THE Willetton Tigers and Joondalup City Wolves women's and men's teams traded important SBL wins to open Week 13 action on Friday night while both Cockburn Cougars sides scored crucial victories over the Lakeside Lightning.

The action on Friday night got underway with four women's matches and that included the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames defeating the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 90-58 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex and the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers beating the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 71-65 at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

The Kalamunda Eastern Suns also beat the Perth Redbacks 75-56 at Curtin Stadium and the Soprano Designs won a low-scoring affair 51-36 over the Lakeside Lightning at Wally Hagan Stadium.

And in the four men's SBL matches on Friday night the Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames beat the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 99-93 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex and the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves had a big 105-77 win over the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

The Perth Redbacks also had a thumping 108-60 victory over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Curtin Stadium and the Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars beat the Lakeside Lightning 98-87 at Wally Hagan Stadium.

Starting with the women's action on Friday night, the Flames maintained top spot on the table with the defending champions scoring a commanding win over the Slammers at home.

The win improves Rockingham to a 12-1 record while South West slips to 6-8 but the Slammers remain in eighth position with a three-game advantage on the chasing teams.

Jacinta Bourne had a massive evening for the Flames with 27 points and eight rebounds while shooting 9-of-14 from the field, and 4-of-7 from three-point territory.

Darcee Garbin added 20 points, four boards and three assists as well for Rockingham with Samantha Whitcomb contributing 14 points and nine rebounds, and Talisia Bourne nine points and eight boards.

Deonica McCormick fought hard for the Slammers with 16 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals with Patricia Bright adding 14 points and 12 boards.

The Tigers and Wolves played out a thriller with Willetton ending up prevailing by six points to further tighten things up at the top of the women's standings.

The win sees the Tigers improve to a 12-2 record while the Lady Wolfpack falls to 12-3 with both just behind the league-leading Flames who are 12-1.

Lara Napier led the way for the Tigers finishing with 18 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals while nailing 6-of-10 from the floor.

Kate Malpass added 17 points, four boards, four assists and three steals as well for Willetton while Louella Tomlinson contributed 12 points, five rebounds and five assists, Zoe Harper 10 points, six boards and five blocked shots, and Lisa Wallbutton 10 points and 17 rebounds.

Rebecca Mercer finished with 13 points for the Wolves with Nikita-Lee Martin adding 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.

The Eastern Suns scored their sixth straight win beating the Redbacks at Curtin by 19 points with that victory seeing the Suns improve to an 8-5 record in fifth spot while Perth missed a chance to further close in on a top eight berth, now holding a 3-12 record.

Melissa Moyle ended up top-scoring for the Suns with 17 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots in a strong all-round performance.

Abbey Duinker added 16 points as well for the Eastern Suns while Jessie Edwards contributed 11 points, 15 rebounds and a massive eight blocked shots. Madeleine Dennis also finished with 11 points and four rebounds for Kalamunda.

Gabby O'Sullivan top-scored for the Redbacks with 18 points while Gaby Clayton finished with 13 points, 10 boards, four assists and three steals. Jess Jakens also finished with eight points and five boards for Perth.

The final women's match of Friday night saw the Cougars beat the Lightning by 15 points with the result seeing Cockburn improve to 7-9 while Lakeside still has just the one win for the 2015 season.

Abbie McDonald led the way for the Cougars off the bench finishing with 16 points and 13 rebounds with Katie Loberg adding 10 points, Alyce Roberts eight and Kristen Everard seven to go with eight rebounds.

Megan Craig was the only player for the Lightning to score in double-figures finishing with 11 points and eight rebounds while Ashleigh Grant added eight points and 16 boards.

Then in the men's action on Friday night, the Flames scored an important six-point win over the Slammers to further consolidate their spot in the top eight, maintaining touch with the teams in the top four.

Rockingham beat South West by six points to improve to a 9-7 record while the Slammers have now lost three of their last four games to slip to a 13-4 record to still be in third spot, but with less of an advantage on the chasing field.

Ryan Godfrey had a terrific night for the Flames finishing with 29 points and five rebounds while hitting 6-of-10 from beyond the three-point arc.

Cooper Land contributed 23 points and 14 boards for Rockingham with Taylor Land adding 16 points, six rebounds and six assists. Travis Moore also finished with seven points and six rebounds for the Flames, and Andrew Bowman six points, five boards and five assists.

Brian Voelkel again worked hard all night for the Slammers with a triple-double made up of 22 points, 23 rebounds, 10 assists and three steals.

Clive Weeden added 17 points and seven rebounds for South West with Ty Harrelson contributing 14 points, eight boards and four assists, and Trent Worthington 13 points, four rebounds and three assists.

The Wolves beat the Tigers in comprehensive fashion for the second time this season recording a 28-point victory at Willetton on Friday night.

The win maintains the Wolfpack's hold on top spot in the men's SBL standings with a 16-2 record while the Tigers fall to 10-7 to now begin losing touch with those teams in the top four.

Again it was an even contribution spread across the board that was the key to the strong performance from the Wolves with Trian Iliadis leading the way with 23 points, eight assists and five rebounds while hitting 6-of-11 from beyond the arc.

Kevin Davis also added 21 points, 14 rebounds, four steals, three blocked shots and two assists for the Wolfpack with captain Seb Salinas contributing 20 points and five boards.

Louis Timms made another solid contribution with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists with Rob Huntington adding 10 points, six boards and three assists, and Joel Questel eight points, seven assists and four rebounds.

Damien Scott top-scored for the Tigers with 20 points while Kyle Armour added 13 points and seven rebounds, Ephrem Davis 12 points and six boards, and Andrew Black 11 points.

The Redbacks put together their most dominant performance of the season thrashing the Eastern Suns by 48 points that sees Perth improve to a 6-11 record to close in on Lakeside in eighth position while Kalamunda falls to 2-14 to remain last.

Marshall Brown came up big for Redbacks finishing the night with 30 points and nine rebounds while shooting 13-of-21 from the field and 4-of-8 from three-point territory.

Fellow import Ray Turner added 24 points and 12 boards for Perth with Ashley Stephens adding 10 points and six rebounds, Dennis Tawhiti nine points, Ezra Nikora eight points and Joel Wagner seven to go with 10 assists.

Seva Chan top-scored for the Suns with 21 points while Kevin Anthony added 12 points and five rebounds, and Lien Phillip nine points and eight boards.

The Cougars continued their hot run of form winning a sixth straight match with an 11-point win over the Lightning at home. The result sees Cockburn improve to 11-6 to remain in fourth spot while Lakeside is 6-10 in eighth.

Eric Millam was again the star of the night for the Cougars finishing up with 32 points and 15 rebounds while shooting 12-of-19 from the floor.

Gavin Field also made a strong contribution for Cockburn with 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists with Najee Lane adding 16 points, 15 boards, six assists and three steals, and Julian Pesava 13 points.

Jordan Swing top-scored for the Lightning with 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists with Tom Parkinson adding 17 points and five boards, Luke Thomas 14 points and nine boards, and Jarrad Prue five points and 14 rebounds.

FRIDAY WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
Orange Autos Rockingham Flames 90 defeated Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 58
Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 71 defeated Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 65
Perth Redbacks 56 lost to Kalamunda Eastern Suns 75
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 51 defeated Lakeside Lightning 36

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames 99 defeated Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 93
Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 77 lost to Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 105
Perth Redbacks 108 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 60
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 98 defeated Lakeside Lightning 87

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Grant Lauterbach