The Cockburn Cougars made it a double win weekend in Round 8 of the NBL1 West Women’s Division while the Warwick Senators and Willetton Tigers continued to impressive with strong victories as well.
Round 8 in the NBL1 West Women’s Division began on Friday night with the Lakeside Lightning beating the South West Slammers 94-47.
Also on Friday night, the Cockburn Cougars defeated the East Perth Eagles 75-65 and the Rockingham Flames downed the Mandurah Magic 73-53.
That led into three more matches on Saturday night to close out Round 8 of the 2021 NBL1 West Women’s Division season.
It began with the Cockburn Cougars beating the Perth Redbacks 87-74 at Wally Hagan Stadium to make it a perfect weekend for the home team.
Jessie Edwards delivered a remarkably dominant performance for the Cougars with 36 points and 12 rebounds with Taylah Simmons adding 22 points. Makailah Dyer put up 26 points, nine rebounds and four assists for the Redbacks.
The Warwick Senators also continued the rough start to the season for the Perry Lakes Hawks with a 95-79 victory at Warwick Stadium.
Young gun Jayda Clark led the Senators with 22 points, six rebounds, six assists and three blocks while Megan McKay and Nat Burton combined for 32 points and 14 rebounds for Perry Lakes.
The Willetton Tigers then showed how impressive they are looking in the first half of the season beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 93-62 at Willetton Basketball Stadium.
Alex Sharp delivered 24 points and 12 rebounds for Willetton with captain Desiree Kelley adding 18 points and nine boards. Ellyce Ironmonger finished with 21 points and nine rebounds for Kalamunda.
NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN’S SEASON
ROUND 8 – SATURDAY NIGHT
COCKBURN COUGARS 87 defeated PERTH REDBACKS 74
The Cockburn Cougars made it a double win weekend backing up their win on Friday by defeating the Perth Redbacks at Wally Hagan Stadium on Saturday.
The Cougars beat the East Perth Eagles 75-65 at Herb Graham Recreation Centre on Friday night and then backed it up on their home floor against the Redbacks on Saturday.
The Redbacks were playing their first game of the weekend but it was a fourth straight road game for them after beating the Eagles and Mandurah Magic over the last two weeks but also losing a nail-biter against the Rockingham Flames.
So the stage was set for what was set to be a tremendous contest particularly with the match up of WNBL calibre bigs Jessie Edwards and Maddie Allen.
Cockburn picked up their momentum from the previous night with 26 points to 20 in the opening quarter but the Redbacks got rolling in the second period to turn things around with 26 points to 19.
That saw the Redbacks head into half-time leading on the road against the Cougars 46-45 with the game set up for a cracking second half.
But it was Cockburn who dominated much of the second half starting with 23 points to 15 in the third quarter, and another 19 to 13 in the fourth to end up beating the Redbacks 87-74.
The win improves the Cougars to a 5-2 record on the season after the two wins this weekend.
The Redbacks are now 4-3 after the four consecutive road games before getting to return to Belmont Oasis next Saturday night in a tantalising match up with the Warwick Senators.
There were plenty of rebounds to be had across the game and the Cougars pulled in 54 of them opposed to 44 from the Redbacks but it was the offensive boards where Cockburn had 18 of them to 11.
Ultimately the difference between the two teams, though, was Jessie Edwards. In her first season with Cockburn on the back of her WNBL season at the Perth Lynx, she put in a dominant showing with 36 points and 12 rebounds on shooting 16/21 from the floor.
Taylah Simmons was impressive as well for the Cougars with 22 points, six rebounds and three assists with Molly Matthews contributing seven points, 11 rebounds and three assists, and Emma Burke seven points and boards.
Makailah Dyer put in another standout performance for the Redbacks to do all she could to give them a chance of the win finishing with 26 points, nine rebounds and four assists including being rewarded for aggressiveness with 10/11 from the foul line.
Raya Thompson also had 10 points and three assists for Perth, Jess Jakens 10 points and eight rebounds, Denielle Ashworth nine points, and Maddie Allen eight points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two steals.
WARWICK SENATORS 95 defeated PERRY LAKES HAWKS 79
The Warwick Senators were able to string consecutive strong performances together to beat the Perry Lakes Hawks 95-79 at Warwick Stadium on Saturday night.
It has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride to start the NBL1 West season for the Senators and after they returned to the winner’s list last week by thrashing the Lakeside Lightning by 51 points, they kept the momentum going this Saturday night.
It was another early season blow for Perry Lakes who didn’t start their season until Round 4 which was a win over the Perth Redbacks, but the Lady Hawks had lost since to Willetton, Rockingham, Kalamunda and then on Tuesday night, Joondalup.
It was a tight opening to the contest at Warwick Stadium with the Senators and Hawks locked together at 22-22 by quarter-time, but it was in the second term that Warwick made their move.
The Senators put up 30 points in the second quarter while holding Perry Lakes to just the 16 points to see them hold a 52-38 advantage going into half-time.
It was a relatively even second half from there with the Senators ending up beating the Hawks 95-79 to see them improve to a 4-3 record on the season while Perry Lakes slips to 1-5.
Jayda Clark delivered what might well have been the best performance of her career with 22 points, six rebounds and six assists while getting to the foul line 11 times where she made them all.
Mackenzie Clinch-Hoycard also had 14 points and six rebounds for Warwick, Stacey Barr 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals, Caitlyn Jones 13 points and five assists, and Tayla Hepburn 11 points and six rebounds.
Megan McKay bounced back from a tough game on Tuesday against the Wolves with 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists while glad to also have Nat Burton back alongside her who had 16 points and five boards as well.
Sarah Donovan also had 13 points and three rebounds for Perry Lakes, Maddie Dennis 12 points and three boards, and Mia Satie nine points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals.
WILLETTON TIGERS 93 defeated KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 62
The Willetton Tigers kept their impressive form going with a second big win already of the season against the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.
The Tigers beat the Eastern Suns at Ray Owen Sports Centre 98-71 back in Round 5 and then backed it up again with an impressive performance on Saturday night at Willetton Basketball Stadium.
Willetton was coming into the game on a three-game winning streak and the Tigers started well enough on their home floor but the Eastern Suns stuck with them to only trail by four at quarter-time, and then eight at half-time.
But Willetton put their foot down in the third quarter to blow the game apart with another 23 points while holding Kalamunda to just 15 to see the Tigers leading 68-52 by three quarter-time.
Willetton blew the game open further in the last quarter with another 25 points to 10 to end up winning 93-62 to improve to a 5-1 record on the season while the Eastern Suns slip to 2-4.
Alex Sharp was outstanding for Willetton with 24 points, 12 rebounds, five steals, four assists and two blocked shots.
Captain Desiree Kelley had a big night for the Tigers as well with 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists with Emma Gandini adding 16 points, three assists and two steals, and Hayley Winter 13 points, five boards and three assists.
Ellyce Ironmonger was a powerful force inside and out for the Eastern Suns as she settles into life at her third club having made the move to continue playing under coach Craig Mansfield. She delivered 21 points, nine rebounds and two blocks while hitting 3/5 from three-point territory.
Jewel Williams also finished with 11 points and five assists, Rebecca Motroni nine points, six rebounds and four assists, Sam Roscoe eight points and four boards, and Mia Jacobs seven points, six rebounds and two steals.