WEEK 6 of the 2015 SBL season opened with a bang on Friday night with the Lakeside Lightning and Perry Lakes Hawks, and the South West Slammers and Rockingham Flames splitting men's and women's wins while the Joondalup Wolves made it a double over the Perth Redbacks.

The three women's matches on Friday night saw the Perry Lakes Hawks beat the Lakeside Lightning 78-63 at Lakeside Recreation Centre, the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves defeat the Perth Redbacks 75-61 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium and the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames down the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 95-64 at Eaton Recreation Centre.

And in the three corresponding men's fixtures at the same venues, the Lakeside Lightning beat the Perry Lakes Hawks 98-88, the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves defeated the Perth Redbacks 114-100 and the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers downed the Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames 123-106.

In the women's contests to start the night and to open Week 6 of the 2015 season, the Hawks beat the Lightning by 15 points despite Lakeside finishing strongly with 29 points to 11 in the fourth quarter.

The win improves Perry Lakes to a 4-2 record on the season with Lakeside still desperately searching for that first win now having suffered seven consecutive losses.

Megan McKay led the way for the Hawks with 19 points, 13 rebounds and four assists on the back of shooting 9-of-16 from the field.

Lauren Jeffers added 17 points, four boards and three assists for Perry Lakes with Kassi Conditt finishing with 14 points and six rebounds, and Danika Pisconeri nine points and six boards.

Courtney Byrnes top-scored for the Lightning with 19 points to go with six rebounds, four assists and three steals with Ashleigh Grant adding 18 points, nine boards and five assists, and Tia Ucich 13 points and four rebounds off the bench.

The Wolves then scored a convincing 24-point victory over the Redbacks to see them improve to a 4-1 record to start the new season while Perth slipped to 2-4.

Rebecca Mercer continued her strong return to the Lady Wolfpack this season with another 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists while shooting 7-of-13 from the floor and 5-of-9 from three-point territory.

Alex Kerr added 14 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots as well for Joondalup while Amy Kidner contributed eight points and nine rebounds and Chelsea Burns, Nikita-Lee Martin and Abbie Ironmonger all scored seven points apiece.

Gaby Clayton did all she could for the Redbacks ending the night with 24 points while Alix Hayward added 10 points and seven rebounds, Jess Jakens eight points and eight boards, and Meike Elkington five points and 12 rebounds.

The defending champion Flames also continued their unbeaten start to the season now having won their opening six matches after handing the Slammers a third consecutive defeat on Friday night to the tune of 31 points.

Reigning MVP Samantha Whitcomb was again outstanding for Rockingham with 24 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals with Kate Williams finishing with 18 points.

Darcee Garbin also scored 10 points as did Talisia Bourne and Jacinta Bourne who also had seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Vanessa Michael contributed eight points and seven rebounds off the bench for the Flames.

Kate Fielding did all she could for the Slammers finishing with 14 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and two steals while Bianca Donovan top-scored with 17 points.

Deanica McCormick also scored 12 points and Patricia Bright 10 for South West.

And then in the men's action on Friday night, the Lightning won a second straight match to improve to a 3-5 record and the Hawks slip to 2-5 courtesy of a 10-point win at home with Lakeside outscoring Perry Lakes 55-46 in the second half.

Luke Thomas top-scored for the Lightning with 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists while shooting 12-of-22 from the field.

While Jordan Swing didn’t have a good shooting night going 4-of-18 from the floor, he still made a solid contribution with 15 points and six assists with Jesse Dixon adding 18 points, four boards, three assists and three steals, and Tom Parkinson 18 points and six rebounds.

Jarrad Prue continued to be his usual huge presence adding seven points and 20 rebounds off the bench as well for Lakeside.

Ben Purser did all he could to try and get the victory for Perry Lakes finishing with 25 points, four rebounds and three assists. Bryton Hobbs also contributed 23 points, five boards and three assists with Josh Garlepp adding 14 points and nine rebounds, and James Elliott 12 points and nine boards.

The Wolves welcomed back championship-winning point guard Brad Robbins and recorded a 14-point victory over the Redbacks to improve to a 6-1 record with Perth slipping to 3-5 with the loss.

Kevin Davis led the way for Joondalup with 32 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots while Rob Huntington added 21 points, five rebounds and three assists, and Trian Iliadis 18 points and four boards.

Ben Ironmonger also scored 13 points for the Wolves, Joel Questel 13 and Robbins finished with three rebounds, three steals and two assists in almost 12 minutes of court time.

Ray Turner had another outstanding night for the Redbacks ending up with 34 points and 18 rebounds while shooting 14-of-23 from the field.

Fellow Perth import Marshall Brown contributed 23 points, four boards and three assists with Joel Wagner adding 10 points and four assists, and Dennis Tawhiti nine points and seven rebounds.

And finally the Slammers beat the Flames by 17 points with South West moving back to the top of the standings as a result improving to an 8-1 record while Rockingham is now on 4-4 having lost four straight matches following opening the season winning their opening four.

Tre Nichols was the top-scorer of the night for the Slammers with 29 points, three assists and three steals while Ty Harrelson contributed 26 points and 12 assists, and Clive Weeden 24 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Wade Hitchcock contributed 15 points off the bench with Brian Voelkel only narrowly missing another triple-double with 12 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists.

Tom Remmerswaal ended up top-scoring for the Flames with 23 points and 10 rebounds with Taylor Land finishing with 20 points and nine assists, Chad Simpson 14 points, Matthew Honey 14 points, Ryan Godfrey 13 points and Jarryd Griffin 11 points.

FRIDAY WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
Lakeside Lightning 63 lost to Perry Lakes Hawks 78
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 75 defeated Perth Redbacks 51
Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 64 lost to Orange Autos Rockingham Flames 95

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Lakeside Lightning 98 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 88
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 114 defeated Perth Redbacks 100
Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 123 defeated Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames 106

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography