This Weekly WABL Wrap is brought to you by Baskin & Robbins East Victoria Park (828a Albany Highway, East Victoria Park). Every WABL player in our club has received a 2-for-1 voucher and this week’s home fixtures make for the perfect opportunity to head into the store for some cool and yummy ice-cream action after your game!
Here’s how our Round 3 WABL games went!
Women’s results and coach comments
12 RED – Joshua Wallace
Won against Cockburn Cougars 54-20
Josh loved to see:
- The girls’ ball movement and spacing in transition was really well done.
- Millie Stancil had a great first game coming back from a fractured wrist.
12 WHITE – John Care
Won against Cockburn Cougars 36-17
John loved seeing:
- Our defensive pressure this week was the best we played so far this season keeping Cockburn scoreless in the first quarter. Overall the team needs a special mention as everyone put in 100% on Sunday. But I’d like to mention the efforts of:
- Scarlett Sim who really played a great game today with her defensive pressure and her ability to finish her shots.
- Lainey Panizza whose defence was outstanding and kept Cockburn’s best player to just two points in the first half before going on to offensively dominate in the second half herself.
14 RED – Michelle Fletcher
Lost to Rockingham Flames 64-19
Michelle loved seeing:
- The girls trying to implement items they have been working in at training. They space well and worked hard for each other, and surprised themselves on occasions with things they were able to achieve on court
- Abbey Macham was outstanding, her work ethic is to be commended
- Olivia Bennison and Charlotte Broadbent were strong under the basket on both ends
- Ashlyn Steers and Jenna Jackson showed great composure when it was needed, whilst Ava Lindegger and Taijah Babich created more defensive stops as the game went on.
14 WHITE – Haylee Smyth
Won against Lakeside Lightning 53-45
Hayley loved seeing:
- We had some really good patches where the whole team were playing really solid defence and making good decisions offensively. We were able to make reads off our baseline play.
- Miki Deshon – had excellent control with the ball, was able to make very good decisions in offence. She played tight on defence and finished with 26 points.
- Matilda Pyne – her effort level was really high and she was diving after every loose ball.
- Ebony Cox – really stepped up her defence in the second half and took ownership of playing on one of Lakeside’s best players.
14 BLACK – Zac Belton
Won against Joondalup Wolves 43-30
Zac loved seeing:
- The girls were very hungry for the ball this week and displayed an aggressive and intense desire to chase the ball. The entire team delivered a fantastic defensive performance. This week’s victory came purely from working together as a team and our offense really flourished thanks to our defensive performance.
- Alice Inman was the team leader we all know she is, one of the loudest off the bench and showed some really wonderful footwork. She was looking for her teammates, she boxed out and communicated and really was the spark plug for us today.
- Gabby Manalo put on a display of scoring with 20 points and some fantastic defensive pressure and showed off some fantastic court vision making some really good assists that allowed her teammates to score.
- Matilda Wyatt contributed 6 points but that doesn’t take away from her intense and aggressive desire for the ball, Matilda caused 6-7 jump balls, at least 5 steals and 7 deflections.
- Tahlia Bentley did a 10/10 job on defense pressuring the ball at every turn she easily had 7-8 steals, 5-6 jump balls and a good 10 deflections.
16 RED – Adrian Warner
Lost to South West Slammers 59-48
Adrian loved seeing:
- We were all at sea and down by 20 points before the end of the first quarter but the girls showed great resilience to regroup and we got back to within 6 points with a few minutes to go.
- Amber De Rossi maintained her defensive intensity at the same high level she displayed last week and lifted her teammates in the process. Tyra Moody worked hard at both ends and really set the standard for work rate and results. It was really pleasing to see Jasmin Wynn make an adjustment at quarter time in her defensive positioning against a dominant big and pretty much took her out of the game on the offensive end while grabbing a bunch of strong boards herself.
16 WHITE – Anne-Marie and Bryn Arnold
Lost to Rockingham Flames 73-51
Anne-Marie and Bryn loved seeing:
- When we challenged a number individuals the responded in a really positive way and played some of their best basketball for the season
- Tegan Wilkinson showed what she is capable of with her best performance so far.
- Tatum Cooper had a solid game on both ends of the floor.
18 RED – Brayden Cook
Won against Joondalup Wolves 54-47
Brayden loved seeing:
- Our effort was always constant throughout the game and we were able to keep our composure when under pressure. I was pleased with the way the girls worked together as a team on the defensive end to get multiple stops late in the game.
- Emma Ormond’s intensity and defensive presence. Emma’s defense in the keyway caused the opposition to change their shot resulting in a miss and stop for our team. She finished the game with 6 blocked shots and was a vocal leader on the defensive end.
Men’s results and coach comments
12 RED – Brad Dowd
Lost to Willetton 61-39
Brad loved seeing:
- Our first quarter was very impressive as we executed our game plan really well.
- Cooper Poustie was given a shut down job on the opposition’s top scorer for the second week in the row and once again, executed really well.
12 BLACK – Ron Flores
Won against Kalamunda Eastern Suns 43-37
Ron loved seeing:
- Our rebounding effort was great, especially given three of our bigs were out of action.
- Deacon Hollows really stepped up and with his defensive pressure and led our team with rebounds.
- Tyler Murphy has a great all round game.
- Koby Kalebic led the team with his defensive intensity and offensively found his teammates when open.
12 WHITE – Dylan Vilardi
Won against South West Slammers 59-43
Dylan loved seeing:
- Our team’s hustle, energy, communication, bench encouragement
- Zeke Brian and Matty Lucano both came out and did an amazing job, especially at the start of the third quarter with a bunch of deflections/steals which led into many fast break points and got us a great lead.
12 GREY – Jacob Kelly
Lost to East Perth Eagles 39-31
Jacob loved seeing:
- Our defence was much improved this week. We spread out on offence and were able to move the ball more.
- Jett Murphy played an amazing game with some great defence
14 RED – Colin Driscoll
Lost to East Perth Eagles 49-46
Colin loved seeing:
- Getting back on defense, managed to improve our transition defence.
- Caleb Hoenig’s defensive steal which provided us with an opportunity to control the outcome of the game.
14 BLACK – Ash Brian
Lost to South West Slammers 39-36
Ash loved seeing:
- Team defence – we kept our opposition under 40
- Individually, Justin Morgan and Kano Kudray really stepped up their defence in this game.
14 WHITE – Al Lackovic
Won against East Perth Eagles 58-35
Al loved seeing:
- Our boys being more vocal on “D”, winning the LOUDEST voices on the court battle, bringing a COMPETITOR attitude, winning the rebound count convincingly against a much bigger opponent and staying under our turnover target
- Our execution and great decision making on “O” & “D” is allowing us to play fast or control tempo and create pressure.
- Romeo Lyszkowicz’s amazing rebounding and defensive intercepts
- Ben Galvin’s strong work in the paint and pressure without reaching/fouling
- Hamish Gibson and Jerry Davies’ ability to create pressure and turnovers
- Maksim Lackovic using his decision making, handles and vision to create assists
14 GREY – Alex Maude
Lost to East Perth Eagles 81-38
Alex loved seeing:
- Given the deficit at halftime, the boys didn’t drop their heads, and performed a much better second half
- Cleon Ryder and Murphy Martin working together to create stops at the half and creating good looks for their teammates to score.
- Nikola Burza, Michael Ryan and Griffin Williams-Antulov fighting hard for every rebound and the ball in the key, and didn’t back down even though the opponents were taller.
- Mateo Rea didn’t give up on a single play, and was in rebound contests and winning them against opponents twice his height.
- Jamie Wilson, Cooper Thompson, Calloway Ball and Ben Maine took the game on and showed confidence when bringing the ball up the floor, taking good open shots and great passing to cutting teammates.
16 RED – Luke Notley
Lost to Warwick Senators 89-48
Luke loved seeing:
- That even though we didn’t play our best basketball in the first half, we were able to keep the margin to only 6 points.
16 BLACK – Bevan Rankin
Won against East Perth Eagles 86-70
Bevan loved seeing:
- Our defensive transition was outstanding, we constantly got back in defense and were always in position which allowed us to get easy turnovers.
- We lost our starting 4-man with illness just before the game and the two boys who stepped up to fill the role were amazing.
- Thanos Snooks-Holding provided a tremendous outside presence consistently hitting the open shot, great job Thanos.
- Sam Burnett was an absolute monster on the boards both offensively and defensively. Sam also ran the floor and filled the lanes to perfection.
- Finally special mention for Declan Pyne – his post game is coming together very nicely.
16 WHITE – Mark Edman
Won against Rockingham Flames 107-46
Mark loved seeing:
- Full team involvement with a focus on fast break transition, running options out of offence and connecting as a team
16 GREY – Michael Riley
Won against Mandurah Magic 7-58
Michael loved seeing:
- Good defensive pressure on the half-court press and man to man, recognition when the press has broken down, and running back quickly, the way we found our shooters for good looks, and the way our shooters got in good position to catch and shoot.
- Ben Berardis’s aggressive defence on the press and coming away with steals
- Ethan Logan’s commitment on both end of courts and his ability to focus his teammates on the task ahead
- Cooper Deshon’s shooting and poise throughout the game
- Riley Ford’s commitment to figure out the defense and his ability to create good looks in the key
18 RED – Gavin Burnett
Won against Mandurah Magic 79-77
Gavin loved seeing:
- The whole team bought into the targets we set. We won the rebound count, had less turnovers and went to the line 39 times. We worked hard in defence and held their best player scoreless until the final term. We held Mandurah to our defensive target of 31 and reached our own scoring target of 50 at the half. The second half was scrappy but we scraped home with a win.
- Vic Komaiya continues to be a dominant force at both ends. He pulled down 14 boards, 7 of which were offensive and scored 25 points. Connor Rothman and Riley Lenzo were given the assignment of restricting Mandurah’s star point guard to 12 points. They held him scoreless until the final term and would have achieved the target if not for a 3 and 1 in the final 10 seconds of the game. Harper Gadsby was also solid with another double-double. Our overall defensive effort was very solid. Vic, Harper, Connor Rothman and Riley Burnett pulled down nearly 70% of our team’s rebounds between them. Mitch Nixon continued to trouble shooters with 4 blocks and three deflections. We also bid farewell to Zach Yunovich who played his last game for the Redbacks before heading overseas with his family. Zach grabbed five defensive boards.
18 WHITE – Simon Daff
Won against Joondalup Wolves 75-71
Simon loved seeing:
- That we had a horrible first half but completely turned it around in the 2nd half. As a team we’re starting to see what we’re capable of.
- Ethan Port Louis had a very courageous game. He hurt his wrist in the second quarter and was shaken up. Led the comeback in the second half. Really took charge of the game and finished with 28 points. Rory Charles was a monster with his rebounding and hustle and Ash Haemori in his 100th game for the club started and provided a good spark at both ends.
18 GREY – Carlos Uribe
Lost to Willetton 71-56
Carlos loved seeing:
- This was a very defensive game and it’s good to see our team getting better at managing the pressure of these kinds of games.
- Jafari Davison’s improvement has been noticeable and his determination is great.
20 RED – David Swaby
Won against Perry Lakes Hawks 90-74
Dave loved seeing:
- Just the consistent energy, talk, intensity and focus all game long with no let down.
- We had a really good solid team effort but simply can’t ignore an incredible performance by Lachlan Bertram who had 49 points despite being subbed out with a couple minutes left and passing up a few easy buckets late. Khalid Elmi had an impressive game defensively always being in the right spot, helping teammates, getting deflections and sparking our fast break.
20 BLACK – Luke Simonette
Lost to Warwick Senators 91-63
Luke loved seeing:
- Great first half, kept us to within 5 points. All facets of the game that require great effort (helpside, on ball D and talk) were outstanding
- Thomas Swindle providing a full four-quarter effort
- Caleb Norman, Bailey Trahorsch and Matt Wallwork working hard to lock up the opposing team’s leading scorer