THE Goldfields Giants continued their stunning men's SBL form beating the Geraldton Buccaneers on Saturday night to enter the top eight while playing-coach Deanna Smith put her Cockburn Cougars on her back to lead them to a crucial victory over the South West Slammers.

There were four women's matches on Saturday night with the Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars beating the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 91-76 at Wally Hagan Stadium and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns defeating the Schweigen East Perth Eagles 74-67 at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

The Mandurah Magic also beat the Stirling Senators 83-63 at Warwick Leisure Centre and the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers downed the Perth Redbacks 72-55 at Curtin Stadium.

There were five men's matches on Saturday night with the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants defeating the S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers 105-91 at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium and the Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars downing the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 96-89 at Wally Hagan Stadium.

The Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles also beat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 114-101 at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre, the Bethanie Stirling Senators defeated the Mandurah Magic 120-107 at Warwick Leisure Centre and the Perth Redbacks beat the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 85-78 at Curtin Stadium.

Starting with the four women's matches, the Cougars won a crucial clash with the Slammers at home by 15 points to steady themselves in the top eight with a 7-11 record while South West slipped back to 7-10 unable to back up its win on Friday over the Perry Lakes Hawks.

Playing-coach Deanna Smith had a stunning night for the Cougars and inspired her team to the victory with 39 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists with a triple-double on the back of shooting 14-of-24 from the field and a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe.

Taryn Priestly added 15 points, four rebounds and two assists while Katie Loberg contributed 11 points and five boards.

Patricia Bright top-scored again for the Slammers finishing with 22 points and eight rebounds with Deonica McCormick contributing 17 points, 11 boards and four assists. Kate Fielding also had 11 points for the Slammers along with three rebounds, three steals and two assists.

The Eastern Suns further consolidated fifth position and remained in touch to snatch a top four spot with a hard fought seven-point win over a vastly improving Eagles team.

East Perth played well and is performing strongly enough to be a playoff contender, but the loss means the Eagles remain two games outside of eighth spot at 5-12.

Abbey Duinker top-scored for the Suns with 22 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals with Jessie Edwards contributing 21 points and 13 boards.

Melissa Moyle added 13 points, four assists and four steals and Natalia Soli'ai 13 points and five rounds.

Ajay Jones also made her first appearance of the season for the Eastern Suns and while she didn’t have an impact on the box scores, she did get through 12 minutes of court time in a welcome return.

Kelsey Maffin did all she could for the Eagles with 20 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals while Haylee DeSousa contributed 12 points and Jodee Sontay 10 to go with eight boards.

The Magic got a crucial 20-point win over Senators on the road on Saturday night that sees them bounce back from a loss to the Joondalup Wolves on Friday, and to steady themselves in fourth spot at 12-5 just narrowly ahead of the Eastern Suns.

Casey Mihovilovich had another big night for the Magic with 18 points, 15 rebounds, eight rebounds and six steals while Ashlee Sidebottom contributed 15 points and five boards, Patricia Davis 12 points and nine rebounds, and Emma Klasztorny nine points.

Tegan Walker top-scored for the Senators with 20 of her team's 63 points on the night while shooting 7-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.

Cassie Bates added 18 points and six rebounds for Stirling as well while Amber Land finished with 12 points, 18 boards and three blocked shots.

The Tigers maintained pace at the top of the women's SBL with a 17-point win over the Redbacks with Willetton improving to 16-2 to just be one win behind the 16-1 Flames.

Kate Malpass led the way for the Tigers in the win with 17 points, nine assists and two steals while Desiree Kelley finished with 15 points and six boards, Louella Tomlinson 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, and Zoe Harper six points and five boards.

Gabby O'Sullivan did all she could for the Redbacks finishing with 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals on the back of shooting 7-of-12 from the field.

Gaby Clayton also contributed 13 points, seven boards, two assists and two steals with Jess Jakens adding nine points and seven rebounds, and Meike Elkington eight points, five boards and two steals.

And in the men's action, the Giants moved another step closer to the playoffs with an outstanding 14-point win over the Buccaneers in Kalgoorlie.

The win sees Goldfields leapfrog the Lakeside Lightning into eighth position with them improving to a 10-11 record having now won five straight matches to now be one of the genuine form teams of the competition.

The Buccaneers, meanwhile, might have lost their chance to challenge for top spot falling two games behind the Joondalup Wolves at 17-4 while the Wolves are 19-3.

Jay Bowie once again led the way for the Giants finishing with 34 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists on the back of shooting 13-of-25 from the field and 5-of-10 from three-point range.

Jacob Holmen contributed 28 points, 12 boards, four assists and two blocked shots with Mathiang Muo also scoring 16 points while pulling in six rebounds. Brandon Hewitt-Holloway added 11 points, five assists and four boards as well for Goldfields.

Bennie Lewis top-scored for the Buccaneers with 34 points, eight rebounds and three assists with Carter Cook contributing 17 points and five boards, Cory Cooperwood 10 points and seven rebounds, and Mat Wundenberg seven points, 23 boards and five assists.

Aaron Ralph also contributed eight points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals off the bench for the Buccs.

The Cougars then bounced back from their first loss in 10 matches last week by beating the Slammers by seven points at home on Saturday night with Cockburn replacing South West in third position as a result of the victory.

The Cougars now have improved to a 15-7 record while the Slammers at 14-7 as they continue to battle over third and fourth positions ahead of the playoffs.

Gavin Field ended up top-scoring for the Cougars with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists while Najee Lane added 21 points, nine boards and three steals, and Sheldon McIntyre 20 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Eric Milam also added 15 points for Cockburn.

Playing-coach Ty Harrelson led the way for the Slammers with 30 points, six rebounds and four assists while Clive Weeden contributed 19 points, five boards, three assists and three blocked shots and Wade Hitchcock 18 points.

Brian Voelkel had another strong all-round game for South West with 15 points, 20 rebounds and seven assists.

The Eagles continued their improved form with the defending champions beating the Suns by 13 points at home on Saturday night to see them improve to a 6-14 record while the Eastern Suns have now lost 11 straight to be 2-20.

Josh Barnett was the standout performer in the win for the Eagles finishing with 30 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots on the back of shooting 12-of-17 from the field and 6-of-8 from three-point territory.

Sunday Dech added 21 points and six boards for East Perth with Joe-Alan Tupaea finishing with 19 points and 12 assists, Brendan Dinardo 16 points and seven assists, and Rhys Vague 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Lien Phillip top-scored for the Eastern Suns with 28 points and 15 rebounds while shooting 11-of-17 from the floor and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Seva Chan added 19 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Suns while Kevin Anthony finished with 18 points, six assists and four boards off the bench. James Dech finished with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals as well for Kalamunda.

The Senators came away with a strong 13-point win over the Magic at home on Saturday to see Stirling improve to a 7-13 record while it makes life difficult for Mandurah to hold on to its playoff position now slipping to 11-10 with the Lakeside Lightning not far behind outside the top eight.

Captain Cody Ellis was the one to put his Senators team on his back and lead them to victory finishing with 35 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots.

Austin Bruton added 25 points and four steals for Stirling while Kyle Lindbergh contributed 18 points, 13 rebounds and six rebounds, Tom Witts 13 points and five boards, and Nikolas Iliadis 12 points. Jayden Coburn did well off the bench as well with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Ben Smith had a big night for the Magic with 30 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks with Paul Hafford contributing 20 points, eight boards and three assists.

Captain Taylor Mullenax also had 17 points and eight rebounds for Mandurah with Brendan Della contributing 11 points and Rhett Della 11 to go with five rebounds.

The Tigers' recent struggles continued on Saturday night at Curtin Stadium with them remaining in jeopardy of losing their place in the top eight after losing to the Redbacks by seven points.

Willetton has now slipped to an 11-10 record while Perth kept whatever hopes it still has of sneaking into the playoffs alive by improving to 7-13.

Ray Turner top-scored for the Redbacks with 32 points and 16 rebounds while Raphiael Putney contributed 16 points, 14 boards and eight blocked shots in his most impressive performance since replacing Marshall Brown as Perth's second import.

Adam Johnson also scored 12 points to go with five assists for the Redbacks with Ben Smith adding 11 points and Joel Wagner four to go with nine assists.

Damien Scott top-scored for the Tigers with 20 points, four rebounds and three assists while Mitch Clarke contributed 12 points and seven boards, and Ephrem Davis 11 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.

SATURDAY WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 91 defeated Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 76
Schweigen East Perth Eagles 67 lost to Kalamunda Eastern Suns 74
Stirling Senators 63 lost to Mandurah Magic 83
Perth Redbacks 55 lost to Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 72

SATURDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 105 defeated S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers 91
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 96 defeated Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 89
Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 114 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 101
Bethanie Stirling Senators 120 defeated Mandurah Magic 107
Perth Redbacks 85 defeated Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 78

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin