The Perth Redbacks were on the road for a fourth successive road fixture in the NBL1 West on Saturday night with a mixed evening of results in the end against the Cockburn Cougars.
The evening got underway with a loss in the women’s clash for the Redbacks with the Cougars prevailing 87-74 but the men turned things around with an impressive performance to defeat Cockburn 89-72.
Starting the women’s contest on Saturday night, the Redbacks were playing their first game of the weekend but it was a fourth straight road game for them after beating the Eagles and Mandurah Magic over the last two weeks but also losing a nail-biter against the Rockingham Flames.
So the stage was set for what was set to be a tremendous contest particularly with the match up of WNBL calibre bigs Jessie Edwards and Maddie Allen.
Cockburn picked up their momentum from the previous night with 26 points to 20 in the opening quarter but the Redbacks got rolling in the second period to turn things around with 26 points to 19.
That saw the Redbacks head into half-time leading on the road against the Cougars 46-45 with the game set up for a cracking second half.
But it was Cockburn who dominated much of the second half starting with 23 points to 15 in the third quarter, and another 19 to 13 in the fourth to end up beating the Redbacks 87-74.
The Redbacks are now 4-3 after the four consecutive road games before getting to return to Belmont Oasis next Saturday night in a tantalising match up with the Warwick Senators.
There were plenty of rebounds to be had across the game and the Cougars pulled in 54 of them opposed to 44 from the Redbacks but it was the offensive boards where Cockburn had 18 of them to 11.
Makailah Dyer put in another standout performance for the Redbacks to do all she could to give them a chance of the win finishing with 26 points, nine rebounds and four assists including being rewarded for aggressiveness with 10/11 from the foul line.
Raya Thompson also had 10 points and three assists for Perth, Jess Jakens 10 points and eight rebounds, Denielle Ashworth nine points, and Maddie Allen eight points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Then in the men’s match up, it was a tight opening to the clash with scores all locked together at 22-22 by quarter-time.
It remained a seesaw contest throughout the second quarter as well and with Perth scoring 26 points to 24 of those from Cockburn, it was the Redbacks who held a narrow 48-46 advantage going into half-time.
The second half was then all the Redbacks as they put together some of their best form so far this NBL1 West season. They scored 22 points to 15 from the Cougars in the third quarter, and another 19 to 11 in the fourth.
That meant the Redbacks came away from Wally Hagan Stadium with the 89-72 win over the Cougars to improve to a 3-4 record after the four consecutive road matches.
Zac Gattorna put together his best performance of the season for the Redbacks delivering 26 points and seven rebounds on the back of hitting 4/8 from three-point territory.
Louis Timms continued his impressive form as he adjusts to life with the Redbacks too with 19 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots.
Tevin Jackson was impressive as well with 15 points, six assists and five rebounds with Lachlan Bertram contributing 10 points, Joel Wagner eight points, three rebounds and two steals, and Derek Igbenoba five points and three boards.