This Weekly WABL Wrap is brought to you by Baskin Robbins East Victoria Park (828a Albany Highway, East Victoria Park). Why not take the opportunity to show them your support? Head into the store for some cool and yummy ice-cream action after your game!
Here’s how our Round 4 WABL games went!
Women’s results and coach comments
12 RED – Joshua Wallace
Won against Mandurah Magic 47-40
Josh loved to see:
- Our ball movement, in particular in transition offence. The girls have become a very unselfish, pass first team and it is really good to watch.
- Ella Welsh’s ball pressure once again was fantastic. She is turning into a great on ball defender.
- Michelle Ninyette lit a fire under the team with three quick fast break layups to start the third quarter, on the back of good team defence.
- Sasha Nona positioned herself really well on the offensive end and made her shots count, finishing with 10 points.
- Leeshar and Mafa Tuialii’s rim protection was amazing in the second half – blocking and changing shots, which led to a lot of fast break opportunities.
12 WHITE – John Care
Won against East Perth 53-4
John loved seeing:
- Our defence has improved week in week and the pressure the girls put on the East Perth team from start to finish was fantastic.
- The whole team having moments of greatness in both offence and defence.
- The way they got around each other and supported each other at both ends of the court.
14 RED – Bri Bailey
Won against the Slammers 35-20
Bri loved seeing:
- The way the girls worked together.
- Taijah Babich’s defensive intensity.
14 WHITE – Haylee Smyth
Won against Warwick Senators 47-38
Hayley loved seeing:
- The way we remembered what we had worked on at training and applied it into the game. This was by far our best team effort game
- Kate Anderson had 16 rebounds she really got after the boards and her help defence was very good.
- Saoirse Smart also had 15 rebounds and it was a much-improved game from her.
- Overall I just want to highlight how well we played as a team, we made the right decisions offensively and our team defence was much improved on previous weeks.
14 BLACK – Zac Belton
Won against Mandurah Magic 45-25
Zac loved seeing:
- While we started off slow in the first, the girls really ramped up their defensive intensity in the second quarter and continued to the fourth. Our split-line defence was one to behold as our help defence also denied many of their scoring opportunities!
- Our teamwork also showed on the scoreboard with 7 out of 10 girls having 4+ points. The girls have been working on their shooting and making the extra pass which has really opened up for us.
- Keira Tran put on a fantastic defensive display knowing when to help and really showed her impact with her passing and tempo!
- Tahlia Bentley also put on a fantastic defensive display showing she’s more than capable of taking on the toughest assignment.
- Alex Temby being the loudest almost all the time and having confidence in herself – she played a terrific game both defensively and offensively!
16 RED – Adrian Warner
Won against Kalamunda 58-54
Adrian loved seeing:
- We got off to a great start in the 1st quarter but we allowed the Suns to come back at us and take the lead late in the 3rd quarter. The team showed great resilience and focus to regroup and take the lead back by 3/4 time and then played solidly in the 4th to get a 14 point lead with 4 mins to go. Kalamunda came back hard again but we held on to notch our first win at our first home game!
- Tyra Moody continues to set the standard at both ends. Jasmin Wynn took the ball to the hoop with more confidence and it paid off. Joia Kowaleski worked hard to apply our team principles and played with great discipline in D trans. Sagal Elmi played her best game yet and brought great energy and displayed much-improved decision making.
16 WHITE – Anne-Marie and Bryn Arnold
Lost to Hills Raiders 83-33
Anne-Marie and Bryn loved seeing:
- The second quarter showed what the team is capable of when we look after the ball and work as a team on the defensive end of the floor
- Issy Woods was outstanding on both ends of the floor, especially the hustle she provides the team by diving on numerous loose balls.
18 RED – Brayden Cook
Lost to Lakeside 48-60
Brayden loved seeing:
- The effort the girls showed to keep fighting till the end of the game despite the scoreline.
- Porscha Barnes and her intensity and work ethic despite still coming off an injury.
- Emma Ormond’s defensive presence, she continues to be a reliable shot blocker in the keyway.
Men’s results and coach comments
12 RED – Brad Dowd
Won against Mandurah Magic 70-51
Brad loved seeing:
- The boys shooting well at 49% from the field, which indicates they have been doing their shooting practice at home.
- Although the game looked a little messy/ugly on the offensive end, this was mostly because the boys did a good job reading and responding to what the opposition defence was offering up (lots of open lanes), especially in the second quarter when we outscored them 21-7 after only being up by 2 at quarter time.
- In our team, everyone is capable of scoring so I loved seeing how even our scoring spread was with our top 7 scorers having 12, 10, 10, 10, 9, 8, 6. This kind of spread obviously makes things really hard for the opposition.
12 BLACK – Ron Flores
Lost to Willetton 61-47
Ron loved seeing:
- At points in the game when we as a team applied ourselves we were very disruptive.
- Koby Kalebic was great with a really good all-round game leading the team in rebounds and defensive pressure.
- Lennox Lyszkowicz battled very hard all through the game being our only genuine big.
12 WHITE – Dylan Vilardi
Won against Kalamunda 69-22
Dylan loved seeing:
- We stuck to our defensive principles which led into good offence
- Cash Surin had a standout game. Came out and hit some tough shots and also hustling back on defence really well
12 GREY – Jacob Kelly
Lost to South West Slammers 47-28
Jacob loved seeing:
- Our effort levels and how we never gave up
- Zac Hollands played a really good game with some amazing passes and got to the ring very well
14 RED – Colin Driscoll
Lost to Kalamunda 69-46
Colin loved seeing:
- Our defensive response late in the game
- Sasha Zugic’s understanding of the importance of moving without the ball which helps create space for teammates.
14 BLACK – Ash Brian
Lost to Warwick Senators 46-70
Ash loved seeing:
- We had a fantastic first half 25-28 and had really positioned ourselves to give the top team a fair shake.
- For the first half, we were upbeat and full of energy. (It’s only when fatigue set in that we then started to struggle with their press.)
- We did a fantastic job of owning the keyway.
- Ollie Graham was great on the boards in this game. He has great footwork and can really be counted on for a high percentage of controlled putbacks.
- Justin Morgan put together a great offensive game today. Some good drives and finish moves.
14 WHITE – Al Lackovic
Won against East Perth 47-42
Al loved seeing:
- The boys reinforced their COMPETITOR character approach against yet another much bigger opposition. The squad executed the team plan perfectly with energy, focus and discipline and were rewarded in winning all four quarters.
- Together the team achieved our turnover goal and narrowly lost the rebound count to a much taller/larger and older team.
- Ben Galvin had a career-best game with 15 rebounds and 20 points. While managing early fouls he was supported by his paint beasts in Romeo Lyszkowicz and Samuel Peirce. Our twin tornadoes (Jerry Davies and Hamish Gibson) caused chaos for the opposition causing multiple turnovers and feeding our wings and slots in offense. James Bowen also created havoc with deflections, steals and assists. We called for moments of brilliance in a close second half and both Hamish Gibson and Zac Anfuso put their bodies on the line for offensive charges.
14 GREY – Alex Maude
Lost to the South West Slammers 59-54
Alex loved seeing:
- Every one of the boys sprinted back on defence to stop the fast break, fought for every loose ball and took good, open shots. If the shot wasn’t there, they passed the ball to a teammate with a better shot.
- The whole team played extremely well and the fight they gave in the last quarter showed. Being down by 13 at the start of the 4th, the boys pushed each other and managed to get the margin to only 3 points. Did not give up once in the final quarter which shows how much they wanted the ball, and the win as well.
16 RED – Luke Notley
Won against Joondalup Wolves 80-58
Luke loved seeing:
- We did a great job getting after the ball, hard showing on screens, lock and trailing the cutters. We talked more in defence this week and were united together as a team.
- Aiden Cannington did a great job controlling the tempo this week and calling plays
- Harper Mitchell-Oehlers and Finn Warner had standout games
- Charlie Morcombe and Malik Powell were solid as rocks in defence
- Brayden Atwell played some great defence especially in the later part of the game – lock and trailing their cutters.
16 BLACK – Bevan Rankin
Lost to Warwick Senators 63-60
Bevan loved seeing:
- We stuck to the game plan for 90% of the game, unfortunately, a few lapses on both offense and defence cost us the win in the end.
- Our focus this week was protecting the paint and limiting our opponents second chance opportunities and our four bigs, led by Ethan Saliacus did a tremendous job.
- Our offense was once again led by Kade McMillan, Kade was truly outstanding today and I believe took his game to the next level. If we managed to set a few more screens for him and protected him a bit more I believe we would have come away with the win. Absolutely great job Kade.
16 WHITE – Mark Edman
Lost to Joondalup 84-61
Mark loved seeing:
- That we didn’t give up when shots and layups were not dropping.
- The team learning to play against a bigger team and against a press
16 GREY – Michael Riley
Won against Hills Raiders 88-78
Michael loved seeing:
- That we could execute down the stretch very well, played hard defence and showed great teamwork. Our communication on court was by far the best we have had.
- Riley Ford’s defensive efforts and ability to listen were great.
18 RED – Gavin Burnett
Lost to Willetton 81-72
Gavin loved seeing:
- We fought out a very physical game to the end. Our effort was admirable even though we didn’t execute on the offensive side of our game as well as we could have. Our defence was generally solid and we forced a lot of turnovers from the opposition, we drew fouls in the paint and went to the line 21 times.
- Vic Komaiya with 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 21 points was again among our best. Harper Gadsby dished out 4 assists, grabbed 7 boards and dropped 9 points in a solid all-round performance. Mitch Nixon played strongly for 13 points, 6 rebounds 3 blocks and 2 assists. Connor Rothman was best off the bench in a hard-working defensive effort while also grabbing 4 boards, dishing out 3 assists and grabbing 3 steals to go with 5 points. Owen Pang was also solid with 6 assists and 6 points and a hard-working defensive effort. Ryan Duke-Yonge had an amazing VPS of 5.0 in limited minutes, which augurs well for him in coming weeks.
18 WHITE – Simon Daff
Won against Lakeside Lightning 97-88
Simon loved seeing:
- Our resilience. We have started poorly the last 2 games but come back strong in the 2nd half. Our talking and defensive structures were a lot better today.
- Connor Wilson had a great game at both ends of the floor. He’s a terrific rebounder for his size and allows the game to come to him – he is never rushed. He finished with 18 points. Captain Ethan Port-Louis in his 100th game for the club also had an outstanding game with 26 points but his on-ball defence today was the real feature.
18 GREY – Carlos Uribe
Won against Mandurah 90-63
Carlos loved seeing:
- For the first time this season our team recovered from mistakes that saw us being down early in the first quarter. We ended up fighting back to be up by 10 points in the same quarter and then put an additional 10-point gap on in the following quarter. It was great to see the players overcoming the turnovers and mistakes and retaking the enthusiasm required to win.
- Kaden Morcombe was a key player in every aspect of the game with 15 rebounds and more than 20 points, plus great defence and some steals.
20 RED – David Swaby
Lost to Kalamunda 69-59
Dave loved seeing:
- The mental toughness, belief and confidence to compete and battle back after a rough start.
- Despite things not going our way and not having a great game as a team I thought Dylan Vilardi and Fletcher Clemmence showed a lot of fight and mental toughness. They continued to compete and did not give in.
20 BLACK – Luke Simonette
Lost to Rockingham 97-77
Luke loved seeing:
- 34 minutes of great, intense basketball. Good talk, intensity, teamsmanship and hustle. Pick and roll offense looked great
- Caleb Kingston injected great energy from the bench
- Bailey Trashorsch is growing into a big man role
- Tom Swindle and James Vegvary really put the clamps on defensively