win against the Willetton Tigers while the Eagles were 1-7 and looking to bounce back from a 26-point loss at home to the Cockburn Cougars.

Joondalup did open up a nine-point lead in the opening period to be still leading 16-11 by the end of one while still holding a 32-26 edge going into the half-time interval.

The Wolfpack did remain in control for a lot of the second half including leading by seven still at three quarter-time.

East Perth had only scored 46 points in the entire first three quarters so the job was ahead of them against one of the league's top teams.

However, it was a different looking Eagles line-up from the start of the final period with Sarah Allen starting their charge with a three-pointer in her 95th game in the league.

Laci Hawthorne then scored inside to bring it back to a two-point ball game but Joondalup did get a steadying triple from Darien Huff although Hawthorne responded immediately with a three ball of her own.

Hawthorne was playing like a woman possessed and scored again to tie scores up with seven minutes to play but over the next four minutes and Joondalup steadied to be back up by six with 2:45 to play.

It was still a four-point Wolves lead a minute later but then Allen hit another three ball for East Perth to keep things interesting. It was Allen the hero once more with her third triple of the final quarter to put the Eagles in front.

Tessa Morrison and Mary Goulding then made clutch free-throws for the Eagles to score the remarkable comeback four-point victory to give them two wins on the season.

Sarah Allen made three shots for the night and they were all massive three-pointers in the final quarter on her way to 10 points along with six assists.

Laci Hawthorne had a huge performance with 29 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals with Mary Baskerville adding 13 points, 17 boards and four assists, Tessa Morrison 10 points, three rebounds and three assists, and Mary Goulding nine points, six boards and five steals.

The Wolves are now 6-3 on the season having lost three of the past four with Darien Huff finishing with 19 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Sarah Toeaina also had 19 points, six boards, five assists and two steals, Sirena Tuitele 12 points and 10 rebounds, and new arrival Geraldynn Leaupepe seven points, five boards and three assists.

The Wolfpack back up to take on the Warwick Senators at Warwick Stadium on Saturday night while the Eagles next play the Perth Redbacks at home next Friday.

JOONDALUP WOLVES 74 (Huff 19, Toeaina 19, Tuitele 12)

EAST PERTH EAGLES 78 (Hawthorne 29, Baskerville 13, Allen 10, Morrison 10)

MEN

Perry Lakes Hawks (103) defeated Cockburn Cougars (85)

The Perry Lakes Hawks took care of business at home to the shorthanded Cockburn Cougars on Friday night with the 103-85 victory.

Perry Lakes came into the contest after a strong showing despite a three-point loss in Geraldton last Saturday night and having won two matches prior to that ahead of hosting the Cougars at Bendat Basketball Centre.

Cockburn arrived without three of their most important players with Josh Hunt and Hunter Clarke out injured while Kyle Armour remains unavailable leaving it a significant challenge for the Cougars to compete against the Hawks.

Already by quarter-time and Perry Lakes had opened up a 10-point advantage with that lead growing to 17 in the second term but the Cougars were doing their best to stick with them.

The Hawks went into the half-time break leading 59-48 with the home team then pushing that lead out further with a 23-point edge in the third quarter.

Cockburn was doing its best to make it a contest and even got back with 15 with three minutes to play with an emphatic alley-oop finish from Demetris Morant on the pin-point pass in transition from Seva Chan.

Perry Lakes continued to have all the answers, though, with Dequan Abrom scoring quickly in response and then Jaylen Key knocking down a three-pointer with the Hawks ending up cruising to the 18-point victory.

The win improves the Hawks to a 6-6 record on the season with Abrom leading the charge with 26 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals on 11/17 shooting from the floor.

Key added 18 points and seven rebounds coming off the bench with Matt Leary putting up 18 points, nine boards and three steals with 4/11 three-point shooting.

The Phillips brothers also enjoyed their first chance to play against their former team with Perry Lakes with Luke finishing with 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists, and Keegan 10 points on 5/8 shooting.

The Cougars have now lost six straight to be 3-9 on the season with Demetris Morant top-scoring with 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocks despite only playing just over 20 minutes.

Rhys Vague added 16 points, 10 rebounds and three assists, Seva Chan 15 points, two boards and two assists, Gavin Field 11 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists, and Will Yarran eight points, two assists and two steals.

The Cougars back up on Saturday night to host the defending champion Geraldton Buccaneers while the Hawks will be on the road to the Lakeside Lightning.

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 103 (Abrom 26, Leary 18, Key 18)

COCKBURN COUGARS 85 (Morant 17, Vague 16, Chan 15)

Joondalup Wolves (86) lost to East Perth Eagles (95)

Momentum continues to impressively build at the East Perth Eagles with the 95-86 road victory on Friday night against the Joondalup Wolves.

The Eagles arrived at HBF Arena one of the form teams of the competition with a three-game winning streak including ending Geraldton's home winning run and then welcoming back Grand Final MVP Lee Roberts to strengthen the front court last week.

Lukas Milner is yet to join in 2024 as well so the Eagles are still yet to play a game with a full squad in 2024, but the same can be said for Joondalup who is awaiting the arrival of Jeremy Combs.

The Wolves came into it fresh off suffering a first loss of the season at home to the Willetton Tigers last week as well so the stage was set for the battle between the two northern suburbs rivals.

East Perth started strongly to lead by nine points during the first quarter and still by five at quarter-time.

The lead for the Eagles was back out to as much as nine in the second term as well with the visitors turning into half-time still leading 50-42.

With Joondalup having few answers for what Sebit Reath was delivering inside for East Perth and the way Taylor Young was running the ship, East Perth remained in control throughout the majority of the second half as well.

The lead for the Eagles was as much as 22 points in the final stanza as well before they went on to secure the nine-point win to make it four straight to improve to a 6-4 record.

Reath was a dominant force for East Perth finishing with 31 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots on shooting 11/21 from the field and 4/8 from behind the three-point arc.

Young ran the team expertly too for 22 points, five rebounds and two steals with Sunday Dech contributing 16 points, six boards, four assists and two steals, and Sharif Watson 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Joondalup is now 7-2 with back-to-back defeats despite 22 points and nine rebounds from CJ Turnage.

Ethan Elliott also had 20 points and three assists for the Wolfpack, Jonathan Wade 20 points and five rebounds, and Caleb Davis 14 points, 13 boards and two assists.

The Wolfpack back up to take on the Warwick Senators at Warwick Stadium on Saturday night while the Eagles host the defending champion Geraldton Buccaneers on Sunday.

JOONDALUP WOLVES 86 (Turnage 22, Elliott 20, Wade 20)

EAST PERTH EAGLES 95 (Reath 31, Young 22, Dech 16)