West Spotlight | Giants storm home to beat Tigers

Featured image: @mvalzmedia

Sierra Moore enhanced her MVP prospects by leading the Goldfields Giants to a huge finish to storm back from a 21-point deficit in the third quarter for the 95-88 road NBL1 West win on Sunday over the Willetton Tigers.

On the eve of the WA Day public holiday, it was a late afternoon start at Willetton Basketball Stadium with the Tigers hosting the Giants and the home team trying to snap a four-game losing slide to try and break back into the top eight.

Goldfields arrived at 6-3 and trying to break back into the top four as well and it was the Tigers with the better of the start to lead by five at quarter-time and by 12 at half-time.

Willetton then started the second half on a 9-1 run to be leading 61-40 and looked on track for a fourth win of the season.

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However, from that moment Goldfields dominated the game and held Willetton to four points the last eight minutes of the third quarter, and then kept that momentum going with a 35-point fourth quarter.

From the moment they were down 21, the Giants outscored the Tigers 55 points to 27 over the last 18 minutes of the game to win by seven and improve to a 7-3 record and to be back in fourth place as a result.

The big guns of the Giants ended up having big performances led by MVP fancy Sierra Moore with 26 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and five steals with 9/20 shooting from the field and 8/11 at the foul line.

Delaynie Byrne also had 26 points, eight rebounds and two steals with 10/15 shooting including 4/8 from three-point range.

Hazelle Yam also contributed 12 points and eight assists, Lexi Pana 11 points, six steals, three assists and two rebounds, Jemma Gatti eight points and seven boards, and 239-game captain Rachel Pettit eight points and four rebounds with 2/4 three-point shooting.

The Tigers have now lost five in-a-row to be 3-8 with Ruby Porter top scoring with 25 points, four assists and three rebounds on 4/13 three-point shooting.

Emma Calvert added 22 points and seven rebounds on 9/13 shooting with Remy Hearn contributing 13 points and 11 assists, Emma Gandini 12 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and five steals, and Nija Collier 10 points, seven boards and five assists.

Willetton were back home for the Sunday afternoon match up ahead of the WA Day public holiday and trying to snap a four-game losing slide with the Giants arriving trying to move back into the top four.

The Tigers had the better of the start with a 7-0 run in the first quarter on the way to a nine-point lead, and still being on top 24-19 by quarter-time with Emma Calvert and Ruby Porter combining to score 16 of those points.

The Giants big guns were struggling and as a team they were shooting just 38 per cent with Hazelle Yams scoring nine of their 19 points.

Willetton retained control by building a 14-point lead in the second quarter and then going into half-time with the 52-40 advantage and they had all the momentum having kept Goldfields' big guns in check over the first 20 minutes.

That lead got out to as much 21 points as well for Willetton when Remy Hearn knocked down a three-pointer two minutes into the second half.

The gauntlet had been thrown down to the Giants and they responded the rest of the third quarter outscoring the Tigers 20 points to four over the last eight minutes.

Willetton only scored four points in eight minutes with the Giants only trailing by five at three quarter-time with Sierra Moore leading the charge and up to 19 points and 10 rebounds by the end of the third period.

Goldfields then kept that momentum going with 35 points in the last quarter on the back of shooting 13/18 from the field, 4/7 from downtown and 5/6 at the foul line to end up romping to the seven-point victory in style.

The Giants return home next Saturday night to host the defending champion Cockburn Cougars while Willetton have another chance to get back to winning in two weeks' time at home to the Lakeside Lightning.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | HERITAGE ROUND

WILLETTON TIGERS 88 (Porter 25, Calvert 22, Hearn 13)

GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 95 (Moore 26, Byrne 26, Yam 12)