NBL1 West Recap | Friday Round 6

A remarkable 50 points from Devondrick Walker and scintilating 43 points from Quintin Dove sparked wins for the Rockingham Flames and Joondalup Wolves in Friday night's NBL1 West action with a pair of wins too for the Perry Lakes Hawks.

The three Friday night women's matches in the NBL1 West saw the Rockingham Flames beat the Mandurah Magic 87-65, Perry Lakes Hawks defeat the East Perth Eagles 66-55 and the Joondalup Wolves down the Willetton Tigers 83-73.

Then in the men's match ups, the Wolves won a thriller 106-105 against Tigers while the Flames beat the Magic 108-87 and the Hawks defeated the Eagles 91-72.

WOMEN

Kraker returns and Flames knock off Magic

The Rockingham Flames welcomed back Mehryn Kraker for the first time this season and continued to build some momentum beating the Mandurah Magic 87-65.

The Flames had already strung together three consecutive wins on the back of starting the season losing the first three, but with Kraker arriving for her second season and with Casey Samuels and Marissa Pangalos having joined in recent weeks and they have their squad together.

It set up a fascinating match up with the Magic on Friday night at Mike Barnett Sports Complex with Mandurah having suffered its first loss of the season last Saturday against the Perth Redbacks.

Rockingham started strongly with 23 points to 18 in the opening quarter and were never headed from there. The Flames extended the lead throughout the evening before winning by 22 points to improve to a 4-3 record with the Magic slipping to 3-2.

On the back of delivering 23.3 points, 4.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds last season for the Flames, Mehryn Kraker marked her return with 21 points, seven assists and three rebounds in her first appearance of 2023.

Casey Samuels added 18 points, five boards and four assists, Marissa Pangalos 12 points and three rebounds, Lisa Koop 11 points and 11 boards, and Tayah Burrows 10 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists and three steals.

Kat Tudor top-scored for Mandurah in her best performance of the season with 23 points, six rebounds and four steals with Casey Mihovilovich putting up another 21 points, six boards and five assists in her 536th appearance.

Wolfpack Big Three too much at home for Tigers

The Joondalup Wolves maintained their undefeated record this NBL1 West season to put that on the line now on Saturday against the Cockburn Cougars, beating the Willetton Tigers 83-73.

The Wolfpack improved to 8-0 on the season by beating the Tigers by 10 points at HBF Arena Joondalup in what was a rematch from last year's preliminary final.

Beautiful ball-movement from Gold Coast ends with Elijah Kamu AND-1 ??

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Despite the Wolves starting last season with 16 straight wins, they fell short of reaching the Grand Final thanks to Willetton winning that clash, but Joondalup scored a measure of revenge on Friday night to open Round 6.

The victory improves the Wolfpack to a perfect 8-0 record on the season as they now take on the last other remaining undefeated team on Saturday when they travel to Wally Hagan Stadium to play the Cockburn Cougars.

The star trio at Joondalup was once again tremendous with Robbi Ryan finishing with 27 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals, Teige Morrell delivering 21 points, 15 boards and four assists, and Nes'eya Parker-Williams contributing 18 points, five rebounds and two assists.

Willetton slipped to 5-2 with the defeat with the two losses coming against both undefeated teams.

Desiree Kelley put up 18 points, seven assists and three rebounds for the Tigers while Grace Foster contributed 17 points, five boards, four assists and two steals, Alex Sharp 13 points and 13 rebounds, and 238-game veteran Jess Jakens six points and 12 boards.

Robbi Ryan with the LETHAL step-back triple! ?

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Hawks prevail in a grind with the Eagles

The Perry Lakes Hawks had to dig deep but they did enough to score the hard earned 66-55 win against the East Perth Eagles.

The Eagles were back on their home floor at Herb Graham Recreation Centre looking to snap a two-game losing run against a Hawks team out to keep building some momentum.

Perry Lakes did put up 18 points to eight in the opening quarter and while the Eagles kept on fighting the rest of the evening, the Hawks did enough to hold out for the 11-point victory.

Neither team got going offensively with Perry Lakes ending up shooting 31.4 per cent from the floor while East Perth went at 30.8 per cent, but Nici Gilday helped to lead the Hawks to the eventual win.

Gilday ended the night with 26 points, five assists, four steals and three rebounds to help make up for the absence of Emma Clarke for the Hawks.

Ash Isenbarger added 19 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocks, Mia Satie 10 points and seven boards, and Maddy Dennis nine points, five rebounds and three assists.

It was a third consecutive defeat for East Perth despite Madison Torresin ending up scoring 21 points, seven rebounds and two assists.

Sarah Allen added 12 points, six rebounds and three steals, Taylor Roberts nine points and five boards, and Maddie Allen two points, 16 rebounds, nine assists and two blocked shots.

Nicolette Gilday was on fire tonight ?
2??6?? points, 4?? 3PM, 5?? assists and 4?? steals.

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MEN

Walker unstoppable as Rockingham stays unbeaten

Reigning NBL1 West MVP Devondrick Walker put on a spectacular performance putting up 50 points as the Rockingham Flames remained undefeated beating the winless Mandurah Magic 108-87.

The Flames were back home at Mike Barnett Sports Complex and on the floor he used to coach Rockingham on, Mandurah coach Mark Utley could do little about the onslaught Walker produced to keep the reigning champions undefeated so far in 2023.

Devondrick Walker is a bucket ?

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However, Mandurah were outstanding in the first quarter putting up 35 points to lead by three despite the 19 points already on the board from Walker.

The Flames worked their way on top in the second quarter, though, with 30 points to 18 to lead 62-53 by half-time with Walker on 27 points.

He continued on in the second half and Rockingham kept pulling away to end up winning by 21 points to improve to a perfect 8-0 on the season with Mandurah slipping to 0-5.

Walker finished with a remarkable performance for the Flames with 50 points and five rebounds on 18/28 from the floor and 10/14 from three-point range.

Jeremy Combs added 17 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and five steals for Rockingham, Tom Jervis 13 points, five assists and four boards, and Travis Durnin 11 points and three rebounds.

Isaac Abergut top-scored for Mandurah with 18 points while Ray Turner added 16 points and eight rebounds, Byron Pearson 14 points, Dequan Abrom 12 points and seven assists, and Sugar Eaton 11 points and three steals.

Quintin Dove cannot be stopped! ?

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Dove, Turnage combine for 73 as Wolves beat Tigers 

It always loomed as being a spectacular contest and it sure didn’t disappoint with the Joondalup Wolves finishing strongly to beat the Willetton Tigers 106-105 in a thriller.

The Wolfpack were back home at HBF Arena looking to build on a three-game winning streak up against a Willetton team who had won five straight too after an opening night loss to Rockingham, and who were celebrating the 250th game of captain Andrew Black.

3??9??-year-old Mark Worthington JAMMED it home ?

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The Tigers started strongly away from home and were already leading at quarter-time 30-18 but the action was just warming up and by half-time Joondalup had cut the Willetton advantage to 50-47.

Both teams went up a notch combining for 63 points in the third quarter with CJ Turnage and Quintin Dove getting rolling for the Wolves, and Gorjok Gak, Darnell Hoskins Jr, Damien Scott and Mark Worthington leading the Willetton charge.

It all was set up for a spectacular finish and in the end after trailing all evening, the Wolfpack grabbed the lead for the first time midway through the fourth period.

That included a monstrous dunk from Dove over Gak, and it was when Gak fouled out with a minute to play that the Tigers hopes took a big hit.

The Wolves opened up a four-point lead but the Tigers still stayed in touch with a three ball from Hoskins. 

Turnage missed his attempted dagger up the other end and Hoskins had a chance at the winner, but the defence on him by Christian Jurlina was superb, and he was forced into a rushed and off balance three-point attempt with Joondalup holding on to win by one.

Dove continued his spectacular form for the Wolfpack finishing with 43 points, 13 rebounds and four assists on 15/23 shooting from the field, 6/11 from downtown and 7/8 from the strip.

Turnage added 30 points, seven rebounds and five assists on 14/25 shooting with Mathiang Muo contributing 13 points and four boards, and Jurlina 12 points and two rebounds.

Hoskins ended the night with 28 points for Willetton with Scott adding 23 points, five assists and four rebounds, Gak 18 points, eight boards and five assists, and Worthington 14 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Quintin Dove cannot be stopped! ?

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Shorthanded Hawks keep Eagles winless

Despite the absence of three of their most important and experienced players, the Perry Lakes Hawks kept their winning form going with the 91-72 victory against the winless East Perth Eagles.

The Hawks arrived at Herb Graham Recreation Centre minus their dual championship winning co-captains Rob Cassir and Ben Purser with Grand Final MVP Andrew Ferguson still yet to suit up in 2023 awaiting his season ending in Japan.

However, Perry Lakes wouldn’t be deterred up against an East Perth team still hunting a first win of the season and who themselves came into the contest without the services of Jerami Grace.

Perry Lakes worked its way on top early and that is where the Hawks stayed leading by five points at quarter-time, stretching that to 15 at half-time and 24 at three quarter-time before settling with the 19-point victory.

The result sees the Hawks improve to 7-1 on the season while the Eagles remain winless at 0-7 despite having quite the quality roster at their disposal.

Former All-First Team member and league's leading scorer Daniel Alexander was terrific for Perry Lakes with 30 points, six rebounds, six assists and five steals on 13/21 shooting.

Mitch Clarke added 22 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals with Matt Leary contributing 18 points and five boards, and Jack Isenbarger six points, three rebounds and three assists.

It was another tough loss to take for East Perth with Sebit Reath putting up 21 points and 14 rebounds. Elijah Pawson added 10 points, Nic Filpo eight points, five rebounds and four assists, and Lee Roberts eight points and five boards.

Imports Taylor Young, Naaman Hightower and naturalised star Justin King only combined for 12 points and seven rebounds with six turnovers and shooting a combined 4/18 from the floor.

Daniel Alexander got ?

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