West Recap | Round 7 Friday

Image credit: @m.clarkmedia | Madeleine Clark

Marena Whittle, Natalie Chou and Daniel Raber came up huge in thrilling NBL1 West wins for Rockingham Flames, Perth Redbacks and Cockburn Cougars with Lochlan Cummings and Travis Durnin shining in men's triumphs.

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WEST RECAP | ROUND 7 THURSDAY

WOMEN

Warwick Senators (82) lost to Cockburn Cougars (88)

The two hottest teams in the NBL1 West locked horns and it was the Cockburn Cougars who stayed undefeated with Daniel Raber, Ruby Porter and Steph Gorman all shining in the 88-82 win over the Warwick Senators.

On the back of playing in the last two grand finals and winning a maiden championship in 2023, the Cougars have started 2025 on fire even under new coach Russell Hann winning all six matches by an average of 27 points.

Friday night always looked like being their biggest challenge so far, though, up against a Senators team having won five straight games themselves and to be sitting in second position.

The Senators were also at home at Warwick Stadium as well and the home team made an enterprising start with a 24-17 lead already by quarter-time.

Both teams only scored 14 points each in the second quarter with the Senators shooting 4/13 and the Cougars 4/21 including missing all nine three-point attempts.

Warwick were still leading 38-31 by half-time but then it was the Cougars who were first to break the shackles in the third term and it was Ruby Porter the spark in just her second appearance this season.

On the back of her three-point shooting, Cockburn went 6/11 from downtown in the third term and put up 30 points to turn that seven-point half-time deficit into a two-point three quarter-time lead.

Warwick weren’t going down without a fight, though, and they were back up five with Kiara Waite knocking down a three-point bomb with six minutes to play to put the home team up five.

They were still up four when two-time MVP Stacey Barr hit a triple soon after but the Cougars were able to turn the game back their way one last time starting with a huge three from Jaya Scafidi that levelled scores up.

Barr returned Warwick to the lead but Daniel Raber made a huge three with a minute to play that had the Cougars leading by two with Raber then scoring once more on an offensive rebound and put back.

That ended being the crucial play in the game with the Cougars sealing the deal thanks to clutch free throws from both Jewel Williams and Porter to secure the six-point victory.

Cockburn has now started the 2025 season with seven straight victories and if that's not scary enough, championship winning centre Jessie Edwards is still to come in for the first time this campaign.

Fresh off her WNBL season with Geelong United, Daniel Raber continues to star for the Cougars and she put up another 23 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots.

Ruby Porter starred in her second game with the Cougars too making 4/8 from behind the three-point arc for 20 points and five assists with Sarah Mortensen adding 17 points and eight rebounds before fouling out.

Steph Gorman put in a tremendous showing too with 12 points, 11 assists, eight steals and five rebounds with Jewel Williams contributing nine points, four boards and three assists.

The Senators are now 6-2 on the season with their five-game winning streak coming to an end but they do still have triple championship winning defensive menace Emma Gandini to join in 2025.

Stacey Barr finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for Warwick with Chloe Forster adding 16 points, eight boards and four assists, Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard 14 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, Nat Burton 11 points and five boards, and Kiara Waite 11 points and eight rebounds.

WARWICK SENATORS 82 (Barr 20, Forster 16, Clinch Hoycard 14)

COCKBURN COUGARS 88 (Raber 23, Porter 20, Gorman 12)

South West Slammers (76) lost to Rockingham Flames (79)

For the second time in the space of six days the South West Slammers went ever so close to a second win of 2025, but the Rockingham Flames prevailed 79-76 with Marena Whittle hitting the game clinching basket in her first appearance.

Both teams came into the Friday night match up at Eaton Recreation Centre having won just once so far this season and while for the Slammers that wasn’t unusual for a team that had lost 52 straight matches since then, it wasn’t the start to the championship defence the Flames were after.

However, a lot of that was purely down to personnel and Friday night marked the first time that Whittle was in the line-up following the conclusion of her recent season in Spain playing for Estudiantes.

After going ever so close to a second win of the season back on Saturday night also at home to the Joondalup Wolves, the Slammers took the challenge right up to the Flames from the outset and were leading 21-18 by the end of the first quarter.

South West even managed to open up a seven-point lead in the second frame but Rockingham were able to hit back and by half-time the Slammers were just clinging to the 44-43 advantage.

No more than four points separated the two teams during the third quarter before the Flames did appear to be in control when up seven with six minutes to go after a bucket to 279-game championship winning veteran Jess Jakens.

Mykea Gray responded with four quick points for the Slammers before she knocked down a three-pointer to tie scores up, and then Bree Chalk put the home team back in front with three minutes on the clock.

Marena Whittle responded in her first game of the season with a pair of free throws before Jakens went 1/2 at the stripe to give Rockingham the one-point lead with just over a minute to play.

When the Flames got a stop up one end, Whittle hit the biggest shot of the night up the other to give the defending champions the three-point lead and that would remain the final margin.

Rockingham improves to a 2-5 record as defending champions after the win with Whittle ending up with 25 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals on 5/9 three-point shooting in her first appearance of the season.

Georgia Pineau was playing her third game of 2025 after being part of last year's championship and produced 27 points, seven rebounds and three assists with Jess Jakens contributing nine points, five boards and four assists.

The Slammers are now 1-7 having lost seven straight since that first win of the season with import guard Mykea Gray top-scoring with 19 points to go with seven assists, five steals and four rebounds.

Cayla King added 17 points, three rebounds and two assists, Alexis Donovan 10 points and seven boards, and Addison Edwards 10 points and six rebounds.

SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 76 (Gray 19, King 17, Donovan 10, Edwards 10)

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 79 (Pineau 27, Whittle 25, Jakens 9)

Lakeside Lightning (84) lost to Perth Redbacks (86)

Natalie Chou scored the last six points of the game with the Perth Redbacks coming from behind after Teige Morrell fouled out for the Lakeside Lightning to end up winning 86-84.

The Redbacks arrived at Lakeside Recreation Centre not having lost this season with Anneli Maley in the line-up before and after her time in WNBA training camp with the LA Sparks, and they looked to keep that going on Friday night.

Lakeside were attempting to bounce back from a loss last Saturday night away to the Willetton Tigers and the Lightning made the fast start racing out to a 12-point lead in the first term.

However, by quarter-time the Redbacks had closed that deficit back to three before the Lightning pulled away once more in the second term with 26 points to 19 to go into the half-time interval leading 53-43.

It was the turn of the Redbacks to start finding their range in the third quarter as they knocked down 5/8 from three-point range with the Lightning going 0/9 for Perth to outscore them 28 points to 18 to have scores all level by three quarter-time.

Lakeside were back out to a four-point lead when Oceane Kounkou hit a three-pointer with two minutes to go before Natalie Chou made a tough basket inside for the Redbacks.

She also drew the fifth foul on reigning MVP Teige Morrell at the same time taking her out of the game for Lakeside before Chou made the extra at the foul line to make it a one-point ball game with a minute to play.

The Redbacks got another stop and then Chou scored again to put the visitors in front before Sam Lubcke was called for an offensive foul on swinging her arms that appeared to connect on Patty Brossmann's nose for the Redbacks.

Chou was fouled again up the other end and made one at the stripe but the Lightning did have one more chance but Kennedi Williams' three-point attempt wouldn’t go and the Redbacks prevailed thanks to the last six points of the game from Chou.

Perth improves to a 5-2 record on the season with the win with Chou finishing with 23 points, seven rebounds and two assists including her match-winning last couple of minutes.

Anneli Maley provide another 19 points, 15 rebounds, four steals and two assists, Patty Brossmann 12 points, four boards, three assists and two steals, and Georgia Denehey 12 points, five assists and four rebounds.

The Lightning are now 4-5 having lost their past couple of games with Teige Morrell providing 17 points, 15 rebounds and three assists on 8/13 shooting before fouling out.

Sam Lubcke also had 17 points, five rebounds and three assists with Kennedi Williams contributing 16 points and eight assists, Oceane Kounkou 14 points and five rebounds, and Sarah Allen 10 points, six boards and four assists.

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 84 (Morrell 17, Lubcke 17, Williams 16)

PERTH REDBACKS 86 (Chou 23, Maley 19, Brossmann 12, Denehey 12)

MEN

Warwick Senators (98) defeated Cockburn Cougars (76)

Elijah Pepper and the Warwick Senators shook off a slow start at home to come away with another emphatic 98-76 victory over the Cockburn Cougars to stay unbeaten to start 2025.

The Senators were back home at Warwick Stadium with Pepper back in the line-up after playing the three games last week with the Australian Boomers in the Trans-Tasman Throwdown to see if he could keep up his numbers of 43.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists.

While they welcomed back Pepper, they were without coach Andrew Cooper who is currently in California to be on hand to witness his daughter, Jesni, graduating from Menlo College.

Assistant coach Daniel Vlahov will take charge for Warwick's two games this weekend and his team got off to the worst possible start with the Cougars scoring the game's first 10 points topped off with a three ball to Terrandus Smith.

Vlahov had to call a timeout inside the first three minutes and it worked with Brody England scoring five quick points and by quarter-time already the Senators had worked their way on top to lead 21-19.

Warwick then blew the game open during the second quarter by going on a 17-0 scoring run that included a couple of triples to Pepper while Cooper Creek also knocked down another.

The Senators went into half-time leading 44-35 but the Cougars had done well to hold a team averaging 111 points to just the 44 in the opening half.

Warwick put up another 31 points in the third term and made 6/12 from behind the three-point arc but Cockburn were doing well to stay within striking distance by putting up 25 points themselves.

However, the longer the game went and the firepower of the Senators shined further through and the home team delivered another 23 points to 16 in the last term before they kept their undefeated record intact with the 22-point win.

The victory improves the Senators to a perfect 8-0 record on the season ahead of playing the Perth Redbacks on Saturday where Cody Ellis is expected to return from a calf injury.

Elijah Pepper might have shot just 5/16 from three for the game but still finished with an impressive stat-line of 32 points, 11 assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Brody England also produced 19 points and three rebounds for the Senators, Todd Withers 13 points, six boards and four steals, and Cooper Creek nine points, nine rebounds and three assists.

The Cougars are now 1-7 following the loss with Terrandus Smith putting in a standout performance in just his fourth appearance with 31 points, 18 rebounds and three assists on 12/23 shooting from the field, 5/11 from downtown and 2/2 at the foul line.

Nathan Pond also had 15 points and nine rebounds, returning import point guard Kortland Martin eight points and three assists despite 0/5 three-point shooting, and Chan Nai eight points and two rebounds.

WARWICK SENATORS 98 (Pepper 32, England 19, Withers 13)

COCKBURN COUGARS 76 (Smith 31, Pond 15, Nai 8, Martin 8)

South West Slammers (83) lost to Rockingham Flames (116)

For two and-a-half quarters the South West Slammers were sticking with the Rockingham Flames but the second placed visitors soon took over to make it six straight wins with the eventual 116-83 victory.

It did appear a mismatch coming into the Friday night match up at Eaton Recreation Centre with the Flames full of talent and experience, and on a five-game winning streak having lost just once so far in 2025.

They were up against the lone winless team left in the NBL1 West as the Slammers were at home but having coming off a heartbreaking game they perhaps should have been able to secure also on their home floor on Saturday night to the Joondalup Wolves.

South West had been playing better basketball than a 0-7 record suggested but it was still going to be a whole different challenge trying to take it up the hot Flames.

Rockingham were just clinging to a 22-18 lead by the end of the first quarter and while the Flames did manage to lead by as much as eight points in the second term, by half-time it was just a 51-47 advantage with 7/15 free-throw shooting for the half not helping the cause of the visitors.

The Slammers were still staying in the contest through the first half of the third quarter, but then Rockingham began to put its foot down and ended up putting up 31 points for the term on 11/18 shooting to be leading by as much as 16 points.

Rockingham then went on a 13-0 scoring run in the fourth frame to blow the game completely open for good and the lead got out to 34 points before the Flames secured the 33-point triumph.

The win sees Rockingham improve to an 8-1 record having now won six straight matches with Travis Durnin returning to the floor he started his career on back in 2016 with 21 points and five rebounds on 4/5 three-point shooting in his 199th game in the league.

New import Laquinton Ross continues to fit in nicely and top-scored with 24 points to go with 12 rebounds on 12/17 shooting with Isaac White adding 19 points, eight boards and five assists, Emmett Naar 15 points and seven assists, and Jervon Pressley nine points, seven rebounds and two assists.

South West remains the only winless team in the league at 0-8 despite the best efforts of Jamal Poplar who produced 28 points and 10 rebounds on 8/17 shooting from the floor, 4/7 from downtown and 8/10 at the foul line.

Fellow import Calvin Whipple struggled once again, though, with just nine points on 3/9 shooting while Devan Craig added 13 points, four rebounds and four steals, and Pharell Keats eight points and six assists.

SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 83 (Poplar 28, Craigh 13, Whipple 9, Richardson 9)

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 116 (Ross 24, Durnin 21, White 19)

Lakeside Lightning (74) lost to Perth Redbacks (89)

Both teams were needing a win and missing key players, but it was two-time championship winner Lochlan Cummings who was the difference hitting seven threes as the Perth Redbacks beat the Lakeside Lightning 89-74.

The Lightning were at home at Lakeside Recreation Centre trying to win just a third game of the season but would have to try and do so in the continued absence of starting point guard Rowan Mackenzie through a nasty hamstring injury.

The Redbacks also were hunting a third win of the season and trying to snap a four-game losing streak but not only were without star combo guard Joe Cook-Green for a fourth straight matches, but also Callan McDonald who had been averaging 21 points and 12.5 rebounds the past two games.

The Redbacks dominated the opening and Cockburn and Perry Lakes championship winning guard Lochlan Cummings was proving the difference in his first season back in the NBL1 West following his team at the Albury-Wodonga Bandits.

He helped Perth make 4/8 from downtown in the first quarter on the way to outscoring the Lightning 25-12 and still by half-time the Redbacks were leading 46-36.

That lead got out to as much as 20 points too for the Redbacks in the third quarter and they did retain a degree of control throughout the second half before securing the eventual 15-point victory.

As a result of the win, the Redbacks improve to a 3-5 record on the season having snapped their four-match losing slide ahead of now taking on the undefeated Warwick Senators on Saturday at Belmont Oasis.

Lochlan Cummings had one of the best of his 105 games in the NBL1 West across four clubs now with 31 points and 13 rebounds on 7/9 three-point shooting.

Emmanuel Kanwei added 16 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two blocks, Jonah Underwood 13 points, 10 boards and two assists, and Carl Aylett 10 points and two assists on 3/7 from behind the three-point line.

The Lightning have now lost their past two games to sit at 2-7 on the season with energetic import big man AJ Wilson finishing with 21 points, five rebounds and five blocked shots.

Fellow import Isaiah Lewis finished with 17 points, five assists and four rebounds with Justin Bennett knocking down six threes on his way to 18 points while Josh Davey pulled down 16 boards to go with three points and three assists.

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 74 (Wilson 21, Bennett 18, Lewis 17)

PERTH REDBACKS 89 (Cummings 31, Kanwei 16, Underwood 13)