Wanneroo Wolves women have wrapped up the minor premiership in a close run to the finish of the women’s state basketball league regular season, they join their men in finishing the regular season on top of the standings.

While the top eight was set leading into the last weekend, there was just two games separating the top five teams, leaving all five to fight it out for home court advantage in the finals.

The Wolves took down the Cougars 85-55 on Friday night and were tied with Willetton after all games were played, however the Wolfpack had the head-to-head split and were able to maintain their spot on top of the standings.

Wanneroo led the entire game with strong offensive pressure from Shani Amos (15 points) and Nikita-Lee Martin (12 points), while Stephanie Jones had a solid game with 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Cougars.

Willetton Tigers and the South West Slammers clashed for their chance at top spot, it was the Tigers who rose to victory 78-62 which with the Wolves win was enough to secure second position and leave the Slammers in third.

Willetton were led to victory with and incredible performance by Jasmine Hooper who finished with 29 points and ten rebounds, while for the Slammers Kara Hargreaves had 19 points.

The Rockingham Flames secured the last spot in the top four after defeating the Stirling Senators 65-55 on Saturday night, the Senators made a comeback after half time but fell short in the final quarter.

Dominant import Emma Cannon showed her importance to the Flames finals chances with an impressive 30 points and 20 rebounds.

The fifth place Kalamunda Eastern Suns secured back to back victories against the eighth place East Perth Eagles and the tenth place Cockburn Cougars but were still edged out of a top four position on head-to-head results against Rockingham and South West.

The Eastern Suns defeated the Eagles 90-82 on Friday night and then took down the Cougars 95-71 on Saturday, Cockburn bounced back in the second half but were too far behind to close the deficit.

Rachel Muenggenborg was the Eastern Suns best with 20 points while youngster Jessie Edwards finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, Cougars star Stephanie Jones shone bright with 29 points and 19 rebounds.

Perry Lakes Hawks had an impressive win to celebrate coach Rick Morcom’s 450th game, defeating the Lakeside Lightning 85-66, 2011 Most Improved Player, Rosie Tobin, led the way for the Hawks with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

The Kickz101 Women’s State Basketball League Grand Final is on Friday 31 August at the WA Basketball Centre, tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster at 9:00am Monday 6 August.

Article by Hannah Coleman
Photo by Mick Cronin