THE Joondalup Wolves women, and Goldfields Giants and Rockingham Flames men all advanced to the SBL semi finals with quarter-final victories on Saturday night leaving just the one series yet to be decided on Sunday.

The Lady Wolfpack joined the Rockingham Flames, Willetton Tigers and Mandurah Magic as the top four women's teams who all won their quarter-final match ups in two games to advance to the semi finals by beating the South West Slammers on Saturday night.

The Giants and Flames men then both won their respective series' as the lower-ranked teams over the Geraldton Buccaneers and Cockburn Cougars respectively, while the eighth seeded Perry Lakes Hawks set up a deciding Game 3 on Sunday with the minor premier Joondalup Wolves.

The lone women's quarter-final on Saturday night saw the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves score a convincing 99-46 victory over the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

There were then three men's match ups with two of them deciding the series with the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants beating the S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers 114-107 at Active West Stadium, and the Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames defeating the Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 99-87 at Wally Hagan Stadium.

The Perry Lakes Hawks then beat the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 94-92 in the second thriller of the series, this time at Joondalup Basketball Stadium, to set up the deciding Game 3 at the same venue on Sunday afternoon at 2pm.

In the lone women's match on Saturday night, the Wolves came into the clash with the Slammers having won Game 1 at Eaton Recreation Centre last weekend by 23 points, and it was even more emphatic at home this time around with Joondalup beating South West by 53 points.

Rebecca Mercer ended up top-scoring for the Wolves with 17 points while Ellyce Ironmonger contributed 15 points, 13 rebounds and three assists on the back of shooting 7-of-10 from the field.

Amy Kidner added 12 points and three boards off the bench shooting 6-of-7 from the floor with Antonia Edmondson contributing 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists while hitting 5-of-9 from the field and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Nikita-Lee Martin also finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and two assists for the Lady Wolfpack, Chelsea Burns nine points, six boards, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots, and Shani Amos nine points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Raya Thompson fought hard off the bench for the Slammers with 11 points on the back of 4-of-6 shooting from the field while Georgia Denehey had eight points, Patricia Bright six (six rebounds), Deonica McCormick six and Kate Fielding five (six rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots).

Then in the men's action, the seventh seeded Giants backed up their Game 1 win at home over the Buccs by overcoming a hostile crowd in Geraldton to upset the Buccs on Saturday night by seven points to sweep the series, and advance to the semi finals.

It was a terrific contest all night at Geraldton between two teams who are good enough to make a run for the title, but in the end the Giants had just a little more firepower to come away with the seven-point win to continue their stunning second half of the season after losing their first eight games.

Jay Bowie led the way for the Giants with 32 points, 10 rebounds and four assists with Mathiang Muo adding 28 points, nine boards and eight assists while Russell Hurst finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, and Jacob Holmen 14 points and six boards.

Carter Cook ended up top-scoring for the Buccs with 31 points, 17 rebounds and four assists with Mat Wundenberg adding 21 points, 21 boards and two blocked shots.

Bennie Lewis also had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Buccaneers with Aaron Ralph ending up with 14 points and six boards, Daniel Thomas 13 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Cory Cooperwood 10 points.

The Flames and Cougars played their deciding Game 3 at Wally Hagan Stadium on Saturday night after Rockingham won Game 1 last Saturday night at home 91-82, and the Cockburn won at home on Friday 116-94.

However, it was the Flames who prevailed in Game 3 to win by 12 points and advance to the semi finals on the back of a dominant fourth quarter.

It was a rollercoaster affair all night with the Cougars starting well to lead by 14 points at quarter-time, but by half-time it was the Flames who had assumed the lead 50-44.

Again, Cockburn worked its way on top in the second quarter to lead 69-66 heading into the final period, but while there it was the Flames who turned it on scoring 33 points to just 18 from the Cougars and Rockingham scored the 12-point road win to advance to the semi finals.

Cooper Land led the way for the Flames with 30 points and 12 rebounds on the back of shooting 12-of-22 from the floor, and 3-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Tom Remmerswaal contributed 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists as well for Rockingham while Jarryd Griffin added 14 points, three boards and two steals.

Taylor Land also finished with 11 points, six assists and four rebounds for the Flames and Ryan Godfrey seven points, six boards and three assists.

Gavin Field did all he could to try and lift the Cougars into the semi finals with 33 points, nine rebounds and four assists with Najee Lane adding 20 points, eight boards and three steals, and Eric Milam 13 points and five rebounds.

The Wolves and Hawks played out a thrilling Game 1 last Friday night at Bendat Basketball Centre with the Wolfpack controversially winning at the buzzer, and eight days later it Perry Lakes' turn to score the nail-biting win on the road by two points over the minor premier Wolves.

That now sets up a tantalising Game 3 on Sunday afternoon back at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

On Saturday night, Bryton Hobbs again put in a stunning performance for the Hawks with 36 points, seven rebounds and four steals while shooting 12-of-27 from the field, 6-of-10 from beyond the arc and 6-of-7 from three-point territory.

Ben Purser was also terrific for Perry Lakes finishing with 21 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and three blocks while shooting 9-of-17 from the floor.

Ryan Smith added 12 points and six boards for the Hawks while Josh Garlepp contributed nine points, Mike Krumel eight and Ben Dixon eight to go with three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Kevin Davis fought hard for the Wolves with 23 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots while Trian Iliadis top-scored with 26 points, nine boards, seven assists and three steals while hitting 4-of-9 from deep.

Seb Salinas contributed 19 points and seven rebounds for the Wolfpack while Rob Huntington added 13 points, eight boards and three assists.

SATURDAY WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 99 defeated Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 46

SATURDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers 107 lost to Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 114
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 87 lost to Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames 99
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 92 lost to Perry Lakes Hawks 94

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin