THE Willetton Tigers and Perry Lakes Hawks scored men's and women's SBL victories on Easter Thursday while the Joondalup Wolves and Rockingham Flames shared their two encounters in thrilling fashion.

The three women's matches to open Week 2 of the 2016 season saw the Willetton Tigers defeat the Stirling Senators 98-48, the Perry Lakes Hawks beat the Mandurah Magic 96-56 and the Rockingham Flames get over the Joondalup Wolves 80-79.

Then in the men's contests, the Willetton Tigers beat the Stirling Senators 113-99, the Perry Lakes Hawks defeated the Mandurah Magic 107-88 and the Joondalup Wolves downed the Rockingham Flames 113-106.

The match of the night in the women's contests took place at Joondalup Basketball Stadium with the defending champion Flames bouncing back from an opening round loss to the Tigers in a Grand Final rematch to down a Wolves team who thrashed the South West Slammers in the opening round.

In a cracking contest and nail-biting finish, the Flames got over the line by a point ahead of their clash on Easter Monday at home to the East Perth Eagles.

At Willetton Basketball Stadium, the Tigers made it three from three to start 2016 with a commanding 50-point thumping of the Senators. Willetton only allowed Stirling 15 points in the first half, scoring 52 themselves and then cruised to the big win.

Shooting 27 per cent from the field and going 3-of-20 from deep was never going to get the job done for the Senators especially when the Tigers forced them into 27 turnovers as well.

All five starters for the Tigers had big nights led by 18 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots from Louella Tomlinson who was playing her first game since an outstanding WNBL season with the Perth Lynx.

Ebony Antonio continued her good form from the opening week with 17 points, four assists, three rebounds three steals while hitting 5-of-9 from three-point territory.

Zoe Harper added 16 points and six rebounds for the Tigers while Kate Malpass contributed 15 points, nine assists and six boards, and Desiree Kelley 14 points and five steals.

Lara Napier chipped in with seven points, five rebounds and three assists off the bench as well.

Fiona Madden (seven rebounds), Kara van Dyke and Lyndal Gardner all scored 10 points apiece for the Senators with Amber Land contributing seven points and 11 rebounds despite shooting 3-of-14 from the floor. Tegan Walker did return for four points in 10 minutes.

The Hawks made their first appearance of 2016 in style with a 40-point victory at Bendat Basketball Centre over a Magic team also playing their first game of the new season.

It was an impressive shooting performance from Perry Lakes going 52 per cent from the field and hitting 13-of-25 to be 52 per cent from beyond the arc as well.

The Magic just couldn’t keep hold of the ball with 34 turnovers to cancel out their rebounding dominance of 49 to 29. They also shot just 26 per cent from the field and 3-of-17 from three.

Antonia Edmondson top-scored for the Hawks with 23 points to go with five assists while shooting 9-of-14 from the floor and 4-of-7 from deep.

Kate Anthony had a tremendous shooting night nailing 5-of-6 from downtown for 18 points with Mia Satie contributing 16 points and six rebounds off the bench.

Deanna Smith had a good all-round game with 11 points, five boards, five assists, three steals and three blocked shots.

Briana Klasztorny top-scored for the Magic off the bench with 18 points to go with five rebounds while Adijat Adams finished with 12 points and 11 boards. Annette Davis also collected 12 rebounds.

Then in the men's contests, the game of the night took place also at Joondalup Basketball Stadium with the defending champion Wolves backing up their opening round thumping of the Slammers with a seven-point win over a dogged Flames outfit.

The Wolfpack threatened to run away with the game in the second quarter piling on 42 points to lead 66-54 at the half, but the Flames did well to stay in the contest to only be down by one heading into the fourth period.

But the Wolves had just enough down the stretch to win by seven having forced the Flames into 22 turnovers to help them win the possession game despite being outrebounded by 21.

Kevin Davis finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks for the Wolves while off the bench, Trian Iliadis had 26 points hitting five three-pointers.

Bobby Evans also had 14 points and five rebounds off the bench for Joondalup with Rob Huntington finishing with 12 points and Ben Ironmonger 11.

Ryan Godfrey stepped up to top the scoring for Rockingham with 32 points, six assists and four rebounds while nailing 7-of-10 from three-point range.

Cooper Land shot just 9-of-24 but still had 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Flames while Chudier Pal had 12 points, 20 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Jarryd Griffin had a double-double for Rockingham made up of 18 points and 10 rebounds with Nebojsha Franich adding 10 points and six boards off the bench.

Meanwhile, at Bendat Basketball Centre the Hawks made it two from two to open their season handing the Magic their first loss with a 19-point victory.

It was a strong showing from Perry Lakes with import guard Bryton Hobbs again the star with 32 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Captain Ben Purser gave him outstanding support with 26 points, nine boards and five assists shooting 12-of-18 from the field.

Ben Dixon came back into the team after his season in the NBL with the Perth Wildcats and had 10 points off the bench with Jordan Hickert making a good contribution with eight points and eight rebounds.

Trevor Setty had his best showing with the Magic with an impressive 30 points and 17 rebounds with Ben Smith also continuing his strong start to 2016 with 25 points and 11 boards.

Taylor Mullenax had a quieter night than the season-opener with 12 points and five boards and the trio didn’t receive enough support to get close to the Hawks on the night.

And finally at Willetton Basketball Stadium, the Tigers improved to 2-1 on the season beating the Senators by 14 points to keep Stirling winless from two attempts so far in 2016.

Jay Bowie showed why he was so valuable to the Goldfields Giants last year and why he will be such a valuable signing for the Tigers in 2016 with a massive night of 45 points made up of shooting 18-of-28 from the floor, 5-of-11 from deep and 4-of-4 from the line.

Kyle Armour had a tremendous night as well for Willetton with 26 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. That didn’t leave much for the rest of the team to add but Nic Cody scored 12 points, Damien Scott 10 and Josh Johnson nine to go with 12 rebounds and eight assists.

Cody Ellis top-scored for the Senators with 26 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots.

AJ Majstrovich also contributed 23 points and six boards for the Senators and Kyle Lindbergh 20 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three stelas.

FRIDAY WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
Willetton Tigers 98 defeated Stirling Senators 48
Perry Lakes Hawks 96 defeated Mandurah Magic 56
Joondalup Wolves 79 lost to Rockingham Flames 80

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Willetton Tigers 113 defeated Stirling Senators 99
Perry Lakes Hawks 107 defeated Mandurah Magic 88
Joondalup Wolves 113 defeated Rockingham Flames 106

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Vicki Hile