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 9 WABL games went (there were several nailbiters in there!)
Women’s results and coach comments
12 RED – Joshua Wallace
Won against Rockingham Flames 48-44
Josh loved seeing:
- After one of our girls injured themselves 30 seconds into the second quarter, we were down to 7 players for the game. The girls did not give up and found a way to grind out a win in trying circumstances.
- Sienna Duong and Sasha Nona stepped up on the boards working hard to compete as we were smaller than usual in this game.
- Leeshar Tuialii and Michelle Ninyette’s point production was important, especially late in the game, given that we had a rough shooting game as a team.
12 WHITE – John Care
Lost to Perry Lakes 39-22
John loved seeing:
- The girls really took it to the top of the ladder Perry Lakes today. We always knew it was going to be hard but we fought hard for three quarters and unfortunately just couldn’t finish.
- Overall the whole team needs to be mentioned providing good defensive pressure in the backcourt, good execution on gameplays and strong fight for most of the game.
14 RED – Bri Bailey
Lost to Perry Lakes 86-37
Bri loved seeing:
- Jenna Jackson and Abbey Macham for their great aggression to get the ball up the court through hard defensive pressure.
- Charlotte Broadbent for getting after boards every play.
- Isabella Wolfenden and Ashlyn Steers for their constant battling.
14 WHITE – Haylee Smyth
Lost to Perry Lakes 31-30
Hayley loved seeing:
- Our effort in fighting back after half time was great. Our on-ball and team defence in the second half was outstanding. Hopefully, we can continue to play defence like this all the time because if we do we will be unstoppable
- Ebony Cox had her best game for the season she was aggressive offensively, set great screens and her defence on girls bigger than her was outstanding.
- Kate Anderson had another great game for us where she fought hard for the ball, rebounded well and her defence on the ball was much improved.
- Blaise Stancil’s defence today was excellent and much improved. She didn’t get beaten on the ball and in transition defence, she sprinted back every time.
14 BLACK – Zac Belton
Won against Lakeside Lightning 51-33
Zac loved seeing:
- Our transition made some terrific strides during the game, it’s fantastic to see our training efforts transition into games. I also felt our defence in the full court was a lot better compared to previous weeks.
- Olivia Mirco who did a fantastic job of playing the transition game, she picked up 14 points and half of those were from transition.
- Gabby Manolo for another stellar performance on defence, I loved her ability to be the team leader and call out to girls about their positioning.
- Alex Temby whose confidence is getting better every week taking her mid-range jump shots that I know she’s capable of hitting.
- Jade Fletcher did a good job defensively and boxing out, listening to what I said about positioning and being in the right spots.
16 RED – Adrian Warner
Lost to Perry Lakes Hawks 111-41
Adrian loved seeing:
- We maintained positive energy and attitude throughout the game. After some early hiccups, we were able to bring the ball down the court fairly easily and with control against a very aggressive press.
16 WHITE – Anne-Marie and Bryn Arnold
Lost to Lakeside 54-56
Anne-Marie and Bryn loved seeing:
- Our best four-quarter effort of the season. Every player contributed a number of outstanding efforts throughout the contest. Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong side after Lakeside hit a three-pointer with ten seconds left in the game and we couldn’t convert in the dying seconds.
- Megan Taylor bounced back from an ankle injury to lead all scorers with her best performance of the year.
- Meg Capewell also had her best performance of the year adding 10 points.
- Amelia Weber was outstanding, playing on one leg and leading the team with a number of crucial rebounds at both ends of the floor.
- Kate Anderson added another dimension to the team and was outstanding in her first game.
18 RED – Brayden Cook
Lost to Lakeside Lightning 62-54
Brayden loved seeing:
- I was pleased with the team’s effort and intensity in the last quarter. We really made a fightback to give ourselves the chance to win but unfortunately, Lakeside were too good on the day.
- Kerry Hayden and Mickayla Little were again reliable, both scoring in double figures.
- Emma Ormond’s individual defence and rebounding in the last few minutes to help us get defensive stops.
Men’s results and coach comments
12 RED – Brad Dowd
Won against Perry Lakes 52-43
Brad loved seeing:
- We came into this game with a job to do – win, and win by at least 9 points to stay in the hunt for finals. It may have been ugly at times, but we got the job done. By exactly 9 points!
- Down 10 at quarter time and hanging our heads, we hit the reset button and went to work scoring 8 unanswered points at the start of the second quarter to first get back in the game and then take control.
- Even though our shots still weren’t dropping at the rate we’d like, we were more patient in offense than previous games and willing to move the ball better to find a good shot instead of a rushed shot.
- Ewan Maclean had another efficient game shooting 75% from the field and looked after the ball well both when it was in his hands and when it left his hands
- Jaxon Kowal (8 steals) and Lionel Chitiyo wreaked havoc with their hustle as always
- Jaden Exeter continued his growth as a big man with his third double-double in a month – 10 points and 19 rebounds this week to go with 4 blocks
- It was great to have Cooper Hewer back on the court after missing three games. His 7 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 5 steals and 1 assist were quite handy!
12 BLACK – Ron Flores
Lost to South West Slammers 54-47
Ron loved seeing:
- The way the boys persisted throughout the whole game
12 WHITE – Dylan Vilardi
Won against Perry Lakes Hawks 53-43
Dylan loved seeing:
- Our effort in hustling in our half-court defence. Usually, we tend to struggle in our half-court defence but this game we really stepped it up
12 GREY – Jacob Kelly
Won against Rockingham Flames 55-35
Jacob loved seeing:
- Aiden Little played an awesome game and really pushed himself on the defensive end
- As a whole team, we worked so hard in defence and it was great to watch
14 RED – Colin Driscoll
Lost to Rockingham Black 78-52
Colin loved seeing:
- Our transition defence was solid
- Ethan Harders’ aggression on offense
14 BLACK – Ash Brian
Won against Perry Lakes 51-49
Ash loved seeing:
- We tried a new offense with only 1 training session of practice. I thought it suited our team better, but was risky to try without more practice. It wasn’t perfect, but provided us with much better spacing and movement. From an effort point of view, I was really proud of the boys for adjusting.
- 3 triples (2 in the opening minute) and a game-saving steal in the last 2 seconds from Cuba Brian was crucial.
- Really proud of the boys for running our baseline play to perfection in the final minute. We had a good look under the ring which may not have dropped, but the miss set Romain Suraweera up for a solid rebound and putback to put us up by 2.
14 WHITE – Al Lackovic
Won against Lakeside 62-54 (OT)
Al loved seeing:
- The team’s maturity, competitor attitude, belief in their teammates and trust in their coaches’ instructions ensured we turned the hunted into hunters. Together they did the unbelievable under extreme clock and scoreboard pressure: down 10pts with 1.22 left on the clock in regular time, they brought positive energy and calmness to get the game to go to overtime, and then win resoundingly once there.
- Ben ‘Clutch’ Galvin: The rebounding paint beast, ate pressure for lunch the entire game and enjoyed the dessert, icing 2 free throws to tie the game with 6secs on the clock.
- Jack Saliacus’ constant hunt for rebounds, screens and defensive help.
- Hamish Gibson, James Bowen, Zac Anfuso, Jerry Davies and Maksim Lackovic’s ability to execute defensive pressure and play quick, to change momentum with a run and shoot offense.
- What we demanded from our group was that we never measured the team’s effort based on what the scoreboard displayed. We challenged the group to continue to be the best competitors on the floor regardless of circumstances and in the end, we were able to put ourselves in a position to force overtime.
- All the boys deserve massive credit as their continued fight on every possession and sideline support showed the passion for each other and the team.
14 GREY – Alex Maude
Won against Kalamunda Suns 53-41
Alex loved seeing:
- Non-stop pressure when playing full-court trap
- Our boxing out and desire to get the rebound
- Good shot selection
- All the boys played really well, they all played as a team and trusted each other on the court. Looked for each other on the fast breaks, trusted each other when needing help defence and supported each other when scored. It was a very good team win
16 RED – Luke Notley
Lost to Perry Lakes Hawks 115-77
Luke loved seeing:
- We played some great defence in parts of the game and lifted the intensity. We broke their press more than Bunbury last week which was a great improvement. We never gave up, right until the end we kept pushing, never lost focus or dropped our heads.
16 BLACK – Bevan Rankin
Won against Kalamunda 64-63
Bevan loved seeing:
- Our man-to-man defence was excellent
- Our two bigs Declan Pyne and Ethan Saliacus provided a tremendous inside presence and were hard to stop.
- Kade McMillan was again outstanding in running the team and came up huge with a steal and layup with 8 seconds to go that got us the win.
- Akira Rowe-Fox was outstanding on the defensive end and thrived in our man to man defensive structure.
16 WHITE – Mark Edman
Won against Redbacks Grey 63-51
Mark loved seeing:
- We never gave up. In the second half, we pulled together our defence as a team.
- Slowly making an extra pass in offense
- Emmanuel Ngugi making a pick and roll to score!
- Overall everyone did well
16 GREY – Andre Colley
Lost to Redbacks White 63-51
Andre loved seeing:
- Our energy and aggression
18 RED – Gavin Burnett
Lost to Lakeside Lightning 80-59
Gavin loved seeing:
- We played three fantastic quarters of defence, restricting one of the highest-scoring teams in the league to just 33 points at the half and 51 to three-quarter time. Unfortunately, we could not take advantage of our own scoring opportunities and missed a golden opportunity to apply scoreboard pressure when we were winning all the major statistical categories that we measure.
- Joshua Draper was a welcome sight back on the floor – he led the way defensively and pulled down 12 boards to go with his 23 points on 60%+ eFG. Owen Pang worked tirelessly in defence, not allowing the opposition time and space while collecting 13 points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out 3 assists. Vic Komaiya (8) and Riley Burnett (7) were solid on the boards. Mitch Nixon provided a strong presence in defence with 3 blocks, 3 steals and also contributed 3 assists to go with 7 points. As a team, we played really aggressive defence for most of the game. If we can maintain that pressure for 5-10 minutes longer we will break through back into the winner’s list.
18 WHITE – Simon Daff
Lost to Perry Lakes Blue 99 to 86
Simon loved seeing:
- Our ability to play for 4 quarters. We played smart and with a level of intensity needed to match the top team.
- Captain Ethan Port Louis had a wonderful all-round game. He led from the front, distributed the ball to teammates well and slowed the game down when we needed too. Maxx Della Franca also had a great all-round game. He has a very high basketball IQ and provides great physicality. Those two players finished with 35 points and 16 points respectively.
18 GREY – Carlos Uribe
Won against Rockingham White 89-60
Carlos loved seeing:
- Higher levels of integration and enthusiasm in the team.
- Dhaarshnna Krisshnan had 10 rebounds and double-figure points, with also great enthusiasm and energy.
- Stephen Phipps also helped by motivating the team and leading this win
20 RED – David Swaby
Won against Warwick Senators Blue 70-62
Dave loved seeing:
- The toughness and resiliency to stick together and fight through adversity. With our team battling fatigue, sickness, foul trouble and injuries after travelling back from Kalgoorlie and some playing D-League, it was really impressive how they fought through.
- Every single player contributed and gave us a boost. I was happy to see a solid game from Angus Price, a good debut from Gloire and the scoring effort of Lachlan Bertram considering all the travel and fatigue.
20 BLACK – Luke Simonette
Lost to Cockburn 80-77
Luke loved seeing:
- The mental fortitude to fight back from being 18 points down at half time. Offensive and defensive execution is improving
- Edward Farquadson – created shots well
- Tyler Hardy – taking smarter shots
- James Vegvary – did all the one-percenters well