West Spotlight | Flames hold out Wolves

Featured image: Michael Farnell @sportsimageryau

Shani Amos enjoyed her return to her old home, Amy Atwell was back and Sara Puckett continued to shine as the Rockingham Flames returned to NBL1 West second place with the 69-62 win against the Joondalup Wolves.

It was a crucial game for both teams with Rockingham still fighting for a top two position while Joondalup had moved into the top eight having won their last couple of games.

They turned up at Arena Joondalup with both looking to keep their recent momentum going and the Flames dominated the first half to be leading by 20 points at half-time having held the Wolves to 8/31 shooting and into 11 turnovers.

But then the Wolves flipped the switch to hold Rockingham to 27 points on 10/41 shooting but they could never quite hit the front with the Flames doing enough to seal the eventual seven-point win.

The result makes it three straight wins for Rockingham to improve them to a 14-4 record to replace the East Perth Eagles in second place again with Joondalup now 7-11 with the defeat.

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Rockingham didn’t ever really get going offensively how they are capable of ending up shooting just 30 per cent from the field and 9/38 from downtown while pulling down 25 offensive rebounds, but they put up an extra 22 shot attempts than the Wolves.

Rockingham ended up holding on with Sara Puckett delivering 25 points and eight rebounds with 10/18 field goal shooting.

Amy Atwell played her first game back and hit 4/14 from beyond the three-point line for 16 points, four rebounds and three assists with Teige Morrell putting up 11 points, 20 boards, three assists and two steals.

Lesila Finau added seven points, six assists and four rebounds, and Stef Berberabe four points, seven assists and six boards.

Joondalup had a horror first half with the 22 points on 8/31 shooting with 11 turnovers, but then had 40 points on 16/29 shooting in the second half with just the seven turnovers to get back within two points late and give themselves a chance to grab the win.

Kim Pierre-Louis fired once more for the Wolfpack with another 20 points, four assists and three rebounds with 7/14 field goal shooting.

Asianae Johnson added 15 points and five rebounds, Yemiyah Morris nine points, 18 boards and three blocked shots, and Ella Thornton-Elliott nine points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals.

Rockingham were fresh off beating the Perry Lakes Hawks back on Thursday night where they celebrated the 200th game of Paris Duffield with Joondalup having won their past couple of games too to be inside the top eight.

The Flames started strongly away from home with 19 points to 10 in the first quarter with 10 points already from Sara Puckett even though they were only shooting 30 per cent as a team.

It was a tough opening from the Wolfpack with those 10 points on 3/17 shooting with eight of those scored by Kim Pierre-Louis.

Rockingham had another 23 points to 12 in the second quarter with Puckett adding another eight points with Amy Atwell warming up with three triples on her way to nine points in her first game back.

That saw the Flames leading 42-22 by half-time where they held the Wolfpack to shooting 8/31 from the field with 0/14 from behind the three-point line and then also into having 11 turnovers.

The Wolves did respond to make a game of it in the third quarter and held Rockingham to just the eight points with 1/8 from downtown and shooting overall 3/17.

Joondalup then put up 17 points themselves with 7/15 shooting and by three quarter-time Rockingham's lead was back to 50-39.

The Wolves then got all the way back within two points with 3:30 to play on the back of a Pierre-Louis three ball and then a bucket to Asianae Johnson.

Rockingham responded with a score to Teige Morrell before Lesila Finau stretched the lead to four and then Atwell knocked down another three ball with a minute left to end up helping the Flames secure the seven-point win to take them back to second position.

The Flames will now finish the regular season with two games at home firstly this coming Saturday night against the Willetton Tigers.

The Wolfpack now head to Kalgoorlie to take on the Goldfields Giants in a crucial match up next Saturday night too.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | FIRST NATIONS ROUND

JOONDALUP WOLVES 62 (Pierre-Louis 20, Johnson 15, Morris 9, Thornton-Elliott 9)

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 69 (Puckett 25, Atwell 16, Morrell 11)