The Southlands Boulevarde Willetton Tiger’s Mens squad got their campaign back on track with a spirited win against the Stirling Senators , winning 102 to 93.

In the first quarter, both sides started aggressively with the teams  trading baskets. Greg Regan and Wayne Biddle were shooting well and Clint Read was amassing boards on the inside, yet through some swooping inside moves from former NBL player Geordie Cullen, Stirling lead 18 to 11 halfway through the quarter. After a time out from Coach Parker, the Tigers picked up their intensity and got back to within 4 points, trailing 28 to 24 at quarter time.

Tempers flared early in the second period, as Andrew Dunnell and Geordie Cullen exchanged words and remonstrations before Cullen reacted with a head butt , leading the officials to eject both players from the game. While Dunnell’s contributions can never be underestimated, this double ejection weakened Stirling significantly, as it left them to compete without their main centre for the rest of the game. Pounding the ball inside to Luke Kunkel, Rob Epps and Clint Read, the Tigers got the scores level at the half, on 48 a piece.

The third quarter saw Clint Read continue his good rebounding work, but he drew his 4^th and 5^th foul cheaply, benching him for a lengthy spell in the quarter.  Regan and Biddle continued with their hot shooting though, and the Tigers enjoyed a purple patch to stretch the lead out to 9 points at 3 quarter time.

The Senators Carmie Olowoyo battled hard to keep his side in the game, but when he picked up his 5^th foul with 9 minutes left to play the writing seemed to be on the wall. This was not to be the case however, as lead by some outstanding hustle from Captain Chris Dodd, the Senators scrapped and rebounded their way to being only 2 points down with 60 seconds to go. But Greg Regan sealed his special game with a trey, and Luke Kunkel put the finishing touches on the win with 5 points in the last 30 seconds against his former team to give the Tigers a much needed home victory.

Article By Rae Ballantyne and Matt Muir

 

 

It was business as usual for the Southlands Boulevarde Willetton Tigers Women’s squad, who extended their winning streak to an impressive 7 games with a 10 point, 68 to 58 win against the Stirling Senators, who featured 2008 Olympic Opals member Carly Wilson, and Perth Lynx scoring forward Eleanor Haring.

The first quarter was a slightly defensive beginning with neither team able to find range early, good defence forcing bad shots on both ends, the Tigers being slightly more accurate in obtaining a 13 to 9 lead by quarter time.

As has often been the case in 2008, Mel Marsh heated up to ensure the Tigers had no problems keeping the scorers busy after quarter time. She shot an extremely efficient 9 from 12 from the field, to finish the game with 21 points alongside her 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Suprisingly though, in a game with so much offensive firepower on both teams, defence was the key to victory for the Tigers. Carly Wilson rarely caught the ball without having point guard Kate Malpass's waving hand in her face. Coach Winter would have been pleased with Malpass’s endeavour as she made life difficult for the star forward whilst amassing 14 points and 6 assists herself. Rebecca Duke was extremely effective in neutralising Eleanor Haring, limiting the dangerous forward to 14 points while scoring 17 herself in conjunction with her 9 rebounds.

All the defence in the world would have struggled to contain Wilson in the 4^th quarter however, and she hit some tough shots to get the Senators back within striking range with moments left in the game. But the depth of the Tigers was telling, and Wilson could not get her team over the line, handing the Tigers their 7^th win of the year.

Coach Robyn Winter commented after the game, “It is no secret we are without a 'big' in our starting line up,  but it is great to see we use the assets that we have extremely well.  The team is beginning to gel with each player working very hard in their roles.  Opposition teams are going to find we have players for every position and the balance we have is going to be very difficult for them to match up against.”

The Tigers have a tough weekend on the horizon, with a home game against Rockingham on Friday night followed by an away game against Wanneroo.

The Girls kick off this Friday night at the Boulevard @ 6.30 pm and the Guys commence @ 8.30 pm.

See you at the game!

Article by Matt Muir