West Spotlight | Cougars survive Wolfpack scare

Featured image: Michael Farnell @sportsimageryau

Jessie Edwards continued her dominant start to the NBL1 West season but the Cockburn Cougars needed a big start and finish to overcome an impressive fighting effort from the Joondalup Wolves to make it 26 straight wins.

The Cougars arrived at Arena Joondalup on a 25-game winning streak in the NBL1 West and not only have they not lost since the 2024 Grand Final, but they have rarely been tested either.

It didn’t look like that would change either when they were leading by 26 points during the second quarter on the back of piling on 36 in the first term.

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However, from the point Cockburn were up 26 three minutes into the second quarter, the Wolves put in an impressive fight back and outscored the Cougars 44 points to 21 over that stretch.

That saw them cut that 26-point deficit to just three by three quarter-time and the Wolfpack had the momentum on their home floor, but the Cougars showed their quality to take control again in the final term to win by 18 and make it 26 wins on the trot.

Jessie Edwards joined the Townsville Fire through the WNBL season as an injury replacement and went on to win a championship ring. She's now started this season on fire with Cockburn and had another 29 points, nine rebounds and two assists on 11/15 shooting from the field and 7/9 at the stripe.

Alex Ciabattoni also had 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals, Jewel Williams 16 points, six boards and three assists, Jaya Scafidi 13 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals, and Alira Fotu 12 points, 11 boards and six assists.

The Wolfpack might still be winless three games into the 2026 season, but that second and third quarter against the reigning champions will give them great heart moving forward.

Perth Lynx WNBL import Yemiyah Morris might not have scored nor attempted a shot in the first half, but she had 10 points and seven of her 12 rebounds for the game after half-time to go with two blocks.

Ella Thornton-Elliott shot 3/11 from deep for 17 points with four rebounds, three steals and two assists while Kim Pierre-Louis finished with 16 points, six boards and three assists, and Asianae Johnson 13 points, five assists and four rebounds.

The Cougars not only have won 25 straight games in the NBL1 West, but have done so in dominant fashion and it looked set to continue on Saturday against the Wolves when they put up 36 points in the first quarter.

WNBL trio Jessie Edwards, Alex Ciabattoni and Alira Fotu combined for 26 of those and they led 36-16 by quarter-time on the back of shooting 54 per cent overall and going 4/6 from deep.

It was a tough opening for the Wolfpack in their home opener and import pair Yemiyah Morris and Kim Pierre-Louis only managing two combined points on 1/3 shooting with the latter picking up two fouls.

The signs were there of a blowout for the Cougars when they went up 26 in the second quarter but then Joondalup dug deep and ended up holding Cockburn to just 14 points in the term and three fouls to Edwards helped their cause.

The Wolves managed 22 points themselves including 10 in the quarter to Pierre-Louis to cut the Cougars lead to 12 at half-time even with Morris still scoreless on zero shot attempts in more than 11 minutes.

The Wolves then produced a tremendous third quarter as well with 22 points to 13 including Ella Thornton-Elliott catching fire from behind the three-point line.

Cockburn managed to shoot just 4/23 from the field for the quarter and suddenly it was just a three-point ball game by three quarter-time with the Wolfpack having gone on a 13-0 scoring run.

That winning streak was in serious jeopardy but the Cougars showed their quality with 29 points to 14 in the fourth quarter to push back out to a 20-point lead and to score the 18-point victory to make it 26 straight.

The Wolfpack remain at home to host to the unbeaten East Perth Eagles on Friday night while the Cougars have a double next weekend away to the Lakeside Lightning on Friday and then hosting Anneli Maley and the Perth Redbacks on Saturday.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 3

JOONDALUP WOLVES 73 (Thornton-Elliott 17, Pierre-Louis 16, Johnson 13)

COCKBURN COUGARS 92 (Edwards 29, Ciabattoni 17, Williams 16)