The Kalamunda Eastern Suns women are within one game of top spot after an impressive 75-63 overtime victory over the Willetton Tigers.

It was a battle between two teams boasting impressive records, the Suns undefeated at home (7-0 going into the game) and the road-warrior Tigers undefeated away (5-0 going into the game).

Both teams opened the game well but an 11-2 Willetton run opened up a nice 10 point buffer late in the first quarter, only for Rachel Mueggenborg to cut the deficit to 7 with a late three point basket.

The Suns came out to play in the second, wittling the deficit down and opening up their own 4 point lead late in the quarter, though this time it was Willetton’s Antonia Edmondson who scored a late three pointer to reduce the Suns lead to 1 at the half, 36-35.

The third quarter belonged to the Suns, opening up an 8 point buffer on the back of some great Jennie Rintala shooting. The final quarter instead was all Willetton, slowly edging away at the Suns’ lead and eventually tying the scores at 61-61 on the back of another Edmondson three pointer.

Captain Ajay Jones had the chance to win the game for the Suns but her two point attempt missed and the ball was in Edmondson’s hands once again in the dying seconds, but this time her three point shot missed and overtime beckoned.

Rintala and Jones dominated the overtime period for the Suns, Rintala scoring her team’s first 8 points and Jones knocked down some crucial free throws to put the margin into double digits and the result beyond doubt.

Jones had 13 points and 10 assists and was just 2 rebounds short of a triple-double, with 8 boards. Jennie Rintala was the stand-out amongst all players on court with 26 points at a 10/17 clip of from the field along with 11 rebounds.

In the men’s game, many would have considered the result a foregone conclusion, the Suns, missing superstar centre Luke Nevill, up against Willetton boasting two imports and playing for a spot in the top 8.

The game demonstrated to all in Western Australian basketball, that Coach Kuhn has got his exciting, developing and up and coming squad prepared to battle and compete right to the end and anyone can underestimate them at their own peril.

The scoreboard at the end of the game showed Willetton with a 116-108 victory, but the Suns can take great confidence having matched the Tigers for all but two or three minutes in the final quarter.

So pleased with the effort, the Suns vocal and loyal supporters who had packed the ‘furnace’ to cheer them, gave the team a standing ovation at the end of the game. Ben Smith led all scorers with 35 points, Joel Questel had 20 and Louis Timms had 16.

Next week the Suns have a big double header, starting with Friday night assignments against the Perry Lakes Hawks, the women’s game starting at 6.30pm and the men’s at 8.30pm at the State Basketball Centre.

24 hours later the Suns will be back at home, at the ‘furnace’ (Ray Owen Sport Centre) against the Rockingham Flames, with game times the same as above. Get along and support the exciting Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

-Game Notes

WSBL

Interesting to note that Craig Mansfield’s side matched their entire fourth quarter effort of 14 points in the five minute overtime period.

-Willetton were playing without star Melissa Marsh.

-Willetton coach Brad Spicer received a technical foul late in the overtime period.

-Suns import Jennie Rintala notched another solid double-double effort, 26pts and 11 rebounds. Rintala is one of the stand-out players in this years WSBL.

-The Suns now have a 10-4 record, half a game behind league leader’s Wanneroo (10-3). Willetton sit a further game behind with a 9-4 record.

 

MSBL

-The Suns were playing without superstar centre and league scoring leader Luke Nevill, who was away on international duty with Australian Boomers.

-Suns veteran Russell Haxby played his 245^th all-time SBL game.

-Willetton import Brandon Adams had a big night with 30 points and 8 rebounds. Fellow import Quinn McDowell had 23 points and 9 rebounds.

-Round 11 Newcomer of the Week, Louis Timms had a game-high 5 blocks.

Article by Steve Trajeski
Photo by Theresa Marshall