NBL1 West Recap | Saturday Pink Round

What a Saturday in the NBL1 West with Seb Salinas celebrating game 500 with a win for the Kalamunda Eastern Suns while the Perth Redbacks shocked the Rockingham Flames in Ryan Godfrey's 300th, and Ash Isenbarger capped her weekend with a game winner for the Perry Lakes Hawks.

The women's Round 7 results saw the East Perth Eagles beat the South West Slammers 73-51 while the Perry Lakes Hawks beat the Warwick Senators 84-83, the Joondalup Wolves downed the Goldfields Giants 100-50, the Rockingham Flames beat the Perth Redbacks 102-50, and the Mandurah Magic downed the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 98-58.

Then in the men's match ups, the Geraldton Buccaneers beat the Willetton Tigers 120-98 while the Eagles beat the Slammers 103-75, the Senators beat the Hawks 92-74, the Giants downed the Wolves 100-96, the Redbacks stunned the Flames 79-52 and the Eastern Suns beat the Magic 94-81.

WOMEN

Eagles get back to winning down south

The East Perth Eagles are back on the winner's list in the NBL1 West inflicting some more pain on the South West Slammers with the 73-51 road victory.

The Slammers were fresh off a 66-point loss away to the Cockburn Cougars on Friday ahead of returning to Eaton Recreation Centre on Saturday looking for their first win of the season against an Eagles team also on a four-game losing slide.

Playing-coach Alex Ciabattoni laced up the shoes to play 18 and-a-half minutes for the Slammers too to try and lift them to that first win, but the Eagles started strongly with 25 points to 13 in the first quarter.

East Perth was able to maintain that advantage throughout the evening and then with another 13 points to seven in the fourth quarter, the Eagles went on to score the 22-point win.

The win improves the Eagles to a 3-6 record on the season snapping the four-game losing run while the Slammers are 0-8 having now lost 20 in-a-row, and 61 of the last 62.

Madison Torresin had a first-rate night for the Eagles with 20 points and 12 rebounds on 7/12 shooting with Sylwia Bujniak adding 13 points, nine boards and four assists, and Sarah Allen 12 points and two boards.

Tessa Morrison added 11 points and three steals, and Maddie Allen 11 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and two steals.

Kate Williams top-scored for the Slammers with 13 points and four rebounds with Grace Adams adding nine points and six boards, and Lauren Vincent eight points, six rebounds and four assists.

Isenbarger hits game winner in stunning Hawks weekend

What an incredible 24 hours for Ash Isenbarger in her first season with the Perry Lakes Hawks. Fresh off a triple-double against her old team on Friday, she hit the game winning three-pointer to deliver the Hawks the 84-83 win against the defending champion Warwick Senators on Saturday.

Perry Lakes opened Round 7 with the win at home against Lakeside on Friday as they prepared to take on the defending champion Senators at Warwick Stadium 24 hours later.

The Hawks did start strongly with 25 points to 18 in the opening period but from there it was a tight contest as the Senators worked their way back from a 13-point deficit in that first quarter.

Eventually two late free-throws from reigning MVP Stacey Barr put the Senators in front with 20 seconds to play.

That left Craig Mansfield with the chance to draw up a play for the game winner from Perry Lakes and out of a timeout, Nici Gilday found Ash Isenbarger who drained the three-pointer to put the Hawks in front 84-83.

There was still time for Warwick to try and answer out of a timeout of their own, but Nat Burton's attempt to sink her former team wouldn’t fall. 

Then despite new Senators import Karly Murphy grabbing the offensive rebound, she was called for the offensive foul and the Hawks scored the one-point win to improve to 7-3 on the season with four straight wins.

The Senators now slip to 4-3 with their four-game winning run coming to an end.

On the back of her triple-double made up of 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocks against Lakeside on Friday, Isenbarger delivered another 25 points and four boards including hitting 6/9 from beyond the arc for the Hawks.

Emma Clarke also had 21 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, Nici Gilday 12 points, five assists and three boards, Maddy Dennis 10 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, and Mia Satie 10 points and four boards. 

Karly Murphy produced 25 points and 10 rebounds in her third game for the Senators with Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard contributing 11 points and nine boards, Stacey Barr 14 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, and Chloe Forster 10 points and three assists.

Ashleigh Isenbarger step-backs for the game-winning dagger3?? ??

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) May 13, 2023

Wolfpack hit back against shorthanded Giants 

The Joondalup Wolves responded to their first loss of the season in emphatic fashion beating the Goldfields Giants 100-50 in Kalgoorlie on Saturday night.

The Wolves won their first eight matches of the season before a loss on the road to the Cockburn Cougars last Saturday night so they arrived at Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium on Saturday night ready to make a statement.

They came up against a Giants team still without key pair Amanda Wayment and Olivia Berry too with Lawrin Tipene and Rachel Kehoe also not playing, so the odds were stacked right against the home team.

That's how the game panned out too even though the Wolfpack are also without the injured Nes'eya Parker-Williams.

Joondalup put up 28 points to 12 in the opening quarter to set the tone for the match up before another 30 points to 12 in the second period to lead 58-24 at half-time.

The Wolves also outscored the Giants 42 points to 25 in the second half on the way to the 50-point win to steady at a 9-1 record with Goldfields now 2-6 and unable to back up last week's win against the Perth Redbacks.

Teige Morrell put up 28 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, four blocks and three steals in the win for the Wolfpack with Robbi Ryan contributing 24 points, seven boards, five assists and three steals, Shani Amos 11 points, five assists and four rebounds, and Tia Ucich 11 points and five assists.

The Giants might have been mightily shorthanded, but that did create opportunities and Regan Turnour-McCarty made the most of her added responsibility playing all but two minutes of the game for 31 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals on 9/16 three-point shooting.

Ash Sidebottom added eight points in her 153rd game with Aimee Borchet contributing seven points, 12 rebounds and two steals.

Flames keep roll going with thumping of Redbacks

Not even the presence of Lauren Scherf could change the fortunes of the Perth Redbacks with the Rockingham Flames continuing their building form to win 102-50.

Rockingham was back home on Saturday night on a four-game winning streak up against a Redbacks team boosted by the presence of 200-game WNBL star Scherf for her first game since signing during the week.

The Flames started strongly with 29 points to 17 in the opening quarter and that set the stage for what would happen the rest of the contest.

Rockingham added another 24 points to 12 in the second quarter with another 33 to seven in the third period and eventually the Flames would win by 52 points to improve to 5-3 on the season. The loss sees the Redbacks slip to 1-7.

Mehryn Kraker played her second game back this season and delivered 28 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals for Rockingham including hitting 5/10 from beyond the three-point line.

Tayah Burrows added 23 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and two steals, Christina Boag 11 points and three assists, and Marissa Pangalos 10 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Lauren Scherf played 23 and-a-half minutes for the Redbacks and finished with eight points, eight rebounds and three assists with Brooke Malone adding 15 points and six boards, and DaJah Daniel six points and four rebounds.

What a dime by Marissa Pangalos ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) May 13, 2023

Magic hit back with big win over Suns 

The Mandurah Magic hit back from their first two losses of the season to win big over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns on Saturday night, 98-58.

Mandurah opened the season winning the first three matches, but then arrived at Ray Owen Sports Centre on the back of losses to the Perth Redbacks and Rockingham Flames.

That had them needing to hit back against an Eastern Suns team on Saturday night attempting to snap their own three-game losing slide.

Mandurah made its statement early with 31 points to 12 in the opening quarter with the Magic then pulling further away by outscoring Kalamunda 49 points to 28 in the second half.

That saw the Magic win by 40 points to improve to 4-2 on the season with the Suns now having lost four straight at 3-5.

Kat Tudor recaptured some of the form she showed with the Cockburn Cougars last season in her best performance with the Magic made up of 28 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals including hitting 4/8 from three-point land.

Carly Boag added 15 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and four steals, Sarah Toeaina 13 points and two boards, Rachel Halleen 12 points, three rebounds and three assists, Gabby Turner 11 points, six boards and three assists, and games record holder Casey Mihovilovich seven points, four assists and four steals.

Sam Roscoe top-scored for the Eastern Suns with 21 points and seven rebounds with Natalie Chou contributing 15 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals, Makailah Dyer eight points and six assists, and Eryn Fisher eight points and four rebounds.

MEN

Buccs shoot lights out for big win over Tigers

With Zac Gattorna, Johny Narkle and Aaron Ralph combining for 15 three-pointers, the Geraldton Buccaneers blew the Willetton Tigers away at home on Saturday night with the 120-98 victory.

It loomed as a tantalising match up between two teams looking to be genuine contenders this season and with the Buccs out to bounce back from the road loss to Perry Lakes last Sunday they came out and made a statement.

Back on their home floor at Active West Stadium, Geraldton held a slender lead through the opening half and were leading 45-38 at the half-time break, but in the second half the Buccs really caught fire.

The Buccaneers delivered a blistering 20 minutes of basketball piling on 75 points in the second half alone. The Tigers also scored 60 but Geraldton went on to score the 22-point victory.

The win improves the Buccs to a 6-3 record with the Tigers now also joining them on 6-3.

Zac Gattorna finished with 24 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals for Geraldton while hitting 5/8 from three-point territory.

Aaron Ralph also knocked down 6/11 from long-range for 24 points and six rebounds. In his 419th game, his six threes take him to 967 on his career as he chases down the 1097 made by Ryan Neill.

Johny Narkle added 18 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals on 4/6 three-point shooting too with Shaun Stewart adding 15 points, four boards and four assists, Liam Hunt 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Malik Meunier 10 points and seven assists.

Willetton went to Geraldton minus Hunter Clarke and Mark Worthington, but Gorjok Gak produced 22 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

Darnell Hoskins Jr put up 31 points with Damien Scott adding 15 points and six rebounds, and Michael Vigor 13 points.

Eagles open account with win over Slammers 

The East Perth Eagles have opened their account belatedly in the 2023 season beating the South West Slammers 103-75 on Saturday night.

Despite having put together quite the impressive roster, East Perth had lost its opening eight matches of the season meaning the Eagles arrived at Eaton Recreation Centre winless to take on the Slammers.

South West had just the one win so far this season too and were fresh off a 38-point loss to the Cockburn Cougars the night before.

East Perth built some momentum in the second quarter with 24 points to 12 and then the Eagles went on with the job in the second half with 55 points to 41 to beat the Slammers by 28 points.

The victory improves the Eagles to a 1-8 record with the Slammers now also on the same record having lost seven straight.

Sebit Reath starred in the win for East Perth with 34 points, 14 rebounds and three steals on 13/22 shooting from the floor and 7/8 from the free-throw line.

Taylor Young added 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, Lee Roberts 17 points and eight boards, and Jarrad Anastasio nine points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.

Buay Tuach again top-scored for the Slammers with 26 points and 10 rebounds while Ben Stevens contributed 16 points and 12 boards, and Manyiel Wugol 14 points.

Senators turn it on to hand Hawks a second loss

The Warwick Senators delivered what was likely their best performance of the NBL1 West season to beat the Perry Lakes Hawks 92-74 at Warwick Stadium.

The Hawks came into the contest fresh off an overtime win against the Lakeside Lightning the previous night to make it six straight wins ahead of the clash with a Senators team who split their Round 6 matches with a win over the Slammers before a loss to the Eastern Suns.

The Senators were again without their two main ball handlers Ethan Elliott and Uche Dibiamaka, but Perry Lakes was also missing dual championship winning point guard Mitch Clarke.

The Hawks were able to start well and lead 31-26 by the end of the first quarter.

However, it was captain Cody Ellis who set the tone in the second quarter for the Senators in his 199th official game and his team built off the back of that to head into the half-time break leading 53-41.

The Senators went on with the job from there outscoring the Hawks 39 points to 33 in the second half to secure the 18-point win and hand Perry Lakes just its second loss of the season and to end its six-game winning streak. 

Warwick captain Ellis knocked down six three-pointers on the night to end up top-scoring with 22 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists with his team missing not only Elliott and Dibiamaka, but also 203-game centre Ash Litterick.

Hussayn Ford also delivered 19 points and seven rebounds, George Pearl 17 points, 12 assists, six rebounds and two steals, Jay Thwaites 15 points, three boards and three assists, and Caleb Davis 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Perry Lakes suffered its second loss of the season despite Daniel Alexander scoring another 15 points and five rebounds.

Nick Floyd added 13 points and five boards, Matt Leary 10 points and three rebounds, Andrew Ferguson 10 points and three boards, and Ben Purser 10 points, five rebounds and five assists.

What a catch by Hussayn Ford! ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) May 13, 2023

Giants hit back to form with win over Wolves

The Goldfields Giants snapped their losing slide in style with an impressive 100-96 victory over the Joondalup Wolves in Kalgoorlie.

The Giants came into Saturday night's clash at Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium having lost their last three matches and it was a significant test up against a Wolfpack team on a five-game winning run of their own.

While Joondalup did arrive without point guard Bryan Michaels, they started well away from home to lead 21-18 by quarter-time.

However, Goldfields worked its way on top in impressive fashion with 25 points to 16 in the second term to go into the half-time interval leading 43-37.

The Giants would turn that into a 12-point lead throughout the second half and then holding out the Wolves late for the four-point win to snap the losing run and improve to a 3-5 record. It's the Wolves' first loss since losing to the Perth Redbacks on April 21 as they slip to 7-4.

Michael Dupree was terrific for Goldfields with 32 points, six rebounds and six assists on 13/22 from the floor, 3/8 from beyond the arc and 3/4 from the foul line.

Lafonzo Smith added 16 points and seven rebounds, Mayo Malek 16 points and six boards, Damon Ballantyne 15 points and five assists, and 177-game captain Jerome Reid 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Quintin Dove put up another 24 points and 10 rebounds for Joondalup with CJ Turnage contributing 24 points and seven assists, Mathiang Muo 21 points and 11 boards, and Jordan Wellsteed 16 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Redbacks shock Flames in Godfrey's milestone night

Winning streaks never last forever but nobody could have predicted the way in which the Perth Redbacks would hand the Rockingham Flames a first loss since July 8 last year by winning 79-52.

Since that loss to the Joondalup Wolves, the Rockingham Flames won the last seven games of the 2022 regular season, swept through both the NBL1 West and National Finals to win both championships, and then started 2023 in dominant form with eight straight wins.

SEEING ROCKINGHAM RISE WHERE 300-GAMER 'BOOF'S' PRIDE SITS

Both in terms of personnel, health and form, the Flames team of 2023 looked an improvement on 2022 with the addition of Jeremy Combs and the form of Devondrick Walker, Marshall Nelson and Tom Jervis.

There was also the 300-game milestone of inspirational captain Ryan Godfrey to celebrate on Saturday night at Mike Barnett Sports Complex, but what happened over the next 40 minutes had to be seen to be believed as they captured the Anthony Exeter Cup in the process.

It wasn’t so much a shock it was the Redbacks who beat the Flames, but more in the manner it happened. Perth had strung consecutive wins together coming into the game for the first time this season and dominated Rockingham from the outset.

Remarkably, the Flames only scored 52 points for the game including just three in the final quarter and that's a team that had been averaging 107 points so far this season.

The Flames would end up shooting 31.3 per cent from the field and made just 4/35 from three-point territory with Walker shooting 5/16, Godfrey 2/12, Nelson 1/10 and the returning Justin Beard 2/8.

It was an uncharacteristic off night for Rockingham but the Redbacks deserve enormous credit and Bryton Hobbs was a difference maker with 33 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Tevin Jackson also delivered 20 points and five rebounds, Joel Vaiangina eight points and six boards, and Brian Voelkel just the two points but 10 rebounds, 10 assists and three steals.

Slick dime for Mr. 300 games ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) May 13, 2023

Milestone to savour for Salinas and Eastern Suns

For just the second time in the history of the competition, a man was celebrating getting to 500 games and Seb Salinas hit some trademark jumpers late to help the Kalamunda Eastern Suns beat the Mandurah Magic 94-81.

Salinas joins Troy Clarke in the 500-game club in the men's competition and his 500th game on Saturday night will be one he'll never forget at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

HISTORY BECKONS SALINAS AHEAD OF GAME 500

With a strong supporting group on hand decked out in t-shirts to celebrate the milestone for Salinas who is in his second season with the Suns after 154 games with the Senators and 317 at the Wolves, it was a night to savour.

The Magic arrived desperate for their first win of the season with coach Mark Utley back to coach on his old home floor for the first time since standing down from Kalamunda at the end of the 2021 season.

The Magic also welcomed new import Celneque Bobbitt II but the Eastern Suns just weren’t going to be denied on the night.

Every time Mandurah tried making a charge, the Eastern Suns had the answers and just as the Magic got back within three points at the start of the fourth, it was only fitting that it was Salinas who shut the gate.

He nailed a pair of three-pointers in less than a minute, and then would hit another late in the game to end up with five of them for the game to take his career tally to 883 over the 500 games he's now played.

The Eastern Suns claimed the 94-81 victory to make it three straight wins with Aaron Trahair getting the win against the team he unceremoniously parted ways with last year to improve to 6-3. The Magic slips to 0-7.

Salinas finished his milestone game with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists for Kalamunda with Albert Almanza putting up 23 points and four assists, Joe Cook-Green 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Brendan Dinardo 11 points, four boards, three steals and two assists.

Ray Turner put up 18 points and 11 rebounds for Mandurah, Dequan Abrom 16 points and seven assists, Kai Daniels 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists, and new import Bobbitt 15 points, four boards and four assists.