West Spotlight | Flames catch fire at home to Wolves

Featured image: @slmediaau

The scariest part of the Rockingham Flames putting up 42 points in the second quarter and 70 in the first half on the way to the 103-58 win over the Joondalup Wolves was that it was all done with Amy Atwell still to come back in.

The Flames were back home at Mike Barnett Sports Complex to host the Wolves on Saturday night and there was plenty of added intrigue with new Flames coach David Morrell up against his old team for the first time.

Shani Amos is also a former Wolves captain, Teige Morrell won an MVP there and Rockingham put in a scorching first half display with 42 points in the second quarter and 70 overall in the first half with 10/14 three-point shooting.

There would be no stopping them from there as they went on to win by 45 points to improve to a 6-2 record with their two losses only against their local rivals the Mandurah Magic.

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Atwell is also to come back into that team for the Flames as well and that's someone who has played WNBA and for the Australian Opals, is a WNBL regular and also a proven winner in the NBL1 on the undefeated Bendigo Braves team of 2023.

It was a rough night for Joondalup all round with 37 per cent shooting and just nine free-throw attempts along with only six offensive rebounds while having 17 turnovers.

Opposed to that, Rockingham still ended up shooting 51 per cent with 14/27 from downtown and 14 foul shots while pulling down 15 offensive rebounds and having just eight turnovers to end up taking 19 extra shots in the 45-point triumph.

Sara Puckett was playing her fifth game since joining the Flames and starred once more with 30 points and seven rebounds with 12/17 shooting from the field and 5/7 from behind the three-point line.

Teige Morrell was up against her first NBL1 West team and delivered 20 points, 15 rebounds and three assists with another former Wolfpack captain Shani Amos ending up with 13 points, five boards and four assists.

Paris Duffield also hit 3/6 from deep for 13 points with four rebounds while Tiana Wilson-Palmer added seven points, two boards and two assists.

Asianae Johnson top-scored for Joondalup with 18 points and two assists with 4/5 three-point shooting while Awatea Leach added nine points, five rebounds and three assists, and Kim Pierre-Louis eight points and four boards.

Yemiyah Morris also only played 11 minutes and went scoreless without a shot attempt and had just one rebound and one steal, and didn’t play in the last 18 minutes of the game.

It didn’t take long for the Flames to begin putting on a show on their home floor and they put up 28 points to 15 in the opening quarter to already be leading by 13 after the opening 10 minutes.

Rockingham then delivered a scintillating second period with 42 points and by half-time that saw them leading the Wolfpack 70-38 on the back of shooting 57 per cent from the field and 10/14 from beyond the arc opposed to the 44 per cent and 5/16 from the visitors.

Teige Morrell already had 16 points, Sara Puckett 13, Shani Amos 13 and Paris Duffield 10 with those four on their own outscoring Joondalup by 14 by half-time.

It was another 24 points to 10 in the third period for Rockingham before things dried up in the fourth for both teams as the benches emptied and they would combine for just 19 points with the Flames cruising to the statement 45-point home victory.

The Wolves will look to bounce back when they host the Joondalup Wolves next Saturday night while the Flames will be on the road to the Willetton Tigers on Saturday before also hosting the visiting Giants on Sunday.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 7

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 103 (Puckett 30, Morrell 20, Amos 13, Duffield 13)

JOONDALUP WOLVES 58 (Johnson 18, Leach 9, Pierre-Louis 8)