It was a big night in women's and men's SBL action for both the East Perth Eagles and Wanneroo Wolves as they recorded impressive wins over the South West Slammers and Cockburn Cougars respectively.

The defending men's SBL champion Cougars went down to the Australian Belt Scrapers Wolves at Wally Hagan Stadium with the women's Wolves also proving too good for the Cougars.

The People's Choice Eagles racked up a massive score beating the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 119-92 at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre while the Toll Ipec Eagles won in the women's clash over the Slammers as well 67-55.

Those was the only two women's matches played on Saturday night, but there were two other men's clashes with the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 101-86 at Active West Stadium, and the Southlands Boulevarde Willetton Tigers downing the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 104-96 at Kalgoorlie's Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium.

The Wanneroo men's team made a statement to the rest of the SBL that it was ready to contend for a championship again even with Brad Robbins and Greg Hire not currently available because of Perth Wildcats duties.

The Wolves took the best shots that the defending champion Cougars could fire but still prevailed impressively 107-88 on the back of a dominant second half where they outscored Cockburn 57-38.

Damian Matacz top-scored for the Wolfpack with 26 points to go with eight boards and two blocks. Robert Huntington added 24 points, Seb Salinas 18, Trian Iliadis 17 (plus 11 assists and 11 rebounds in a triple-double performance) and Reece Maxwell 12.

Fresh off gaining some experience in the NBL with the Wildcats, Gavin Field was terrific for Cockburn with 26 points and 11 rebounds on an efficient 11-of-17 from the field. Fellow Wildcat Damien Scott had 21 points, 14 rebounds and six assists as well with David Reichel throwing in 21 points.

The Buccaneers were far too strong for the Eastern Suns at home recording a 33-point win after holding Kalamunda to just 21 second half points.

Matt Wunderberg had 21 points and 15 boards for Geraldton with Aaron Ralph adding 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Robert Kampman had 14 points and 14 rebounds, Daniel Thomas 13 points, seven boards, six assists and three steals, and Mark Heron a triple-double with 10 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.

Jake Withers top-scored for Kalamunda with 16 points with Ben Smith adding 11 and Louis Timms 10 (and 10 rebounds).

Willetton travelled to Kalgoorlie and got the eight-point win over Goldfields thanks to a 34-21 final period.

Quinn McDowell was outstanding for the Tigers finishing with 36 points including a massive 16-of-20 from the charity stripe. Kyle Armour chimed in with 21 points and 10 assists with Simon Lokan having 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Adam Nener 10 points.

Steven Weingarten hit 33 points and pulled in 10 boards for the Giants with Markhuri Sanders-Frison adding 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, and Matthew Leske and Lordan Franich had 10 points apiece.

The Eagles turned on a clinic at home in the second half hitting 63 points to end up beating the Slammers by 27.

Former NBL veteran sharpshooter Drew Williamson led the way with 25 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals while shooting 8-of-14 from the field and 5-of-9 from three-point range.

He had plenty of help with Tom Jervis hitting 22 points and pulling in 15 boards, Nikola Donlagic scoring 22 points and Jarrod Balcombe 13.

Clive Weedon had 25 points and 11 rebounds for South West with Jamahr Warren adding 19 points, Ty Harrelson 18 (10 rebounds, seven assists) and Wade Hitchcock 11.

In women's action, East Perth finished strongly outscoring South West 41-29 after half-time to win by 12.

Nicole Jorre St Jorre scored 20 points to go with six rebounds and three assists with Amy Chinnery adding 13 points and Denielle Lipscombe 12 (and 10 boards.).

Lauren Jeffers and Bianca Donovan scored 15 points apiece for the Slammers with Jemma Stallard adding 11.

Wanneroo started on fire against Cockburn and then held on in the end to win 69-58 with Casey Lockwood hitting 22 points and pulling in nine rebounds. Nikita-Lee Martin had 17 points and Shani Amos 10.

Emma Pass top-scored for Cockburn with 17 points and had strong support with 16 points and 16 rebounds from Stephanie Jones. Kate Fielding also scored 12 points.

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Helen Theoharakis (Hoop Shots)