West Spotlight | Chibba helps Cougars to flying start

Featured image: @tomreesmedia

Alex Ciabattoni continued her career-best Perth Lynx WNBL form to lead the Cockburn Cougars to a dominant start to their NBL1 West championship defence with five teammates also in double-figures in 98-71 win over the Perth Redbacks.

Both teams were top four finishers in 2025 and were missing some key players for the start of the NBL1 West season on Friday night at Belmont Oasis.

The defending champion Cougars have lost Sarah Mortensen to the East Perth Eagles and are still awaiting new mum Darcee Garbin to be right to go along with the arrival of Daniel Raber.

The Redbacks ended up losing the semi-final to the Perry Lakes Hawks last year after finishing the regular season in third place and were without Anneli Maley and Patty Brossmann from their front court to open 2026 on their home floor.

The Cougars were on fire from the outset with 60 points to 33 in the first half on the way to the eventual 27-point win to make quite the statement as they attempt to win a third championship in the past four years.

Alex Ciabattoni has returned to the Cougars in 2026 on the back of the best ever season of her WNBL career with the Perth Lynx and picked up right where she left off.

Her last game with the Cougars was the 2024 grand final and it's fair to say she would have been the runaway MVP that night had Cockburn managed to hold and win back-to-back championship against the Rockingham Flames.

That didn’t quite happen but she was superb on Friday night with 21 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals on 8/13 shooting to be a +27 in her 35 minutes.

It was far from a one woman show too with another five Cockburn players scoring in double-figures including Lily Gammidge producing 18 points and four rebounds on 4/6 shooting with 9/10 at the foul line.

Alira Fotu also ended up with 16 points and four rebounds, Jaya Scafidi 13 points and eight boards, WNBL championship winner Jessie Edwards 12 points, 11 rebounds, two steals and two blocks, and Jewel Williams 11 points and four assists with 3/8 three-point shooting.

Shenae Hartree was called upon to carry a lot more of the load than usual for the Redbacks and stood up for 15 points, six rebounds and two steals in just over 30 minutes of court time.

Olivia Berry has made the move to the Redbacks in 2026 having previously played with the Goldfields Giants and Eastern Suns. In her first Perth appearance, she had 11 points despite 3/12 shooting.

Laniesha Paddon has also returned to the Redbacks after spending the past five seasons with the Joondalup Wolves and put up nine points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals on 3/11 shooting.

Aimee Borchet also had eight points and five rebounds, Sophie Doran seven points and six boards, and Ella Barmentloo six points and 10 rebounds.

The Cougars made a scorching start to their championship defence with 33 points to 16 in the opening quarter on the back of dominating inside with 20 points in the paint and also getting out to run with eight fast break points and eight off the turnovers from the Redbacks.

Cockburn retained control of the contest in the second quarter with another 27 points to 17 to head into the half-time break in a dominant position leading Perth 60-33.

Going into the locker room and the Cougars had 34 points in the paint to 20, 20 fast break points to 11, and eight points from turnovers to zero for the 27-point advantage.

The Redbacks were able to limit the damage in the third quarter but the Cougars lead still grew to 32 by three quarter-time and then it was a free-flowing final period with Perth getting some confidence up and outscoring the reigning champs 27-22 to cut the final margin back to 27.

Both teams are now next in action on Thursday night ahead of the Easter long weekend with the Redbacks on the road to the South West Slammers while the Cougars will raise their championship banner against local rivals the Willetton Tigers.

The other two Friday night women's matches saw the Mandurah Magic beat the Rockingham Flames 97-77 and the Lakeside Lightning impress by beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 90-63.

NBL WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 1

PERTH REDBACKS 71 (Hartree 15, Berry 11, Paddon 9)

COCKBURN COUGARS 98 (Ciabattoni 21, Gammidge 18, Fotu 16)