NBL1 West Recap | Friday Round 13

Hannah Hank dominated as Mandurah Magic handed the Cockburn Cougars a first loss of NBL1 West season while the Rockingham Flames beat the South West Slammers by a combined 134 points, and the Joondalup Wolves made it a double away to the Perth Redbacks.

The three Friday night matches to open Round 13 in the NBL1 West saw the Rockingham Flames beat the South West Slammers 129-51, the Joondalup Wolves defeat the Perth Redbacks 96-70 and the Mandurah Magic down the Cockburn Cougars 82-50.

Then in the corresponding men's fixtures, the Flames beat the Slammers 128-72, the Wolves defeated the Redbacks 97-95, and the Cougars defeated the Magic 96-84.

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WOMEN

Burrows triple-double for Flames on old home floor

The Rockingham Flames hit back in the most emphatic way from a couple of tough losses to inflict some more pain on the South West Slammers with the 129-51 road win.

Rockingham started the season slowly with three straight losses but as they started to get to full strength, went on a tremendous nine-game winning streak before then losing the past two matches to the Willetton Tigers and Joondalup Wolves.

The Flames needed to bounce back to enhance their top four prospects and headed to Eaton Recreation Centre to take on a Slammers team winless under the coaching of Rockingham championship winning guard Alex Ciabattoni.

Rockingham dominated from the outset going on a 20-0 run in the opening quarter before leading 34-12 by quarter-time.

The Flames added another 32 points to 15 in the second quarter to lead by as much 39 points before that lead got out to 60 in the third stanza, and 78 in the fourth which would prove the final margin.

The win improves Rockingham to a 10-5 record with the loss the biggest of the season for the Slammers who are now 0-14 but lost 26 straight going back to last season, and 67 of the past 68 going back beyond that.

Rockingham had plenty of strong contributors with Mehryn Kraker putting up 22 points, seven assists and five rebounds while going 6/6 from three-point land.

Teyla Evans added 21 points and nine rebounds also going a perfect 5/5 from deep with Tiana Wilson-Palmer producing 20 points on 5/10 three-point shooting.

Rockingham went 22/44 as a team from beyond the arc with Marissa Pangalos also finishing with 15 points, Casey Samuels 10 points, five assists, five steals and three rebounds, and Lisa Koop 11 points, eight boards and three steals.

But it was Tayah Burrows who thrived on return to the court she started her career with another triple-double made up of 16 points, 12 assists, 11 rebounds and six steals.

It was rough going for the Slammers with Javene Finch finishing with nine points, three rebounds and two assists, and Kate Williams nine points, three boards, three assists and two steals.

Morrell dominates as Wolves overpower Redbacks

The Joondalup Wolves enhanced their top two position proving too strong for the Perth Redbacks winning 96-70 on Friday night with another dominant showing from Teige Morrell.

It was second against second bottom when the two teams met at Belmont Oasis on Friday night, and with the Cockburn Cougars losing at the same time, suddenly the hopes of the Wolves being regular season champions was a reality after their dominant win.

Joondalup did build up a nine-point lead during the opening quarter before then going on a 15-0 scoring run to blow the game wide open. The lead got out to as much as 24 points with the Wolfpack leading 57-33 at the half-time interval.

The Joondalup lead did grow to 30 points in the second half before the Wolves went on to win by 26 and improve to a 13-2 record. The Redbacks have now lost eight in-a-row to be 1-13.

With no Lauren Scherf or Ashli Payne anymore this season for the Redbacks, they were always going to have a tough time against Teige Morrell and that's how it panned out. The Wolfpack enforcer delivered 28 points, 15 rebounds, two assists and two blocks on 13/15 shooting.

Isabelle Miotti is now building her way back to impressive form after a tough injury run with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists with Emma Klasztorny shining with 14 points, five boards, three assists and two steals as she approaches her 250-game milestone.

Robbi Ryan also had another 13 points, six assists, two rebounds and two steals.

Brooke Malone top-scored for the Redbacks with 18 points and three rebounds with Mikayla Pirini adding 16 points, Shenae Hartree 10 points, five rebounds and three assists, DaJah Daniel nine points and nine boards, and co-captain Raya Thompson seven points and four rebounds.

Hank fires Magic to break Cougars winning run

The Mandurah Magic have sent a message that they are a team that can't be forgotten in championship discussions after ending the unbeaten run of the Cockburn Cougars with Friday's 82-50 victory.

The Cougars arrived at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre having won their opening 13 matches of the NBL1 West season by an average of 27.9 points to be sitting clear on top of the table.

The job was ahead of the Magic even on their home floor with the absence of Carly Boag with a knee injury, but the home team came out an inspired outfit right from the outset and were in control the entire evening.

It was the inside presence of centre Hannah Hank that was the major difference between the two sides as she produced her best performance in the NBL1 West, all the more impressive considering she was up against Jessie Edwards and Patty Brossmann.

The Magic managed to open up a 19-12 lead by quarter-time and by the time they had scored 11 consecutive points, Mandurah was 20 points in front and still in control 38-22 at the half.

Holding a Cougars team to 22 points in the half when they average 92.3 points a game was a significant achievement from the Magic, but they weren’t done there.

Mandurah remained in control and built on the advantage to lead by as much as 35 points in the fourth stanza before going on to win by 32 and consolidate their top four position at 11-5.

Hank produced a monstrous performance for Mandurah with 29 points, 17 rebounds and four steals on 12/19 shooting from the floor and a perfect 4/4 at the free-throw line.

Sarah Toeaina added 17 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Magic, Kat Tudor 13 points against her old team and the league's games record holder Casey Mihovilovich three points, five rebounds and three assists.

It was a down night for the Cougars as they shot just 25 per cent from the floor and went only 2/15 from downtown with the Magic doing well to keep them to just the 15 attempts.

Jessie Edwards top-scored with 14 points to go with 11 rebounds and three blocks with Sarah Mortensen contributing 13 points and six boards, and Patty Brossmann six points, 13 rebounds and three assists.

Rachel Halleen launched these back-to-back triples from DEEP ?

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MEN

Flames blow away Slammers with scintillating opening

The Rockingham Flames lit it up in the first half like only they can at Eaton Recreation Centre on Friday night on their way to the eventual 128-72 win against the South West Slammers.

It might have been a cold winter's night down south, but the Flames wasted no time heating things up by delivering the biggest first quarter of the NBL1 West season against the Slammers.

Rockingham put up 45 points on South West in the first term with reigning MVP Devondrick Walker continuing his remarkable run of form with 15 of those points.

There was no let up from the Flames as they put up another 34 points in the second term to go into the main break leading the Slammers 79-35.

By half-time already, Rockingham had those 79 points on the board on the back of shooting 65.1 per cent from the field and draining 10/20 from beyond the arc along with making all 13 free-throws.

Walker already had 19 points and five assists but Travis Durnin on his old home floor had 18, Marshall Nelson 14 and the evergreen Tom Jervis 10.

There would be no coming back from the Slammers but they did limit the damage in the second half despite Rockingham still outscoring them 49 points to 37 to end up winning 56 to retain top spot on the NBL1 West table.

By the end of the game, Durnin top-scored for Rockingham against the team he started his now 161-game career with and had 25 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists on 5/9 three-point shooting.

Walker ended up with 22 points and five assists for the Flames, Nelson 19 points and six assists with 5/6 shooting from downtown, and Jervis 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Callum Beard also put up 14 points and seven boards, Cody Hill 12 points, two rebounds and two assists, Rivar Evans 10 points, six rebounds and three assists, and Cooper Mason 10 points and three assists.

Buay Tuach fought valiantly for the Slammers to end up with 29 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals on 12/20 shooting.

Ben Stevens contributed 22 points and 10 rebounds but they just didn’t receive enough help.

Buay Tuach slams it home with AUTHORITY ?

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Wolves beat Redbacks in dramatic encounter

With two ejections along the way, spectacular performances and then a big call on the buzzer, Friday night at Belmont Oasis had it all with the Joondalup Wolves prevailing 97-95 against the Perth Redbacks.

With the Redbacks looking to keep hold of a top four spot and the Wolves trying to stay in touch for that spot, it was always going to be a tremendous match up with the added flavour thrown in with players and coaches up against their old team.

Redbacks players Joel Vaiangina, Maris Colton and Jacob Formosa are all formerly of the Wolfpack as is coach Charles Nix who took the Wolves women to a championship.

That meant there would be no shortage of feeling in the contest and it was a chirpy affair from the outset, but by quarter-time the Redbacks were looking good with a 10-point advantage.

However, heading towards half-time Joondalup took charge and ended up putting up 34 points to 23 in the second term to go into half-time leading 55-54.

The Wolfpack took further control in a spirited third quarter to lead by as much as 12 points despite captain Jordan Wellsteed picking up two tech fouls after he thought he was fouled on a layup he made that put his team up by those 12 points.

It turned the complexion of the game and the Redbacks fired right back to only be trailing by three at three quarter-time before Christian Jurlina nailed one from deep for Joondalup to start the fourth quarter.

He hit another from beyond the arc shortly after to push the Wolfpack back out to a nine-point lead and then suddenly the Redbacks lost superstar point guard Bryton Hobbs when he picked up a technical with eight minutes to play after having an unsportsmanlike earlier in the night.

It didn’t stop the game still having a dramatic finish even though the Wolves were 10 points up with five minutes on the clock.

A couple of big plays from Tevin Jackson, a putback from Vaiangina, and suddenly it was only a two-point margin with three minutes to play.

Things dried up for the next couple of minutes until Ioannis Dimakopoulos hit a pair of free-throws for the visitors with 30 seconds to play to keep his team on top by five.

It was still a four-point game with 25 seconds left when the Redbacks forced the steal and David Okwera threw down the dunk in the open floor to make the margin two.

This time it was Maris Colton forcing a steal on former teammate CJ Turnage and Jacob Formosa missed an attempted game-winning three. However, Vaiangina grabbed the offensive rebound and there did appear significant contact as he tried to put a shot up.

However, there was no whistle on the defensive play from Dimakopoulos and despite the howls from the Redbacks fans and players alike, the Wolves walked away with quite the enthralling two-point win.

Quintin Dove had a significant impact for Joondalup with 30 points on 13/18 shooting while CJ Turnage added 25 points, six rebounds and three assists, and Bryan Michaels 16 points, seven boards, five assists and three steals.

Christian Jurlina came up huge too in the absence of Mathiang Muo for 13 points, five assists and four boards with 3/4 three-point shooting.

Bryton Hobbs still had 20 points for the Redbacks despite his night ending early with Joel Vaiangina contributing 20 points and six rebounds, Tevin Jackson 19 points and six boards, Maris Colton 12 points and 11 rebounds, and David Okwera 12 points, four boards and three assists.

Brian Voelkel ?? Maris Colton ?

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Cougars keep season alive with win over Magic

The Cockburn Cougars were able to keep their NBL1 West playoff hopes alive by beating the Mandurah Magic 96-84 on Friday night.

The Cougars suffered a tough loss last Friday night to the East Perth Eagles after being in control most of the evening and had a week to stew over it ahead of the trip to Mandurah to start a road double-header in Round 13.

Both teams were missing key players with the Magic without CJ Bobbitt and Isaac Abergut with the Cougars still missing key pair Seva Chan and Luke Phillips despite the return of backup centre Nathan Pond.

The Cougars knew their playoff aspirations couldn’t afford them to drop the game, though, and they started well to lead by as much as 12 in the opening term and be still up 26-19 by the end of one.

Cockburn would never trail the entire night leading by as much as 16 in the second stanza, 21 in the third and then to go on to score the 12-point win.

It's an important win for the Cougars to improve them to a 7-9 record to stay in the playoff race ahead of another road clash with the Perry Lakes Hawks on Saturday. The Magic remain in bottom place at 2-15.

Courtney Alexander II had another strong performance in the win for Cockburn with 24 points, 10 rebounds and two steals on 10/15 shooting.

Fellow import Taj Benning added 20 points, seven assists, six rebounds and four steals while Keegan Phillips contributed 17 points and seven boards, Kieran Berry 10 points and two boards, and Gavin Field seven points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Dequan Abrom did all he could to give the Magic a chance putting up 40 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals on 16/27 shooting from the floor and 5/10 from beyond the three-point line.

Ray Turner also had 18 points and four rebounds, and Cousteau Kyle five points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Blink and you'll miss this pass from Taj Benning ??

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