West Spotlight | Cougars dig deep to avoid consecutive losses

Featured image: Travis Anderson | @andmediaphoto

The Cockburn Cougars were facing the prospect of consecutive NBL1 West losses for the first time in four years but produced a dominant third quarter to set up the 87-77 win in Kalgoorlie over the Goldfields Giants.

It was the battle of third against fourth at Evolution Mining Stadium on Saturday night with the Cougars attempting to get their championship defence back on track while the Giants were looking to take a big scalp.

The Giants were fresh off beating the Willetton Tigers last Sunday night while the Cougars suffered their second loss of the season last Friday at the hands of the Joondalup Wolves on their home floor.

That set the stage nicely for the Kalgoorlie match up with the Giants managing to be leading by two at half-time before the Cougars took over with 24 points to 13 in the third term to set up the eventual 10-point victory.

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The win sees Cockburn improve to 9-2 on the season to return to second place as a result as reigning champs while the loss means the Giants are now 7-4 and slip outside the top four by the end of Round 11.

The Cougars avoided losing consecutive games for the first time since June 2022 with Daniel Raber coming into the starting line-up and producing 18 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals on 7/12 shooting.

Cierra Walker also had 18 points, four rebounds and three assists, Jessie Edwards 14 points, eight boards and three blocked shots, Jewel Williams 14 points, 11 assists and four rebounds, Darcee Garbin 11 points and five boards, and Jaya Scafidi eight points and eight rebounds.

In a bid to try and knock off the Cougars, Giants coach Jaymi Worthington shortened her rotation and went with just the six players with each of them playing at least 21 minutes and all five started 30-plus including Delaynie Byrne every second, and Sierra Moore all but 43 seconds.

Byrne finished the night with 23 points, 16 rebounds, three steals and two assists with 4/11 three-point shooting while Moore had 22 points, 12 boards and three assists.

Lexi Pana also ended up with 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, 240-game veteran Rachel Pettit 10 points, seven rebounds and two assists, Chloe Zorzi fie points and four boards, and Hazelle Yam four points, eight assists and three rebounds.

The two teams came into the clash in Kalgoorlie occupying top four positions and it was the Cougars determined to hit back from their loss to the Joondalup Wolves who started on fire on the road with a 15-0 run in the opening quarter.

Goldfields responded with 10 straight points themselves and by quarter-time scores were all locked at 23-23 with Cierra Walker already having 10 points for Cockburn while Rachel Pettit added six for the Giants with a couple of three balls.

Goldfields then got out to a six-point lead during the second term and by half-time were clinging to the 44-42 advantage with that imposing front court of Sierra Moore and Delaynie Byrne combining for 23 points and 16 rebounds.

The Giants had taken seven extra shots than the Cougars in the first half on the back of pulling down nine offensive rebounds to three and having just the one turnover for the entire first 20 minutes.

Cockburn were then able to take control in the third quarter by scoring 13 straight points and outscoring Goldfields 24 to 13 to go into the three quarter-time on top 66-57 while hitting 4/7 from downtown in the term with the Giants shooting just 6/21 overall and missing all nine three-point attempts.

That edge for the Cougars grew to 15 points in the last quarter and the defending champions remained in control from there to secure the 10-point victory and avoid back-to-back defeats to move back into second position.

The Giants remain at home next week in a crucial match up as the battle for top four spots heats up against the Warwick Senators while the Cougars are back home to take on the league-leading Rockingham Flames.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 11

GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 77 (Byrne 23, Moore 22, Pana 11)

COCKBURN COUGARS 87 (Walker 18, Raber 18, Williams 14, Edwards 14)