Week 16 Friday night SBL wrap

THE Stirling Senators and Mandurah Magic Women scored crucial SBL victories to open Week 16 on Friday night while the Senators Men and Perth Redbacks further consolidated their playoff positions.

There were two matches on Friday night to open Week 16 in the Women's SBL with the Bethanie Stirling Senators defeating the Perry Lakes Hawks 81-66 at Warwick Stadium and the Mandurah Magic beating the Texture WA Perth Redbacks 85-59 at Belmont Oasis Leisure Centre.

In the corresponding Men's clashes at the same venues, the Bethanie Stirling Senators came from behind to defeat the Perry Lakes Hawks 90-85 and the Texture WA Perth Redbacks powered away from the Mandurah Magic 111-87.

Starting with the Women's contests, the Senators kept their playoff hopes well and truly alive with a strong performance to beat the in-form Hawks by 15 points.

Perry Lakes had won four of its last five games to move clear in fourth position on the standings but Stirling knew it was time to make its move in order to make the playoffs and showed its capabilities.

The result sees the Senators improve to a 6-11 record now chasing the teams in the bottom four spots in the eight who all either have seven or eight wins. The Hawks slip to 11-7 to lose touch with the top three and miss a chance to move further clear in fourth.

The game was still up for grabs at three quarter-time with Stirling leading 54-52. But it was all the Senators in the fourth period with 27 points to 14 to win by 15.

Amber Land was the star for the Senators with 22 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals with Kara van Dyke contributing 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Lyndal Gardner contributed 14 points for Stirling, Hannah Throns 11 points, 11 rebounds and four steals, and Brianna Fisher 11 points, five assists, three boards and two steals.

Deanna Smith finished with 23 points, four assists and three steals for the Hawks with Antonia Edmondson contributing 17 points and seven rebounds.

The Magic then powered away from the Redbacks at Belmont Oasis with the brilliance of Casey Mihovilovich, and presence of imports Adijat Adams and Annette Davis sending a real message that Mandurah isn’t a team to be written off in 2016.

The Magic went on to a dominant 26-point victory over a team that came into the round in fifth position. The result sees Mandurah now improve to an 8-8 record having won three straight while Perth slips to 8-9 and the Redbacks continue to sorely miss Jess Jakens with an ankle injury.

Mandurah dominated the first half leading 46-29 going into the break and another 26-point to 15 final period saw the Magic end up winning emphatically by 26 points.

Mihovilovich put on a clinic running the show for the Magic finishing with 22 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocked shots and nailed 4-of-8 of her three-point attempts.

Davis finished with 21 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals for Mandurah, Adams 17 points and eight boards, and Emma Klasztorny 17 points and eight rebounds. Bree Klasztorny also returned for four points and two rebounds in 11 minutes.

Ashleigh Gilmore had a strong performance for the Redbacks with 22 points, 17 rebounds and three steals shooting 11-of-19 from the field but it was largely a solo effort on the night for Perth.

Then in the Men's action, the Senators had to come from behind and do it without Corban Wroe and AJ Majstrovich, but they found a way to keep their winning run going beating the struggling Hawks by five points.

The win is a sixth straight now for Stirling who improve to 15-6 to further be entrenched in the top four while it was a fifth successive defeat for Perry Lakes who fall to 8-13. But due to no other team below them out of the eight going on a winning run, the Hawks' playoff hopes are still strong.

The Hawks had a terrific second quarter to go into the half leading 43-36 but the Senators came out strong with a 28-point to 19 third period to set up the eventual five-point win.

Without Majstrovich and Wroe, Tom Witts (18 points, five rebounds, three assists) and Austin Bruton (13 points) did well for the Senators while Cody Ellis led the way with 21 points, five assists, four rebounds and four assists including hitting 3-of-6 from three-point range.

Kyle Lindbergh delivered another 19 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocked shots for the Senators with Jayden Coburn adding seven points and eight rebounds, and Jay Thwaites seven points and five boards.

Ryan Smith top-scored for the Hawks off the bench with 21 points and nine rebounds shooting 9-of-23 from the field taking 11 more shots than any other player on his team.

Jordan Hickert finished with 17 points and five rebounds for Perry Lakes, Brian Carlwell 12 points and 13 boards, Bryton Hobbs 12 points and six rebounds, and Ben Purser six points, 11 boards and four assists.

The Magic hit the road for the second last time of the year to take on the Redbacks on a high after beating the Lakeside Lightning last week on a buzzer-beater from Trevor Setty.

Perth also came into the contest without stars Michael Vigor and Joel Wagner with imports Reed McConnell (ankle) and Jourdan DeMuynck (toe) getting hurt during the game.

Mandurah, though, had a late withdrawal in Jarrad Jackson and just didn’t have the weapons to take advantage of a good start. The Magic led by one at quarter-time and trailed by just seven at the half, but the Redbacks dominated after that to go and win by 24.

It was an important win for the Redbacks following last week's loss to the Tigers to improve to a 12-8 record. The Magic couldn’t win consecutive matches slipping to 5-15.

Lewis Thomas was the star for the Redbacks stepping up in the absence of Vigor and Wagner, and with McConnell and DeMuynck wounded. He ended up with a remarkable night made up of 40 points, 16 rebounds, four steals, three blocked shots and three assists shooting 14-of-27 from the floor, 6-of-12 from three and 6-of-11 from the line.

Simon Lokan also came up huge in the absence of Vigor with 23 points, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots in a tremendous performance.

Ben Smith added 16 points and four assists for the Redbacks while McConnell still managed 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and DeMuynck six points, eight boards and five assists.

Setty again top-scored for the Magic with 25 points to go with 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Ben Smith worked hard inside for 15 points and 15 rebounds but the work of Thomas and Lokan proved too much to counter.

Tom Remmerswaal added 12 points off the bench for the Magic.

FRIDAY WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
Bethanie Stirling Senators 81 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 66
Texture WA Perth Redbacks 59 lost to Mandurah Magic 85

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Bethanie Stirling Senators 90 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 85
Texture WA Perth Redbacks 111 defeated Mandurah Magic 87

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Deprimo Photography




Comments

Comment Guidelines: The SportsTG Network is made up of players, families and passionate sports followers like you who have a strong opinion about sport. That's great - we want you to have your say and share your thoughts with the world. However, we have a few rules that you must follow to keep it fun for all. Please don't be rude, abusive, swear or vilify others. Apart from some pretty serious sport sanctions, we also can ban you and report you if things get out of hand. So play fair and have fun, and thanks for your contribution.

Sell Tickets.

Run your Event.

Sell tickets, QR Code + add to wallet functionality, track attendance, receive weekly settlements - all with GameDay Events & Ticketing!

A laptop and smart phone displaying the GameDay Events app.