West Recap | Round 17 Friday

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Isaac White inspired Rockingham Flames to a miraculous Friday NBL1 West comeback win to all but end the season of Lakeside Lightning after their defending champion women won big, and it was a double win night for Cockburn Cougars.

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WOMEN

Cockburn Cougars (87) defeated Perry Lakes Hawks (66)

The Cockburn Cougars took another step towards the undefeated regular season with another dominant showing beating the Perry Lakes Hawks 87-66.

The Cougars were back home to defend their perfect record so far this season on the back of reaching the last two NBL1 West grand finals but the Hawks had been the team that had pushed them as hard as anyone only a couple of weeks ago.

And Perry Lakes regained the services of Alex Fowler fresh off her being named MVP of the Australian Opals' Asia Cup triumph in China but the problem for the Hawks was they were without Megan McKay and still missing Jayda Clark.

That was always going to make things tough for Perry Lakes up against Cockburn's front court of Daniel Raber, Jessie Edwards and Sarah Mortensen, and that proved to be the case as the game wore on.

The Cougars opened up a 25-17 lead by the end of the first quarter before another 24 points to 13 in the second term and Cockburn went into half-time on top 49-30 with shooting 19/38 and 7/18 from three-point range opposed to the 12/35 and 2/12 from Perry Lakes.

It was a bit more of an even battle in the second half with the Cougars only extending that eventual winning margin to 21 points, but they were never under threat on the way to the 18-0 record.

Cockburn will now be away to the Willetton Tigers on Saturday and then finish their regular season hosting the second placed Warwick Senators next Friday night.

Daniel Raber ended up with 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals in the win for the Cougars with Jessie Edwards also having 18 points, three boards and three steals.

Sarah Mortensen contributed 14 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, Steph Gorman 14 points, five assists, three steals and three rebounds on 4/5 three-point shooting, Regan Turnour-McCarty 12 points on 4/7 from downtown, and Ruby Porter 10 points, three steals and two rebounds.

Perry Lakes are yet to lock in a playoff spot now sitting on a 9-9 record with the door still slightly ajar for the 7-11 Joondalup Wolves. The Hawks will host the East Perth Eagles and Goldfields Giants to close their season and needing a win to confirm finals.

Grace Stone finished with 11 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals for Perry Lakes with Alex Fowler adding 11 points and four boards, and Amy Jacobs 11 points and three rebounds.

COCKBURN COUGARS 87 (Raber 18, Edwards 18, Gorman 14, Mortensen 14)

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 66 (Stone 11, Fowler 11, Jacobs 11)

Lakeside Lightning (68) lost to Rockingham Flames (88)

The Rockingham Flames delivered another dominant showing for the most part to keep their hot streak going with the defending champions beating the Lakeside Lightning 88-68.

The Lightning were playing their last home game at Lakeside Recreation Centre for the season but their playoff hopes were well extinguished coming into the final two rounds sitting three games out of the top eight with only two matches to go.

Rockingham, meanwhile, came into the contest having won the past four matches to have shot up unto the top four and the Flames just had to keep winning to stay there and earn the finals double chance.

Rockingham were without Marena Whittle who was on Australian Gangurrus 3x3 duties but they still manage to open up a 22-18 lead by the end of the first quarter.

The Flames then took over further in the second term completing a 13-0 scoring run to open up a 16-point lead, and then to be in control 49-36 by the half-time break.

It was then an even more dominant third stanza from Rockingham with 34 points to nine on the back of shooting 7/12 from three-point territory to just the 1/7 from Lakeside.

The lead of the Flames got out to as much as 39 points before Rockingham only managed five points with 1/13 shooting in the entire last quarter.

Even still, Lakeside couldn’t get back any closer than 18 points before Rockingham secured the 20-point win to make it five straight and to improve to a 12-7 record to stay solid in fourth place with their title defence building momentum.

Sydney Erikstrup had her breakout performance of the season for the Flames with 30 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals on 6/10 three-point shooting.

Alex Ciabattoni added 21 points, four rebounds, four steals, two assists and two blocks while Alysha Kemp added 12 points, three rebounds and two blocks, and Alex Sharp produced a triple-double made up of 12 points, 15 boards and 11 assists.

Lakeside have now lost their past three games to slip to a 6-13 record with their season to finish on the road also to Rockingham next Friday night.

Reigning MVP Teige Morrell now just has one game left with Lakeside before starting her WNBL journey at the UC Capitals and put up 17 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, four steals and three blocks.

Millie Hennigan had a career-best 12 points and six rebounds while Taylah Figliomeni finished with 11 points and three boards, and Oceane Kounkou 10 points, three steals and two rebounds.

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 68 (Morrell 17, Hennigan 12, Figliomeni 11)

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 88 (Erikstrup 30, Ciabattoni 21, Kemp 12, Sharp 12)

MEN

Cockburn Cougars (90) defeated Perry Lakes Hawks (76)

The Cockburn Cougars continued their late season resurgence with a fifth win in six games to beat the Perry Lakes Hawks 90-76 who slumped to a ninth consecutive loss.

Cockburn were back at Wally Hagan Stadium after a competitive showing in Geraldton last Saturday night which came on the back of four straight wins after the Cougars had lost 13 of the first 14 matches of the 2025 season.

The Hawks came into the contest having lost eight straight to spiral out of playoff contention, and to top it off they are the walking wounded in the absence of Luke and Keegan Phillips, and Nick Floyd on a team already struggling for depth.

Despite all that, Perry Lakes was leading 21-19 by the end of the first quarter but it was in the second frame that Cockburn took control of the match up.

The Cougars outscored the Hawks 32 points to 20 on the back of knocking down 6/11 from three-point territory to see the home team leading 51-41.

Perry Lakes had managed to cut the deficit back to just five by three quarter-time, but Cockburn took charge once more with a 9-0 scoring run to end up leading by 15, and then securing the 14-point victory.

The win improves the Cougars to a 6-14 record having won five of their past six with matches to finish against the Willetton Tigers on Saturday, and the Warwick Senators next Friday.

Kortland Martin is finishing the season in some supremely impressive form with the import point guard delivering 31 points with 7/13 three-point shooting.

Fellow import Terrandus Smith added 18 points, four steals, three assists and three rebounds, Josh Hunt 14 points, three boards, two assists and two steals, and Riley Eves eight points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists.

Perry Lakes have now lost their last nine matches and they will finish at home to the East Perth Eagles on Saturday and the Goldfields Giants next Saturday afternoon.

Matt Leary top-scored for the Hawks with 20 points with three rebounds, two assists and two steals while Cooper Hamilton contributed 18 points, four boards and three steals with 4/5 three-point shooting in his 191st appearance.

Jaden Stanley-William also had 17 points and seven rebounds, and Max Bucknell eight points and seven boards.

COCKBURN COUGARS 90 (Martin 31, Smith 18, Hunt 14)

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 76 (Leary 20, Hamilton 18, Stanley-Williams 17)

Lakeside Lightning (91) lost to Rockingham Flames (94)

Isaac White has inspired the more remarkable comebacks on the road as the Rockingham Flames stormed back from 28 points down to snatch the 94-91 win that all but ends the finals hopes of the Lakeside Lightning.

The Lightning came into the contest on their home floor at Lakeside Recreation Centre with two games remaining in their season and with both of them against the league-leading Flames, and needing to win both if they wanted to play finals.

That was the bad news. The good news was the form they came in with since the return of superstar point guard Rowan Mackenzie from the hamstring injury suffered all the way back on the opening night of the season.

Lakeside was on a three-game winning streak by an average of 26 points but they remain a game out of the top eight and were running out of time to make up that group.

It was also an emotional night in the last home game of the season for the Lightning with the No. 14 jersey of the league's all-time rebound leader Jarrad Prue retired as he became the first player at Lakeside to receive that honour.

Meanwhile, Rockingham arrived with those two games against Lakeside only left in their season too and they do need to win both make sure Warwick Senators can't knock them out of top spot.

The Lightning got off to the most remarkable of starts with the game's first seven points including a three ball to Rowan Mackenzie before turning that into an 18-2 advantage with Isaiah Lewis also hitting from downtown.

Lewis and Michael Garbellini then closed out the opening term with three-pointers as well with Lakeside leading 32-12 by quarter-time.

That lead for Lakeside got out to 28 points in the second quarter and by half-time they were still leading 57-35 on the back of shooting 21/38 from the field opposed to the 13/37 from Rockingham with Isaac White not making a shot and having just three points with Emmett Naar out injured.

It was a totally different Rockingham outfit coming out of half-time and it was White immediately leading the way as they put up 38 points to 25 in the third quarter including a halfcourt buzzer beater from Emmanuel Dech to cut Lakeside's lead to nine.

The cruellest blow of the night for Lakeside came with just over four minutes to play when Mackenzie picked up a fifth foul and his night was over robbing his team of their most lethal weapon.

The Lightning were still leading by seven at the time but they would only score two more points the rest of the way as Rockingham completed the deal on the miraculous fightback.

White made a tough three-point play on the back of grabbing the offensive rebound to bring scores level with two minutes to play and the game ultimately was decided on another offensive board.

This time it was by Flames captain Justin Beard after Laquinton Ross missed his second free-throw on the back of an impressive defensive play where he blocked the three-point attempt of Lewis.

It led to two free throws from White and from there Rockingham held on for the three-point win which goes a long way to securing top spot as they improve to an 18-3 record with just the game at home to Lakeside next Friday night to go while remaining a game clear.

Isaac White had just three points to his name on just three free throws at half-time, but the MVP candidate ended up with 31 points, four rebounds, thee assists and two steals while going 14/16 at the foul line.

Laquinton Ross added 18 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two steals, Tevin Jackson 12 points, eight boards and seven assists, Emmanuel Dech 10 points and two rebounds, Travis Durnin nine points, five boards and three assists, and Ryan Godfrey nine points, four rebounds and two assists in his 348th game.

Lakeside now will need a miracle to play finals with them now 8-13 and having to beat Rockingham next Friday and then needing East Perth to lose at least two of their last three games, and for the Eastern Suns to lose both theirs.

Isaiah Lewis top-scored for the Lightning with 19 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals but he did shoot 6/17 from the field.

AJ Wilson was spectacular especially at the defensive end with six blocks to go with 16 points and three rebounds with a couple of impressive throwdowns as well.

Corey Shervill added 15 points, four rebounds and two assists but he too shot just 3/14 and 1/11 from downtown with Josh Davey delivering 13 points and 19 boards, and Rowan Mackenzie 12 points, seven assists, three rebounds and two steals before fouling out.

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 91 (Lewis 19, Shervill 15, Davey 15)

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 94 (White 31, Ross 18, Jackson 12)