The Perth Redbacks Women suffered a third consecutive loss on Friday night but bounced back on the road to the South West Slammers less than 24 hours later in the 2021 NBL1 West season.
The Redbacks were back home at Belmont Oasis on Friday night looking to snap a losing streak. But it was never going to be easy against the powerful Joondalup Wolves.
The Redbacks had lost their past couple of games to the Cockburn Cougars and Warwick Senators while the Lady Wolfpack arrived at Belmont as league leaders having bounced back from a loss to East Perth by beating Perry Lakes and Kalamunda.
The task was ahead of the Redbacks and the Wolves made it all that much harder with an impressive first quarter made up of 28 points to 19. The visitors maintained that edge by half-time with Joondalup leading Perth at the half 47-38.
The Lady Wolfpack pulled a little further away in the third quarter with another 22 points to 18 and then closed the deal to record the 84-71 victory.
The differential in shots attempted was remarkable with the Wolves going 34/77 from the field and the Redbacks just 27/56. That was with the Wolfpack pulling in 12 offensive rebounds to just two from the Redbacks as Joondalup also forced Perth into 18 turnovers on the night.
Makailah Dyer did all she could once again to try and give the Redbacks the chance at victory with 25 points and seven rebounds including hitting 4/9 from three-point territory.
Jess Jakens finished with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists for the Redbacks, Maddie Allen 12 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, and Denielle Ashworth 11 points and four boards.
Then on Saturday, the Redbacks were able to bounce back against the winless South West Slammers 24 hours later.
Despite the struggles of the Slammers so far this season, the Redbacks still couldn’t afford to take them lightly and they sure came out especially motivated at the defensive end.
Perth restricted South West to score just four points the entire first quarter and the Redbacks put up 23 points themselves to be on top to start to regain some confidence.
It was more of the same in the second period too with the Redbacks able to put up another 26 points while holding the Slammers to just the nine and that saw the visitors head into the half-time well in control leading 49-13.
There was no let up after the break from the Redbacks and in fact they went up another level offensively to put up 32 points in the third quarter. They also held the home team to another eight points to go into three quarter-time leading 82-21.
That was quite the remarkable scoreline with anything potentially possible for the final margin but the Slammers did find something to finish the game with 16 fourth quarter points.
The Redbacks still outscored them with another 17 to end up winning 98-37 to snap their losing run and steady at a 5-5 record while consigning the Slammers to being 0-10.
The Redbacks pulled in double the rebounds for the game with 68 to just 34 from the Slammers including 26 offensive boards to end up taking 20 extra field goals and eight more free-throws on the night.
Against the team she played with in 2019, Makailah Dyer put up 20 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Redbacks.
Maddie Allen dominated inside with 10 points, 23 rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocked shots with Denielle Ashworth finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Raya Thompson 15 points and four steals.
Ella Dimanlig produced her best performance since joining the Redbacks from East Perth in 2021 with 13 points while Bri Bailey had eight points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Sarah Allen six points, three boards and three assists.