West Spotlight | Senators snap Cougars winning run

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The Cockburn Cougars escaped a close call the night before but their NBL1 West 30-game winning streak is over with the Warwick Senators back court of Jayda Clark and Chloe Forster instrumental in their team's 97-76 win.

Cockburn had not lost a game in the NBL1 West since the 2024 Grand Final against the Rockingham Flames with the Cougars going through all of 2025 undefeated before beating the Senators in the Grand Final at RAC Arena.

They then won their first seven matches of 2026 but on Friday night they were trailing most of the night against the East Perth Eagles before a big final quarter saw them extend their winning run to 30.

However, they are adjusting to life without Alex Ciabattoni now in their back court and that was the area where Warwick took control with Clark and Forster ending up combining for 56 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and 8/13 three-point shooting.

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The Cougars did make a run late in the third quarter, but the Senators continued to have all the answers on the way to the eventual 21-point victory to not only end Cockburn's winning run, but also beat the team they lost to in last year's Grand Final.

Warwick ended up shooting 52 per cent from the field and 15/34 from downtown opposed to the 43 per cent and 5/31 from the Cougars with Cockburn unable to take advantage of their size edge where they pulled down 14 offensive rebounds to six.

The Senators WNBL back court pairing of Jayda Clark and Chloe Forster were hugely instrumental in their team's stunning win.

Clark finished with 33 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals on 11/14 shooting from the floor, 4/6 from downtown and 7/8 at the free-throw line.

Then despite coming off the bench, Forster still playing over 30 minutes for 23 points, five rebounds and five assists with 4/9 three-point shooting.

Kiara Waite also provided 13 points, three rebounds, three steals and three blocks with 3/4 shooting from beyond the arc while Izzy Miotti battled hard down low for eight points, four rebounds and four assists, and new import Greta Kampschroeder had five points in almost 20 minutes.

Despite Cockburn losing for the first time since the 2024 Grand Final, Jessie Edwards had a huge night against the undersized Senators without Nat Burton by delivering 28 points, nine rebounds and two blocks with 18 of those points in the first half.

Jewel Williams added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists, Daniel Raber 11 points, six assists, three boards and three steals, and Darcee Garbin nine points and eight rebounds.

The Cougars survived a scare the previous night at home to East Perth before a big final quarter as they arrived at Warwick Stadium for the Grand Final rematch against a Senators outfit primed for the challenge.

Warwick coach Brad Robbins then pulled a surprise with putting just arrived import Greta Kampschroeder into the starting line-up straight away and bringing MVP candidate Chloe Forster off the bench.

It didn’t necessarily pay dividends but it was on the inside where Cockburn found an early advantage with Jessie Edwards having nine points in the first quarter with the Senators missing the size and experience of Nat Burton.

That saw the Cougars leading 24-21 by the end of one but the Senators then produced a stunning second quarter performance.

Warwick piled on 34 points in the quarter on the back of shooting 13/17 from the field, 8/11 from three-point territory and all of a sudden they were leading 55-41 by the half-time break.

Jayda Clark was up to 15 points, Kiara Waite 13 and Forster 11 with that trio combining to shoot 8/13 from behind the arc for the first half with the Cougars struggling with 2/11 long-range shooting and having an uncharacteristic nine turnovers.

The Cougars would have been further behind had it not been for the 18 opening half points from Edwards and while there was the inevitable wait for Cockburn to make their charge, Warwick continued to have the answers to go up by 19 during the third quarter.

Cockburn did finally start to grab some momentum to cut the deficit to nine just before three quarter-time, but Clark then came up with a huge shot on the buzzer for Warwick to still be up 11.

Then the Cougars could just never get on a run like they've done so often in their 30 straight wins including in last year's Grand Final and even on Friday night with a big final quarter against the Eagles.

Warwick weren’t going to be denied and not only snapped Cockburn's winning run and earned a measure of revenge for last year's Grand Final, but did it in emphatic style with the 21-point win.

The Cougars will now be in a new position next Saturday night when they host the Perry Lakes Hawks and that's trying to respond to a loss while the Senators having another big contest on the road to the Rockingham Flames the same evening.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 8

WARWICK SENATORS 97 (Clark 33, Forster 23, Waite 13)

COCKBURN COUGARS 76 (Edwards 28, Williams 12, Raber 11)