THE Geraldton Buccaneers and Joondalup Wolves men both bounced back with wins in Saturday night's SBL action with the Cockburn Cougars continuing their stunning form while the Rockingham Flames women stamped their authority with a win over the Lady Wolfpack.

There were three women's matches on Saturday night with the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers beating the Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 78-65 at Wally Hagan Stadium, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns defeating the Stirling Senators 76-73 at Warwick Leisure Centre and the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames downing the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 94-78 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

Then there were five men's matches on Saturday night with the S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers beating the Perth Redbacks 112-105 at Active West Stadium and the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants defeating the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 118-113 at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium.

The Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars scored a big 106-80 win over the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers at Wally Hagan Stadium with the Bethanie Stirling Senators beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 90-88 at Warwick Leisure Centre and the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves defeating the Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames 111-78 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

Starting with the Saturday night women's matches, the Tigers backed up their big win over the Lakeside Lightning on Friday night by beating the Cougars on the road by 13 points.

The win sees Willetton improve to a 14-2 record with a four-game winning streak while Cockburn slips to 7-10 and clinging to a spot inside the top eight.

Louella Tomlinson had a big night for the Tigers with 22 points, 12 rebounds and six assists while Kate Malpass contributed 15 points, six assists and four boards.

Desiree Kelley added 12 points, seven rebounds and three steals also for Willetton with Ebony Antonio finishing with 11 points and Lisa Wallbutton six to go with nine boards, four assists and four steals.

Playing-coach Deanna Smith did all she could for the Cougars with 27 points, eight rebounds and five assists with Katie Loberg contributing 22 points, Taryn Priestly nine and five boards, and Abbie McDonald seven to go with eight rebounds.

The Eastern Suns continued their stunning form beating the Senators by three points on Saturday night to have now won eight straight matches to improve to a 9-5 record and to close in on a spot in the top four while Stirling slipped to 2-13 having now lost eight consecutive games.

Abbey Duinker led the way for the Suns with 15 points and seven rebounds while shooting 7-of-11 from the field, but she had plenty of support from her teammates.

Madeleine Dennis finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists off the bench for the Eastern Suns with Melissa Moyle adding 13 points and seven boards, Jessie Edwards 12 points and 13 rebounds, Rebecca Motroni 10 points and Thea Lemberger nine points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals.

Tegan Walker top-scored for the Senators with 20 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals with Cassie Bates adding 19 points and Amber Land 14 to go with 11 boards, six assists and three blocked shots.

The defending champion league-leading Flames then consolidated top position in the women's SBL beating the Lady Wolfpack by 16 points at Joondalup on Saturday night.

The win sees Rockingham record a seventh straight victory and improve to a 14-1 record while Joondalup has now lost two of its last three to sit on a 13-4 record in third position.

Samantha Whitcomb had an outstanding night for the Flames in one of her best performances of the 2015 season with 34 points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists.

Darcee Garbin also had a superb game for Rockingham with 24 points and 13 rebounds with Jacinta Bourne adding 15 points, nine boards, three assists and three steals, and Tarsha Fletcher 11 points and eight rebounds.

Rebecca Mercer top-scored for the Wolves with 16 points while Casey Lockwood added 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists, Shani Amos 14 points, five boards and three assists, Antonia Edmondson 11 points and Nikita-Lee Martin 11 points and five rebounds.

Then in the men's matches on Saturday night, the Buccaneers had to fight hard at home to the Redbacks but ended up coming away with the seven-point victory to bounce back from a loss to the Cougars last Sunday.

The win sees Geraldton improve to a 16-3 record in second spot in the men's standings and despite the strong showing, the loss makes Perth's job of making the playoffs tougher with the Redbacks now falling to a 6-12 record.

Bennie Lewis ended up top-scoring for the Buccaneers with 30 points, four rebounds and four assists while being on fire from beyond the three-point line hitting seven of his 11 attempts.

Carter Cook added 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks as well for the Buccs with Aaron Ralph contributing 22 points and nine boards.

Mat Wundenberg finished with 11 points and eight rebounds for Geraldton and Cory Cooperwood came back into the line-up and contributed 10 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks off the bench.

Ray Turner had a strong game for the Redbacks with 31 points and 12 rebounds with Joel Wagner adding 24 points, 11 assists and five rebounds, Marshall Nelson 15 points, Ben Smith 14 points and Raphiael Putney 10 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.

The Giants continued to push towards a spot in the top eight thanks to a thrilling five-point victory over the Slammers in Kalgoorlie on Saturday night.

With the win, Goldfields improves to a 7-11 record to only be narrowly behind the 7-10 Lightning while the Slammers have now lost four of their last five matches to slip to a 13-5 record in third position still.

It was the Giants' three stars who all had massive nights to set up the victory with Jay Bowie leading the way with 36 points and five rebounds on the back of drilling 13-of-20 from the field.

Mathiang Muo added 28 points and nine boards as well for Goldfields while Jacob Holmen contributed 25 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.

Russell Hurst added 12 points and six rebounds off the bench for the Giants as well.

Tre Nichols returned for the Slammers and top-scored for his team with 34 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals with Ty Harrelson contributing 22 points, eight assists and four boards.

Trent Worthington also had 10 points and five rebounds for South West while Brian Voelkel recorded yet another triple-double this time off the bench with 14 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists.

The Cougars continued their stunning form with a thumping 26-point win at home over the Tigers on Saturday night with Cockburn now having won eight straight matches to now improve to a 13-6 record and to be on the verge of replacing the Slammers in third position.

The loss for Willetton is its second of the weekend having also lost to the Lightning on Saturday night with the Tigers now slipping to a 10-9 record having lost five of their last six matches and to be now in danger of dropping out of the top eight altogether unless they turn things around soon.

Eric Milam was outstanding for the Cougars with 28 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots while nailing 11-of-22 from the field.

Najee Lane also finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds, five steals and three assists for Cockburn with Sheldon McIntyre contributing 15 points, nine boards, five assists and two steals, Gavin Field 13 points, five rebounds and three assists, and Julian Pesava nine points and six boards.

Ephrem Davis top-scored for the Tigers with 25 points and nine rebounds while shooting a supremely efficient 11-of-15 from the field.

Kyle Armour finished 15 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals for Willetton while Damien Scott contributed 13 points, Andrew Black 10 and Corey Easley six to go with nine boards, four assists and three blocked shots.

The nail-biter of the night came at Warwick between Stirling and Kalamunda with the Senators ending up prevailing by two points to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The win sees the Senators snap a seven-game losing streak to improve to a 6-11 record with the Eastern Suns now having lost seven matches on the trot at 2-16.

The Senators had to come from behind to come away with the victory and it was led by captain Cody Ellis who finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Kyle Lindbergh added 19 points, seven boards, five assists and four steals as well for Stirling with Nikolas Iliadis contributing 13 points, nine assists and four rebounds.

Jayden Coburn also provided some terrific scoring punch off the bench for the Senators with 19 points on the back of hitting 7-of-14 from the floor, and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.

Lien Phillip led the way for the Suns with 26 points, 18 rebounds, four assists and two steals with Kevin Anthony adding 23 points, nine boards, four blocked shots, two steals and two assists.

Jaarod Holmes contributed 15 points and five rebounds for the Eastern Suns and Seva Chan 12 points, nine assists and four boards.

The Flames made the trip to Joondalup to take on the Wolves in good form, but the Wolfpack proved too good on Saturday night recording a 33-point victory.

The win sees the Wolves bounce back from a disappointing loss to the Perry Lakes Hawks on Friday night and to steady to a 17-3 record on top of the men's standings while Rockingham slips to 10-8 with the loss.

Trian Iliadis had a terrific game for the Wolves finishing the night with 29 points and five assists on the back of shooting 11-of-21 from the field.

Kevin Davis added 21 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots as well for the Wolfpack while Louis Timms contributed 12 points, five boards, four blocks and three steals, and Damian Matacz 11 points.

Rob Huntington also had seven points, 12 rebounds and three assists for Joondalup with Seb Salinas adding six points and nine boards, and Sean Easther six points, seven rebounds and three steals.

Cooper Land did all he could on the night for the Flames finishing with 37 points and nine rebounds while shooting 13-of-24 from the field, and 6-of-9 from three-point territory.

Taylor Land also had 14 points for Rockingham but no other player reached double-figures.

SATURDAY NIGHT WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 65 lost to Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 78
Stirling Senators 73 lost to Kalamunda Eastern Suns 76
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 78 lost to Orange Autos Rockingham Flames 94

SATURDAY NIGHT MEN'S SBL MATCHES
S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers 112 defeated Perth Redbacks 105
Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 118 defeated Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 113
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 106 defeated Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 80
Bethanie Stirling Senators 90 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 88
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 111 defeated Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames 78

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin