NBL1 West Recap | Saturday Round 3

There were bounce back wins for Kalamunda Eastern Suns and Perry Lakes Hawks on Saturday night with the Rockingham Flames and Goldfields Giants opening their NBL1 West accounts, and that was just the women's action.

The Saturday night women's results saw the Kalamunda Eastern Suns beat the South West Slammers 82-42, the Perry Lakes Hawks defeat the Perth Redbacks 104-68, the Rockingham Flames down the East Perth Eagles 89-83 in overtime, and the Goldfields Giants win 69-64 against the Lakeside Lightning.

Then in the men's contests, the Eastern Suns beat the Slammers 71-62, the Hawks defeated the Redbacks 82-80, the Flames beat the Eagles 110-89, Lakeside defeated Goldfields 103-100 and the Joondalup Wolves beat the Geraldton Buccaneers 99-90.

WOMEN

Suns bounce back with big win over Slammers

The Kalamunda Eastern Suns bounced back from their first loss of the season to beat the South West Slammers 82-42 on the road on Saturday night.

The Eastern Suns started the season with impressive wins over the Senators and Redbacks, and then bounced back on Saturday after losing to the Joondalup Wolves 24 hours earlier in emphatic fashion.

Kalamunda started with 23 points to seven in the opening quarter to set the tone for the evening at Eaton Recreation Centre. They would then hold the Slammers to just six points in the third quarter on the way to the eventual 40-point win to improve to 3-1 on the season.

Makailah Dyer had a big night for Kalamunda against the club she started her career in the league with, and ended up with 28 points, six steals, three assists and two rebounds.

Former East Perth captain Eryn Fisher added 10 points and four rebounds with Aisha Forrest contributing 10 points and three boards, and Georgia Denehey nine points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals against her former team.

It was a second big loss to start the season at the Slammers for new coach Alex Ciabattoni against the team she first played with in the then SBL. Javene Fitch top-scored with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Gilday debuts and Hawks inflict more pain on Redbacks

The Perry Lakes Hawks bounced back from a tough loss on Friday night to inflict some more early season pain on the Perth Redbacks with an 104-68 road win.

The Hawks were unlucky to come up against the one-two punch of Sami Whitcomb and Alex Sharp with the Willetton Tigers on Friday night, but bounced back well on Saturday with a dominant 36-point win over the Redbacks at Belmont Oasis.

Emma Clarke was a dominant force in the big win for the now 3-2 Hawks finishing the evening with 32 points, four rebounds and four assists on an efficient 12/16 shooting with 5/6 from three-point range.

Former Mandurah Magic star Nici Gilday also played her first game with Perry Lakes and produced 20 points and four assists with Mia Satie adding 10 points and eight rebounds, and Maddy Dennis six points, 11 boards, four assists and four steals.

The rough start to the season for the now 0-3 Redbacks continued despite 17 points and four rebounds from Shenae Hartree, 11 points and three assists with 3/5 three-point shooting from Bri Bailey, and 10 points and four assists from Mikayla Pirini.

Nici Gilday from DEEP to beat the ?

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Flames open account with OT win over Eagles

It had been a rough start to the season for the Rockingham Flames but they got the win they needed over the East Perth Eagles on Saturday, but it took overtime to do it.

The Flames had lost their opening three games of the season while still awaiting the arrival of key players but they couldn’t afford to go 0-4 as they took on the Eagles at Herb Graham Recreation Centre.

What eventuated was a thrilling contest even if somewhat error prone with East Perth racking up 21 turnovers but on the flipside, the Eagles outrebounded the Flames 55 to 51, and shot 15/38 from downtown opposed to 5/25.

In the end, it took a huge fourth quarter from Rockingham just to force the game into overtime and then in the extra period, with the Eagles having lost Madison Torresin, the Flames took over to claim the 89-83 victory.

Perth Lynx WNBL point guard Tayah Burrows finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and five steals for Rockingham with Casey Samuels on debut and delivering 33 points, eight boards and four steals.

Opal Mader contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds against one of her former clubs with Teyla Evans adding 12 points and 10 boards.

Torresin finished with 19 points, 16 rebounds and four assists for East Perth before going off hurt with Sylwia Bujniak contributing 17 points, four boards and three assists, Tessa Morrison 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and Maddie Allen six points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and three blocks against the club she was Grand Final MVP with.

Giants win first game of season in first road trip

The Goldfields Giants began their first road trip of the season with a thrilling five-point win against the Lakeside Lightning.

Goldfields lost its first match of the season at home to the Mandurah Magic and hit the road for first time in 2023 to take on a Lightning team fresh off a heavy loss to the Cockburn Cougars the previous evening.

However, Lakeside welcomed back captain Caitie Jones to face the Giants but Goldfields started well with 25 points to 22 in the opening quarter. 

It was a close encounter all evening but the Giants had the answers in the finish to claim the 69-64 victory ahead of playing the Warwick Senators on Sunday.

Olivia Berry was superb for Goldfields in the win with 31 points, three steals, two assists and two rebounds on shooting 11/19 from the field and 7/8 at the foul line.

Rachel Kehoe added 16 points and six rebounds, Regan Turnour-McCarty nine points, six boards and four assists, and Amanda Wayment four points and 10 rebounds.

Caitie Jones got out her sick bed for 13 points for Lakeside despite 2/12 shooting with Laci Hawthorne adding 12 points and six rebounds, and Jade Gowland 13 points and two blocks.

MEN

Big finish and Wolfpack hit back over Buccs

Two perennial powerhouses locked horns at HBF Arena Joondalup on Saturday night with the Joondalup Wolves finishing strongly to beat the Geraldton Buccaneers 99-90.

Both teams were coming off losses with the Wolves losing on Friday to the Eastern Suns while the Buccs lost last Saturday night in Karratha to the Perth Redbacks ahead of their first clash since last year's preliminary final.

Geraldton won that match up at home but Joondalup earned a measure of revenge on Saturday night in a hotly contested match up.

In the end, the Wolfpack closed the game scoring nine of the last 11 points including a strong finish from Bryan Michaels, dunk from Quintin Dove and three-pointer from CJ Turnage.

The nine-point win improves the Wolves to a 2-2 record on the season with new import Dove outstanding with 34 points, 14 rebounds and two steals including going 14/16 at the free-throw line highlighting his aggressiveness.

Turnage added 187 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, Michaels 15 points, five boards and three assists, and Mathiang Muo 13 points, three rebounds and two assists against the team he played with a season ago.

Zac Gattorna delivered 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Buccaneers, Aaron Ralph 14 points and three boards, Malik Meunier 13 points, four assists, three steals, three rebounds and two blocks, Liam Hunt 11 points and four boards, and Shaun Stewart 10 points and eight assists.

Suns beat Slammers for double win weekend

The Kalamunda Eastern Suns made it a double win weekend by beating the South West Slammers 71-62 on Saturday night at Eaton Recreation Centre.

The Eastern Suns opened the round beating the Joondalup Wolves on Friday before backing that up with the nine-point win over the undefeated Slammers on Saturday on the back of a 22-point to 15 fourth quarter.

Kalamunda is now 3-1 to start life under new coach Aaron Trahair with Joe Cook-Green putting up 14 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.

Brendan Dinardo added 13 points and five rebounds, Albert Almanza 11 points, eight rebounds and four steals, 495-game veteran Seb Salinas 11 points and four rebounds, and returning big man Rob Huntington eight points and four boards.

Buay Tuach top-scored for the Slammers with 15 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists with Ben Stevens contributing nine points, five rebounds and two assists, and Cory Richardson eight points and six rebounds.

BUAY TUACH WINDMILL SLAM ?

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Hawks deliver huge comeback win over Redbacks

The Perry Lakes Hawks came storming home to overrun the Perth Redbacks to win 82-80 on Saturday night at Belmont Oasis.

The Redbacks were fresh off a win in Karratha over Geraldton last Saturday while the Hawks lost their first game of the season on Friday to Willetton setting the stage for a fascinating Saturday night contest.

By three quarter-time, the Redbacks had opened up a handy 67-56 lead but the Hawks came storming home and eventually a brilliant bounce pass from Hawks games record holder Ben Purser found former Redback Lewis Thomas for the layup.

That gave Perry Lakes the 82-80 lead and that remained the final score when Bryton Hobbs' off balance attempted game winner came up short for the Redbacks.

Former two-time All-First Team member Daniel Alexander finished with 16 points and six rebounds for Perry Lakes with Mitch Clarke adding 15 points and three assists, Lewis Thomas nine points and seven rebounds, and Nick Floyd nine points and four boards.

Tevin Jackson ended up with 20 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Redbacks while Bryton Hobbs added 20 points, four boards and two assists with both up against their former teams.

Former Joondalup pair Maris Colton contributed 14 points and three rebounds, and Joel Vaiangina 13 points and six boards.

 

Walker inspires Flames to huge second half against Eagles

The defending champion Rockingham Flames continue to look unstoppable to start the 2023 season after a 110-89 Saturday night win on the road to the East Perth Eagles.

On the back of romping to not only win a first NBL1 West championship last season but also the National Championship, Rockingham has started 2023 ominously and coming into Saturday night, already had recorded wins over Willetton, Joondalup and Cockburn.

Meanwhile, East Perth had yet to win this season with first up losses to the Hawks and Wolves, and it was more of the same from the Flames on Saturday at Herb Graham Recreation Centre.

That was despite a quiet first half from MVP Devondrick Walker which helped the Eagles to lead 47-39 at the break. However, Walker got rolling in the second half and so did the Flames to outscore East Perth 71 to 42 to end up winning by 21.

Walker had a huge second half on his way to 28 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals with 5/11 shooting from three-point range with new import Jeremy Combs adding 23 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals on 11/13 shooting.

Marshall Nelson added 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals, Tom Jervis 13 points, 12 boards, nine assists and three blocks, and Ryan Godfrey 14 points.

Sebit Reath finished with 23 points and seven rebounds for East Perth with Justin King contributing 18 points and four boards, Taylor Young 16 points and five assists, and Jarrad Anastasio 11 points.

Armour uses experience to lead Lightning over Giants

The Lakeside Lightning scored their first win of the season on Friday and backed it up in a spectacular evening against the Goldfields Giants on Saturday.

After losing their first three games of the season under new coach Mike Malat, Lakeside broke through to beat the Cockburn Cougars on Friday and were back at home on Saturday to host the travelling Giants.

Goldfields had won its only game so far of the season at home to Mandurah back in the opening round, and both the Lightning and Giants put on quite the show in their Round 3 match up.

By the end of the night, there had been highlights galore with spectacular plays at and above the rim from Hayden Brown and Lafonzo Smith in particular, but in the end the major difference was Lakeside's veteran point guard.

Kyle Armour has returned to the Lightning for his second stint at the club this season and showed all of his class and used his 275 games of his experience to lead Lakeside to the 103-100 victory.

The Lightning ended up shooting 18/37 from three-point range in the win with Armour knocking down 6/7 for 32 points and five assists in just 26 minutes of court time.

Brown also delivered 27 points and six rebounds for the Lightning, Daniel Green 10 points and three boards, and Cairns Taipans development player Josh Davey nine points and 15 rebounds.

Despite the loss, there was a lot to like for the Giants with Michael Dupree finishing with 27 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals, and hitting 6/10 from downtown.

Smith added 22 points, four rebounds and three steals, Kon Anguik 19 points, six boards, four assists and four steals, and Mayo Malek 12 points and three rebounds.