The Rockingham Flames Men and Women faced a tough double header weekend hosting the Cockburn Cougars on Friday before visiting Stirling on Saturday for a clash with the Senators in round sixteen of the State Basketball League.

The Lady Flames came out hot with back to back threes from Eikhoudt and Mackin Brown, followed with captain Kaye Tucker scoring at will to take a 24-14 lead into the first change.

The second term was a see sawing affair as both teams traded baskets before the Cougars edged closer with a 16-12 quarter which trimmed the Lady Flames lead to six at the main break (36-30).

To Lady Flames pushed their lead out to double figures within two minutes of the third but the visitors staged a fight back and actually took their first lead with 3.45 remaining in the quarter. To close out the term the Lady Flames went a mini run to claim back the lead and took a 53-46 buffer into the last.

Sherelle Johnson opened proceedings with a three point bomb before both teams struggled to find the basket with scores locked at 56-48 for almost two minutes with Gail Eikhoudt landing the knockout blow with a three from distance. The Lady Flames then rode the double digit lead home claiming a 73-61 win with youngster Teamo Wheki cashing in with 10 points late in the game.

Kaye Tucker led the way with 17pts & 6rebs, Gail Eikhoudt chipped in with 16pts while the consistent Sherelle Johnson finished with 12pts & 10rebs.

Now to the Men, who needed to win five of their remaining six games to make the playoffs with a tough task of facing Cockburn first up.

The Flames came out firing jumping to a 15-4 lead within five minutes behind 11 fast points from Ryan Godfrey. The Cougars then got into their rhythm to take a four point lead into the first break (29-25).

In the second the story was much the same for the Flames as they watched the visitors push out to a 16 point lead at the mid point of the term before a Trent Gerovich three kick started the Flames. After a barrage of perimeter shots, the Cougars lead was reduced to just three at the half time interval (59-56).

The first four minutes of the third was a mammoth struggle as neither team could gain the ascendancy but the Flames had regained the lead by just a single point. The next five minutes saw a massive swing as the Flames went on another major scoring run to push their lead to 15 and were riding a wave of emotion as a pumped up home crowd got involved. At the last change the Flames looked in control with a 92-78 lead and seemingly in control.

Within five minutes the game was locked at 98 a piece and from that point on the Cougars zone defence dried up any scoring opportunities for the Flames as they ran away. The visitors scored 43 points at 82 per cent in the last to a measly 14 points at 20 per cent from the Flames to take the game 121-106 in what can only be described as one that got away.

The Flames were led by local Ryan Godfrey who clocked 32pts, 6rebs & 5asts with great support from Trey Clarkson 24pts & 5rebs and Rhett Della 16pts & 6rebs.

On Saturday the women started off strongly before the Senators came back to take a one point lead at the main change. The Lady Flames then turned it on in the second half to comfortably win 75-61 as Sherelle Johnson led the way with 20pts and 9rebs.

The men then took to the floor in a must win encounter but started slowly eventually trailing 56-48 at half time. In the second half the Senators kept the Flames at arms length and answered every run to walk away with a 120-109 victory that has all but ended any chance of the team being involved in the playoffs. Joey Harrell and Ryan Godfrey led the scoring with 27 each while Trey Clarkson finished with 17 of his own.

This weekend will see both teams face off against arch rival Mandurah Magic at the Hot House on Friday evening with the Coast FM Cup up for grabs with the women on court at 6:30pm and men at 8:30pm.

Article by RBRA
Photo by Marg Prior