Hosting the first placed Wanneroo Wolves, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns knew that a good start was crucial in the Round 15 WSBL showdown at the Furnace.

Craig Mansfield’s Suns lead for 37 minutes of the game. Wanneroo’s biggest lead had only been 1 point, early in the first quarter, until Casey Lockwood coolly knocked down two free throws with 45 seconds remaining, and then stuck a dagger through the Suns’ heart’s with a close range jumper to give the Wolves their first lead in over 33 minutes of play, which they would hold, winning 71-69.

The Suns did everything right and this could be considered the ‘great steal’ of the season by the Wolves. On the back of an impressive 27-17 first quarter, where it was raining ‘3’s’ for the Suns, the Wolves looked stunned.

Coach Vlad Alava’s team is not first by mistake and in the second, came out fired up and after a 17-8 run, had the margin back to 1.

Jennie Rintala and Rachel Mueggenborg then took over inspiring the Suns on a 15-4 run to lead at half time 50-38.

The ball did not want to drop for the Suns in the third and the dreaded second half fade outs, which are worryingly becoming a trend for the Suns, came true as the Wolves cut the margin at three quarter time to just 4, 58-54.

With the belief now back and a swing in their step, Wanneroo slowly whittled the margin down, before Lockwood scored the last 4 points to register the important win.

In the men’s game, Wanneroo came out all guns blazing early on leading 22-9, before the Suns fought their way into it, and opened up a 10 point lead by quarter time 29-19.

An impressive 16-6 run by the Suns had scores tied halfway through the second and on the back of a late 10-5 run, the Suns lead at half-time 52-50.

In a game which was being played in spurts, Wanneroo came out of half time with a 15-5 run to wrestle back the lead and were out in front by as many as 11, but an 11-6 run to the Suns, including a Lucas Emery buzzer-beater on the three-quarter time siren, had the Suns within 4 at the final change 78-82.

The final quarter was a tight tussle, Wanneroo playing to stay in the top 8, the Suns looking to take another scalp, and the margin never got beyond 7 points, but it was Wanneroo who prevailed with a much needed victory 100-96 at the Furnace.

GAME NOTES

WSBL

-Jennie Rintala and Casey Lockwood tied for 20 points each, to lead their respective teams.

-This was the 10^th consecutive game that Rintala has recorded double digits in the point’s column.

-Sass Knox had another impressive game for the Suns, registering 9 rebounds and 7 assists.

MSBL

-Luke Nevill, returning from Boomers duty, lead all players, with his 10^th straight double-double, with 40 points and 20 rebounds, from eleven games (In his first game of the season he recorded 29 points and 9 rebounds), which surely has to be an SBL record.

-Both teams shot the ball above 40% (Suns at 46% and Wolves at 45%)

-One of the telling statistics in the game was the FT percentages with the home team scoring 9/16 (56%) whilst the Wolves scored 29 of their 100 points from the stripe (29/35 at 83%).

-Robbie Huntington came up big for the Wolfpack with 23 points and 10 rebounds, Round 15’s milestone men Damian Matacz (23 points and 7 rebounds) and Seb Salinas (16 points and 10 rebounds) were also influential for the Wolves.

Article by Steve Trajeski
Photo by Serene Maisey