THE massive WA Day long weekend of SBL action got underway on Friday night with the Cockburn Cougars and Mandurah Magic, and Kalamunda Eastern Suns and East Perth Eagles both splitting their men's and women's contests.

The two women's matches kicked off the weekend that continues on Saturday night and throughout Sunday before culminating in the men's and women's SBL All-Star games on WA Day Monday at Bendat Basketball Centre.

Those contests saw the Mandurah Magic women defeat the Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 71-41 at Wally Hagan Stadium and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns beat the Schweigen East Perth Eagles 85-62 at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

Then in the two corresponding men's matches on Friday night, the Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars beat the Mandurah Magic 131-90 at Wally Hagan Stadium and the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles defeated the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 118-105 at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

Starting with the women's matches, the Magic scored their third successive win downing the Cougars by 30 points with Mandurah now improving to an 11-3 record while Cockburn slips to 6-9.

Ashlee Sidebottom top-scored for the Magic with 21 points while Peyton Davis contributed 16 points and 13 rebounds while nailing 7-of-8 from the field.

Casey Mihovilovich also finished with 13 points, eight boards, three assists and two steals for the Magic while Shelley Boston contributed 10 points and four rebounds.

Taryn Priestly top-scored for the Cougars with 16 points in the absence of playing-coach Deanna Smith. Katie Loberg also added 11 points and eight rebounds for Cockburn but they didn’t get enough support.

The Eastern Suns then stretched their winning run to six and improved to a 7-5 record with a 23-point win over the Eagles who slip to 3-10 with the defeat.

Jessie Edwards led the way in the win for the Suns with 19 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots while shooting 5-of-10 from the field and 9-of-13 from the free-throw line.

Madeleine Dennis contributed 14 points and seven boards off the bench as well while hitting 5-of-8 from the floor, and 3-of-4 from three-point territory.

Melissa Moyle added 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots for Kalamunda as well while Abbey Duinker had nine points, six rebounds and four assists, Rebecca Motroni nine points and four boards, and Natalia Soli'ai nine points and seven rebounds.

Kelsey Maffin led the way and did all she could for the Eagles finishing the night with 19 points on the back of shooting 8-of-16 from the field.

Dannielle Devenny also finished with 16 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals for East Perth.

And then in the two men's matches on Friday night, the Cougars proved too good for the Magic winning by 41 points with the result seeing Cockburn join Mandurah now on a 10-6 record. The Cougars have won five on the trot now as a result.

Eric Milam was the star of the night for the Cougars with 27 points and four rebounds while hitting 12-of-19 from the field.

Najee Lane also contributed 21 points, six boards and five assists for Cockburn and Gavin Field 20 points, nine boards and four steals on the back of hitting 8-of-13 from the floor, and 3-of-6 from downtown.

Julian Pesava added 13 points and Grant Davey nine as well to go with four assists for the Cougars.

Taylor Mullenax ended up top-scoring for the Magic with 15 points and four rebounds with Paul Hafford adding 12 points and seven assists, Daniel Florance nine points and six rebounds, Jarrad Jackson nine points and Brendan Della eight points, seven boards and three assists.

The defending champion Eagles then won a second straight match to get off the bottom of the men's standings beating the Eastern Suns by 13 points.

Captain Drew Williamson had a monster night for the Eagles with 38 points, nine steals, seven assists and four rebounds while shooting 14-of-22 from the field, 4-of-10 from beyond the arc and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.

Sunday Dech also contributed 20 points, nine boards, four assists and three steals for East Perth while Rhys Vague finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and three assists, Andrej Donlagic 10 points and Jared Zornada 10 points.

Lien Phillip worked hard finishing with big numbers for the Eastern Suns with 29 points and 21 rebounds while shooting 13-of-22 from the floor. He also had 13 turnovers.

Kevin Anthony also had a good night for Kalamunda with 27 points, eight rebounds, three blocked shots, three assists and two steals with Jaarod Holmes contributing 17 points and six boards, and Geordie Murray 10 points.

FRIDAY WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 41 lost to Mandurah Magic 71
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 85 defeated Schweigen East Perth Eagles 62

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 131 defeated Mandurah Magic 90
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 105 lost to Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 118

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Grant Lauterbach