THE Cockburn Cougars had a good Saturday night in Week 2 of the SBL with the women winning a thriller and the men piling on 153 points against the Kalamunda Eastern Suns while Lakeside's women, South West's men and both the Giants and Buccs also scored wins.

The two Saturday night women's contests saw the Cockburn Cougars win a thriller 71-70 at home over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns while the Lakeside Lightning had a big road win 85-59 over the South West Slammers.

Then in the four men's matches on Saturday night, the Goldfields Giants beat the East Perth Eagles 107-101, the Geraldton Buccaneers downed the Perth Redbacks 98-92, The South West Slammers defeated the Lakeside Lightning 96-93 and the Cockburn Cougars won with a remarkable 153-109 scoreline over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

In the women's clashes, the Cougars held on to beat the Suns by a point at Wally Hagan Stadium to get their first win of 2016 and to keep the Eastern Suns winless.

A big reason for the Cougars getting the tight win was them forcing the Suns into 25 turnovers despite being outrebounded by 11 and with Kalamunda shooting slightly better from the field (48 to 45 per cent), from three (36 to 29) and the free-throw line (56 to 50).

Cherridy Thornton was the star for Cockburn with 27 points and nine rebounds with Nicole Roberts also impressive with 19 points and four assists.

Taryn Priestly contributed 10 points and four assists, and Isabelle Miotti seven points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Sabrina Jeridore had a good night for the Eastern Suns with 22 points and 11 rebounds with Jorjah Smith adding 12 points, five boards and three assists. Rebecca Motroni contributed 12 points and Sarah-Jane MacMahon six to go with 13 rebounds and four assists.

Then the Lightning handed the Slammers their second heavy defeat of the season to date winning by 26 points at Eaton Recreation Centre. The Lightning got their first win of 2016 after losing a thriller to the Stirling Senators to open the season.

Alison Schwagmeyer showed again why she is an early MVP candidate with the Lightning finishing the night with 21 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals while shooting 10-of-16 from the floor.

Tia Ucich added 16 points and three assists for Lakeside, Courtney Byrnes 13 points and Devanny King 11 to go with eight rebounds.

Raya Thompson had 13 points for the Slammers with Dena English also scoring 13 points. Brittany Gliddon contributed six points and seven rebounds, and Catherine Waycott four points and nine boards.

And the men's night got underway at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre with the Giants scoring their first win of 2016 beating the Eagles by six points.

Jacob Holmen was the star of the night for Goldfields with 37 points and 19 rebounds shooting 16-of-32 from the field.

Kenny Manigault also had a good night for the Giants with 30 points and six boards while off the bench Russell Hurst had 16 points and 10 boards, and Daniel Goodluck 13 points.

Veteran Drew Williamson had a big night for the Eagles with 30 points, six rebounds and six assists hitting 10-of-17 from the field, and 4-of-10 from deep.

Rhys Vague contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds for East Perth, Thomas Korf 18 points, five boards and four assists while hitting 4-of-8 from three-point range. Brendan Dinardo added 12 points and four steals off the bench.

Then at Active West Stadium, the Buccaneers improved to 2-1 for the season with a hard fought six-point win at home over the Redbacks.

The Redbacks got off to a fast start with 32 points in the opening quarter but the Buccs gradually worked their way on top and with 54 points to 39 in the second half they secured the win.

The Buccs took good care of the ball with just nine turnovers opposed to 19 by Perth while pulling in 60 rebounds to 50 to make up for shooting just 38 per cent from the floor while the Redbacks hit 41 per cent.

Maurice Barrow continued the strong start to his SBL career with 29 points and 13 rebounds for the Buccaneers with Carter Cook adding 26 points and 10 boards.

Matthew Adekponya had another 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Buccs while Aaron Ralph contributed 10 points and four boards off the bench, and Madison Stoveld had seven points and 11 rebounds.

Jourdan DeMuynck had another good night for the Redbacks with 29 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists with fellow import Reed McConnell adding 22 points and eight boards.

Ben Smith put up 20 points, four rebounds and three assists for Perth while Tyler Viskovich had six points and 10 boards.

The Slammers hit back from their first round shocker against the Joondalup Wolves scoring a thrilling overtime win over the Lightning by three points at Eaton Recreation Centre.

South West had to find something following last week's disastrous Grand Final rematch and it was a strong final quarter, and then good overtime period that got them over the line at home against Lakeside.

Tre Nichols was the dominant presence for the Slammers with 42 points, six rebounds, six steals and five assists while shooting 19-of-35 from the field and 4-of-15 from downtown.

New import Royal Crouch was also terrific with 22 points, 13 boards and four assists while Wade Hitchcock scored 12 points and Trent Worthington pulled in 14 rebounds.

Daniel Alexander top-scored for the Lightning with 27 points and 17 rebounds with TJ Hallice adding 24 points and 11 boards.

Corey Martin added 11 points and 10 rebounds for Lakeside, Seva Chan 10 points and Tom Parkinson 10 to go with nine boards.

And finally at Wally Hagan Stadium, the Cougars put up a massive 153 points to beat the Eastern Suns by 44 to improve to 2-0.

It was a remarkable offensive explosion from Cockburn piling on 36 points in the first quarter, 33 in the second, 46 in the third and 38 in the fourth while going 54-of-97 from the field at 55 per cent and 8-of-18 from three-point territory at 44 per cent.

The Cougars also pulled in 62 rebounds and delivered 26 assists while forcing the Suns into 26 turnovers and to shoot 34 per cent from a massive 112 shots, including 13-of-52 from three.

Gavin Field top-scored for Cockburn with 33 points, five rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots shooting 12-of-19 from the floor, and 5-of-10 from long range.

Big man Marcus Goode worked hard for 20 points and 19 rebounds with Julian Pesava adding 20 points, five boards and three assists.

Najee Lane also scored 17 points for the Cougars with Dan Thomas contributing 16 points and six assists.

Rhett Della put in 21 points along with eight rebounds and four assists off the bench with Steven Van Lit also finishing with 11 points and five assists, and Sheldon McIntyre five points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Tim Squire was the top-scorer for Kalamunda with 17 points while Kerrod Horn added 15 points and seven rebounds, Billy Grey 11 points and six boards, Brandon McGill 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Anthony Edgar added 13 points and nine rebounds off the bench, Jonathan Diaz nine points and four assists, and Geordie Murray nine points and four boards.

SATURDAY WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
South West Slammers 59 lost to Lakeside Lightning 85
Cockburn Cougars 71 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 70

SATURDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
East Perth Eagles 101 lost to Goldfields Giants 107
Geraldton Buccaneers 98 defeated Perth Redbacks 92
South West Slammers 96 defeated Lakeside Lightning 93
Cockburn Cougars 153 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 109

Article by Chris Pike