West Spotlight | Whitcomb lights it up for Flames

The Rockingham Flames didn't have Amy Atwell, but added NBL1 West MVP's Teige Morrell and Sami Whitcomb with the latter putting in a dazzling display for 42 points and 16 rebounds in the 107-79 home opening win against the Lakeside Lightning.

While Whitcomb awaits to see where her WNBA home will be in 2026 on the back of playing at the Phoenix Mercury in 2025 and having just played in Türkiye with Beşiktaş JK, she returned to where it all began for her with the Flames at Mike Barnett Sports Complex back in 2013.

She won two MVP awards and helped Rockingham to two championships as a kickstart to her WNBL, WNBA, Australian Opals and European career since, but Perth is home for her and wife Kate Malpass and their young family, and she's back at the Flames to open the 2026 season.

While Atwell was unavailable this weekend for the home opener while on Australian Gangurrus 3x3 duties, not only did Rockingham bring in Whitcomb, but also the reigning MVP Morrell who has made the move to the Flames in 2026 alongside coach David Morrell.

Whitcomb then already had 15 points in the first quarter on Saturday night and the Flames would hold a double-figure lead most of the way against Lakeside before then putting up 29 points to 13 in the last quarter to score the eventual 28-point win.

It was a blistering performance from Rockingham with 65 per cent shooting from the field with 12/25 from three-point range to open their account for 2026.

It was quite the dazzling performance from Whitcomb who finished with 42 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and two steals on 15/24 field goal shooting while going 3/9 from downtown and 9/11 at the foul line with Rockingham +31 in her 34 minutes.

Reigning MVP Teige Morrell also had 16 points and eight rebounds on debut for Rockingham against her former team while captain Shani Amos was +34 in 31 minutes with her eight points, six assists and four rebounds.

Stefanie Berberabe also had 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals, Paris Duffield 11 points on 3/3 three-point shooting, and Paris Spencer 11 points on 4/6 shooting from the floor.

On the back of their 88 three-point attempts across their two games in the opening round, they did get up another 37 against Rockingham but only made 10 of them with Sarah Allen going 5/11 and last week's Saturday night hero Regan Turnour-McCarty 3/10.

Allen ended up scoring 17 points on the back of that with Turnour-McCarty having nine points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals.

Sam Lubcke top-scored with 20 points and nine rebounds on 9/12 shooting with Sam Roscoe delivering 12 points, two rebounds and two assists, and Esmeralda Morales 12 points and six assists.

The Flames might have been coming off a loss and might have been without Amy Atwell, but they did add in two MVP's for their home opener and Sami Whitcomb set the tone for the rest of the evening with her 15 points in the first quarter.

She also knocked down her only two three-pointers of the opening three quarters and with Rockingham shooting 77 per cent from the field, they were leading 30-25 by quarter-time.

But Lakeside did well to stay in touch on the back of getting up 10 extra shot attempts thanks to seven offensive rebounds for nine second chance points and with Sarah Allen adding a spark with eight quick points and a couple of three-pointers.

Whitcomb added another eight points in the second quarter to already have 23 for half-time in her Rockingham return and the Flames were still shooting a blistering 65 per cent as a team, but they couldn’t shake off the Lightning.

Lakeside still had seven more shot attempts for the half and with Esmeralda Morales and Sam Roscoe combining for 20 points at the half, they limited the Rockingham lead to 52-46.

Rockingham was able to push back out to a 13-point lead in the third quarter and maintained that 12-point edge by three quarter-time on the back of another 10 points from Whitcomb while Morrell got to work too to have 17 and seven rebounds to her name going into the fourth.

The Flames then put the game to bed for good with the opening seven points in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter leading to a quick timeout from Craig Mansfield, but it didn’t change the momentum with Rockingham cruising to the 25-point win in their home opener.

The Flames now hit the road on Friday night against the South West Slammers while the Lightning head to Kalgoorlie to play the Goldfields Giants on Saturday.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 2

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 107 (Whitcomb 42, Morrell 16, Berberabe 14)

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 79 (Lubcke 20, Allen 17, Morales 12, Roscoe 12)