West Recap | Preliminary Finals Saturday

Image credit: Michael Farnell (Sports Imagery)

Cockburn Cougars again asserted their dominance while Warwick Senators showed great heart to set up NBL1 West women's Grand Final while Senators men advanced after a classic over Rockingham Flames with Cooper Creek the hero.

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CLARKE HOPES SUCCESS KEEPS FOLLOWING HIM

WOMEN

Cockburn Cougars (81) defeated Perry Lakes Hawks (54)

Sometimes you can only judge someone's true value in their absence and that was on show with Jessie Edwards dominating the first half for Cockburn with Perry Lakes Hawks sorely missing Megan McKay with the Cougars staying perfect in 2025 to win 81-54.

On the back of playing in the last two NBL1 West Grand Finals and winning a first ever women's championship back in 2023, the Cougars have dominated the competition so far in 2025 ahead of hosting Saturday's preliminary final at Wally Hagan Stadium.

Cockburn won every game of the regular season to become the first women's team to do so since Perry Lakes in 2000 before then advancing straight to a home preliminary final with a thrilling two-point qualifying final win over the defending champion Rockingham Flames.

Perry Lakes, meanwhile, has always had the potential to be a championship contending team this season when at full strength but that has proved decidedly difficult.

The Hawks still qualified for finals from sixth position before then beating the Willetton Tigers to open the finals and then beating the third ranked Perth Redbacks on Thursday night in the semi-final.

They had won both those first finals without star centre Megan McKay even though they had welcomed back WNBL stars Jayda Clark and Alex Fowler, but her absence was sorely felt on Saturday in the preliminary final.

Jessie Edwards and McKay have formed quite the rivalry as two standout West Australian centres throughout their careers, but it was Edwards who was able to dominate in the first half for Cockburn with McKay not there for Perry Lakes.

The Hawks did stun the Cougars in the opening four minutes racing out to a 10-1 start, but Cockburn were able to respond to be leading 20-17 by quarter-time and then took over further in the second half.

The Cougars produced 21 points to nine in the term and by half-time were leading 41-26 by the main break. The difference between the two teams had been Edwards with the Cockburn centre producing 15 of her team's 41 points to go with six rebounds on 7/8 shooting.

Edwards then scored the first four points of the second half and the tone was set for the second half. The Cougars finished off with 26 points to 13 in the fourth term for the 27-point win to advance to a third straight Grand Final having never previously played in one on the women's side.

The Cougars have now won all 22 matches so far of 2025 while scoring an average of  98 points and with an average winning margin of 32 as they head into the Grand Final looking to complete the job.

Jessie Edwards ended the night with 23 points, seven rebounds and three blocks on 8/9 field goal shooting and going 7/8 at the foul line.

Sarah Mortensen also ended up with 14 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists, Daniel Raber 12 points, 13 boards, five assists and three steals, Ruby Porter 11 points and two rebounds, Jewel Williams nine points, eight boards and three assists, and Steph Gorman eight points and four steals.

It will forever be a season of what ifs for Perry Lakes because had they been at full strength for any length of time, there's no saying what they could have been fully capable of under the guidance coach Craig Mansfield.

Alex Fowler finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds with Jayda Clark adding 14 points and three boards, Grace Stone eight points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists, and Mia Satie seven points and five rebounds.

COCKBURN COUGARS 81 (Edwards 23, Mortensen 14, Raber 12)

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 54 (Fowler 17, Clark 14, Stone 8)

Warwick Senators (68) defeated Mandurah Magic (59)

A fairytale for the Mandurah Magic veterans was briefly on the cards late but with Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard continuing her career-best form, the shorthanded Warwick Senators won through to the Grand Final with the 68-59 victory.

The Senators have occupied a top two spot for the majority of 2025 but early on that was while awaiting the arrival of Emma Gandini and Robbi Ryan, and hoping that Perth Lynx WNBL forward Kiara Waite would get right.

In the end, Gandini and Ryan only played nine and three games respectively before injuries just before the end of the regular season, and Waite only ever played four matches.

Then the biggest blow of all was the loss of Chloe Forster to an ankle injury with five games remaining. She was still named to the All-First Team showing her quality but then unsuccessfully returned in the qualifying final win against the Perth Redbacks.

So the Senators were back at home at Warwick Stadium for Saturday night's preliminary final without Gandini, Forster and Ryan, but Waite did make a surprise return for her first appearance since May 17.

They were playing host to a Mandurah team who had finished the regular season in fifth position before beating the East Perth Eagles at home last Saturday and then backing up with a stirring win on the road to the defending champion Rockingham Flames on Thursday.

The Magic women have reached five SBL/NBL1 West Grand Finals while yet to win one with the league's games record holder Casey Mihovilovich having played in all of them while retiring former captain Rachel Halleen had hopes of the fairytale finish.

It was a tight and tense opening quarter with just the 24 points between the two teams with Warwick leading 13-11 by quarter-time with shooting 4/24 opposed to the 4/16 from the Magic.

The Senators were able to open up an eight-point lead in the second quarter but the Magic worked back into the game and ended up winning the term 18 to 16 leaving scores all tied at 29-29 by half-time with neither team finding much of an offensive groove.

The third quarter was where Warwick made the break on their home floor by scoring 15 consecutive points and holding Mandurah to just five points on 2/15 shooting for the entire 10 minutes.

That saw the Senators leading 48-34 by three quarter-time and the Magic had a lot of work to do, but they were up to the task of making a game of it with a Grand Final spot up for grabs.

Having only scored 34 points up to that stage, the Magic put up 13 points in-a-row over the course of two minutes early in the last quarter and suddenly they had all the momentum and it was just a six-point ball game.

After Stacey Barr briefly steadied Warwick, McKenna Dale had the Magic back within three with Claire Jacobs also knocking down a three ball.

But Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard just wasn't going to let the Senators lose. Not only did she score eight quick points with a couple of triples, she was diving all over the floor too for loose balls.

On the back of that, Warwick held firm for the nine-point victory to advance to a Grand Final in an achievement that deserves to be celebrated given the fact they did it without three of the best guards in the country – Emma Gandini, Chloe Forster and Robbi Ryan.

Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard delivered 24 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks and two steals in the win for the Senators with two-time MVP and captain Stacey Barr producing 23 points, 10 boards and five assists.

Isabelle Miotti added nine points, nine rebounds and two steals, Nat Burton three points, nine boards, three assists and two blocks, and Kyana Weir five points, four rebounds and two assists.

Mandurah's season is now over and so is the 403-game career of former captain Rachel Halleen ahead of her move to Karratha to live in 2026.

Time will tell if the legend herself Casey Mihovilovich plays on as well but there's no physical reason for her not to. She still had two points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals in her 596th game.

Claire Jacobs once again top-scored for the Magic with 23 points and five rebounds with McKenna Dale adding 14 points, 15 boards, three assists, three steals and three blocks, Tina Stephens eight points and 10 rebounds, and Grace Berg eight points, four boards and four steals.

WARWICK SENATORS 68 (Clinch Hoycard 24, Barr 23, Miotti 9)

MANDURAH MAGIC 59 (Jacobs 23, Dale 14, Berg 8, Stephens 8)

MEN

Warwick Senators (99) defeated Rockingham Flames (97)

The MVP and runner-up MVP combined for 71 points showing their brilliance and with both teams looking like championship contenders all season, it was only fitting they played out a classic with Cooper Creek hitting the game winner as the Warwick Senators beat the Rockingham Flames 99-97.

Throughout much of the 2025 season the Flames and Senators occupied the top two positions in the standings and they also possessed the best two players in the league, Rockingham's Isaac White and Warwick's Elijah Pepper.

Both were desperate to try and win their team a championship before embarking on their NBL26 seasons at the Adelaide 36ers and Perth Wildcats respectively as well, and there was every reason to expect a classic preliminary final on Saturday night at Warwick Stadium.

The Senators did slip to third position by the end of the season but still had an 18-4 record before a stunning road win last Saturday night in Geraldton to earn the hosting rights for the preliminary final.

Rockingham finished in top spot with a 19-3 record but gave up 121 points to lose at home to the Willetton Tigers last Saturday before beating the East Perth Eagles after an early scare at home also in Thursday night's semi-final.

Only one of the teams would advance to the Grand Final next Saturday night at RAC Arena, though, and a packed house at Warwick Stadium was on hand.

The Senators had the better of the start by knocking down seven three-pointers in the first quarter on the back of attempting 16 of them to the four from the Flames and Warwick were leading 29-19 by quarter-time.

Warwick's lead got out to as much as 11 points in the second quarter and they were still leading 52-42 by half-time on the back of shooting 12/28 from three-point territory to the 1/9 from the Flames.

Rockingham turned that around in the third quarter and went 7/9 from downtown themselves with MVP Isaac White warming to the challenge and the Flames outscored the Senators 33 points to 24.

What the last quarter delivered was some of the most scintillating and dramatic basketball you're likely to see with the Senators clinging to just a one-point lead heading into it.

It didn't take Rockingham long to grab their first lead since the opening minutes when 352-game championship winning captain Ryan Godfrey knocked down a three-pointer.

Pepper and White then briefly exchanged big buckets and when the MVP hit another triple, Rockingham had all the momentum and were leading by six with five minutes to play.

It was fitting that it was a huge three from Pepper with 1:45 to play that brought scores back level but the biggest shot of the game came from a first-year Senators forward.

Having shared a starting spot with championship winning captain Cody Ellis all season, Cooper Creek had a moment to savour by hitting the three-pointer just before the buzzer that took Warwick from a point behind to two points in front, and into the Grand Final.

The Senators are now into a first Grand Final since Cody Ellis was captain and Mike Ellis was coach and they won the West Coast Classic in 2020.

Going back further than that and the Senators haven’t been in an SBL/NBL1 West Grand Final since losing to the Perth Redbacks in 1990, but they will be there next Saturday night against either the Geraldton Buccaneers or Willetton Tigers at RAC Arena.

MVP runner-up Elijah Pepper finished with 33 points, six rebounds and five assists in the win for the Senators while two-time championship winning point guard Mitch Clarke had 18 points, three assists and two steals.

Todd Withers had his work cut out guarding Isaac White for a lot of the night while also having 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists with Cooper Creek adding 12 points, eight boards, four assists and four blocks on top of that game winning shot.

Brody England came up huge in his 18 minutes off the bench too with 15 points and three rebounds with 3/6 three-point shooting.

It's a third straight harrowing finals exit now for Rockingham since winning the NBL1 West and National Finals championships in 2022.

In 2023, it was an overtime loss to the Joondalup Wolves in a home preliminary final, last year they gave up a big early lead in the semi-final against the Willetton Tigers, and now have lost a preliminary final as the No. 1 seed when leading with only a few seconds left.

MVP Isaac White was hounded all night by Defensive Player of the Year Todd Withers, but still had 38 points, six rebounds and three assists on 12/29 field goal shooting with 5/13 from downtown and 9/9 at the stripe.

Laquinton Ross added 22 points, 18 rebounds and two blocks, Emmett Naar 11 points, 12 assists and five boards, Tevin Jackson seven points and 10 rebounds, Ryan Godfrey seven points, two boards and two steals, and captain Justin Beard six points and four rebounds in game No. 250.

WARWICK SENATORS 99 (Pepper 33, Clarke 18, England 15)

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 97 (White 38, Ross 22, Naar 11)