NBL1 West Weekend Recap

ROUND 5 – FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT

NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN'S SEASON

WARWICK SENATORS 72 lost to JOONDALUP WOLVES 78

The Joondalup Wolves put their unbeaten start to the season on the line on Friday night away to the Warwick Senators, and escaped with the 78-72 victory.

The Lady Wolfpack turned out to be the dominant team last year in the West Coast Classic on the way to winning that championship. 

They won their last six matches to clinch that title and there's no sign of them again not being the team to beat so far in the inaugural NBL1 West competition based on how they have started the 2021 season.

The Wolves came into Friday night's clash with the Senators at Warwick Stadium having won their opening two matches impressively against the East Perth Eagles and Kalamunda Eastern Suns, but their local rivals from Warwick were always going to be more of a test to open Round 5.

That's exactly how it panned out even though Joondalup scored the game's first four points and were up 9-2 after Nes'eya Williams drained a three-pointer.

But sparked by the last SBL MVP Stacey Barr who hit back-to-back threes, the Senators steadied and trailed by just the two points by quarter-time.

Kayla Steindl helped the Lady Wolfpack extend their lead back to double-figures to open the second quarter but the Senators were refusing to go away and had cut the Wolves lead to 41-33 by the half-time interval.

Steindl again helped Joondalup to a 14-point lead early in the second half which soon became 16 and eventually 22 when she connected from beyond the arc, but with Barr out there Warwick, they continued to fight and were back within 12 by three quarter-time.

All of a sudden with buckets to Barr, Jayda Clark and Tayla Hepburn to start the fourth term, the Senators were right back in it down just six but it was former Lightning championship winner Tia Ucich that hit a crucial three for Joondalup to put them back up 10.

From there the Wolves held on to win by six and continue their unbeaten run.

Kayla Steindl was an unstoppable force for the Lady Wolfpack finishing with 28 points, eight rebounds and three steals on shooting 11/15 from the field.

Amber Land added 12 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Wolves, Nes'eya Williams 11 points and 12 boards, Olivia Basso eight points and Tia Ucich eight points.

JOONDALUP WOLVES 69 defeated MANDURAH MAGIC 44

The Joondalup Wolves were the dominant team last year in the West Coast Classic and that's continuing now to start the NBL1 West season after another big win on Saturday night.

Coming off their third straight win to open the NBL1 West Women's Division season on Friday night over the Warwick Senators, the Lady Wolfpack were back home at HBF Arena on Saturday hosting the Mandurah Magic.

Mandurah was playing its only game of the round having lost their last two games to East Perth and Cockburn but as the game wore on the Wolves proved too strong as they ended up prevailing 69-44.

Joondalup started strongly once again on their home floor as well and by quarter-time they had opened up a 21-11 advantage over the Magic.

By half-time, the Lady Wolfpack had extended their lead to 13 points having held the Magic to just the 24 points the entire first half.

It was more of the same in the second half with Joondalup outscoring Mandurah 15 points to 11 in the third quarter, and then 17 to nine in the fourth to come away with the 25-point victory as they improved to a 4-0 record on the season against the now 1-3 Magic.

Ultimately the major difference between the two teams was the shooting performances. The Wolves ended the night going 43.9 per cent from the field and a brilliant 52.6 per cent from three-point land, hitting 10/19.

Amber Land was a powerful weapon down low for the Wolfpack to top-score with 14 points to go with 11 rebounds and four steals.

Nes'eya Williams added 12 points for Joondalup, Chelsea Belcher 10 points and two assists, Kayla Steindl 10 points, six rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals, and Georgia Denehey 10 points and two assists.

"...at time our transition broke down because there was certain things in defense, we did a good job adjusting but we were pretty passive at times and I think we were passive last week for a longer period so we are improving but I think there is definitely some stuff in transo that we can work on and defensively there was a few break downs when they were slipping that took us a little while to adjust to, really impressed with the way we adjust, as with every week there is plently to work on." Added Charles Nix. 

"...it's always good when you shoot above 50%, I think it's been a interesting couple of weeks with different rotations, Amy wasn't here tonight so it meant I wanted to be more of a threat, and I walked into the game focused on being more aggressive defensively..." Added Amber Land. 

NBL1 WEST – 2021 MEN'S SEASON

WARWICK SENATORS 100 defeated JOONDALUPL WOLVES 78

Two of the early form teams of the NBL1 West Men's Division locked horns on Friday night with the Warwick Senators prevailing 100-78 against the Joondalup Wolves.

The two teams were both part of the top four who made the finals in the West Coast Classic last year, and they have started the new season impressively coming into Friday's clash between the local rivals at Warwick Stadium.

The Senators worked their way on top during the opening quarter but the Wolves turned the tide in the second term and all of a sudden went into half-time with the 43-40 edge away from home.

But it was all the Senators in the second half as they unleashed their full array of arsenal to rack up 60 points on the back 30 points in the third and fourth quarters to win by 22 points having turned around the three-point deficit from half-time.

The Senators ended up winning the rebound count including having 10 offensive boards to just four on top of forcing the Wolves into 19 turnovers and ultimately they took 15 extra field goals, and once again the team that won the possession game prevailed on the scoreboard.

Lochlan Cummings top-scored for Joondalup with 17 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists with Jacob Formosa ending up with 15 points, six boards and four assists, and Trian Iliadis 12 points.

JOONDALUP WOLVES 110 defeated MANDURAH MAGIC 104

The Joondalup Wolves ended up bouncing back from their first loss of the season the night before but it took overtime for them to overcome the Mandurah Magic in a cracking contest.

The Wolfpack won their opening two games of the NBL1 West season before falling to the Warwick Senators on Friday night to open Round 5 while the Magic have shown rapid improvement already in 2021 winning two of their opening three matches.

Mandurah brought that newfound form and confident with them all the way to HBF Arena as well and started promisingly to lead 26-21 by quarter-time before adding another 25 points to 23 in the second quarter to go into half-time leading 51-44.

It was a high-scoring and exciting third quarter as the two teams combined for 58 points with the Wolves closing their deficit to five by three quarter-time.

There was always a sense the game would be going down to the wire and Seb Salinas made it a two-point game when hit a three to open the last quarter. 

With just over three minutes to go Jerami Grace and Trian Iliadis hit threes for their respective sides with scores level at 87-87. But Mandurah again pulled away by four soon after with baskets to Xavier Shaw and Fred Williams, and then the Magic still led by three with under a minute to go.

Ultimately Lochlan Cummings hit the game tying three for Joondalup to send the game into overtime but again Mandurah was able to turn the tide and take an early four-point lead in the extra period.

It was Iliadis that who turned the tide of the Wolves again, though with his own run of seven straight points before Salinas joined in to give them a five-point lead. Grace hit another triple to keep Mandurah close before a three-point play from Shaw had scores level once more.

From there it was Cummings who hit the final six games of the game to give the Wolfpack the 110-104 victory.

Lochlan Cummings was terrific for Joondalup with 29 points, five rebounds and three assists while hitting 5/10 from three-point land.

Rob Huntington also had 20 points and four rebounds for the Wolves, Trian Iliadis 20 points, six steals, four assists and three boards, Jonathan Wade 16 points and seven rebounds, and Seb Salinas 10 points and six boards.

"...it just happens, you get into positions where you can help the team win... tonight it was me coming off one balls, attacking the rim, making a couple of shots, couple of the three's that I made towards the end could've easily rimmed out... it's nothing we kind of spoke about it's just something that happened, tonight it was me in the forth and over time..." Added Trian Iliadis.  

"...we tried a few things, we tried trapping them and digging down on them but when they get that deep seal around the ring they're pretty hard to stop... they're tough to guard... we have to guard them at one end and they have to guard us at the other end. We were putting them in on balls and that was our thing down the stretch to just make their bigs have to come away from the rim and guard... Mandurah are going to be a good basketball team this year." Added Andrew Summerville