THE top four women's SBL teams Wanneroo, Willetton, Rockingham and Lakeside all had winning weekends while Kalamunda lost a fifth straight game to keep the door open for the chasing pack.

The action began with two matches on Friday night with the Lakeside Lightning downing the Mandurah Magic 79-65 at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre.

The Willetton Tigers then beat the Stirling Senators 77-52 at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

The Lightning's 14-point win on the road against the Magic on Friday was their seventh straight victory this season to see them now improve to an 11-7 record to move up into fourth position in the standings.

Willetton then began a big weekend with its 25-point thumping of Stirling to maintain second spot on the ladder while the Senators only game of the week saw them slip to an 8-11 record in ninth spot.

There were then four matches on Saturday night to close out Week 17 of the competition with the Perth Redbacks winning a tight one 62-57 over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Belmont Oasis.

The Wanneroo Wolves beat the Mandurah Magic 69-42 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium, the Willetton Tigers thumped the Perry Lakes Hawks 80-52 at WA Basketball Centre and the Rockingham Flames downed the Cockburn Cougars 88-82 at Wally Hagan Stadium.

The Redbacks' five-point win at home over the Suns on Saturday night didn’t see them move up from 10th spot on the table but it did see Kalamunda fall down to fifth position with a 10-9 record now after five consecutive losses.

The Wolves had no trouble maintaining top spot with a 15-4 record and five straight wins with the Magic unable to get closer than 27 points after backing up Friday's clash at home to Lakeside.

The Tigers capped off a terrific weekend with a 28-point thumping of the Hawks on Saturday to not only maintain second spot at 14-5, but also continue to put pressure on the ladder-leading Wolves.

The Rockingham Flames then also maintained third position and kept the pressure on Willetton in second with the six-point win away to Cockburn on Saturday with the Cougars slipping to 10-9 in sixth.

In Friday's games, Courtney Bayliss top-scored for the Lightning against the Magic with 22 points to go with seven rebounds. Courtney Byrnes also had 21 points, five boards, five assists and four steals.

Antonia Edmondson hit 26 points to go with five assists for the Tigers against Stirling.

Saturday night's star individual performances saw Marita Payne finish with 19 points and 20 rebounds for the Redbacks against the Suns with Nikita-Lee Martin hitting 17 points for Wanneroo against Mandurah.

The Tigers covered the absence of Melissa Marsh with little trouble with Lisa Wallbutton hitting 21 points and pulling in 12 rebounds with Antonia Edmondson adding 20 points and eight assists against the Hawks.

Kaye Tucker was outstanding for the Flames with 27 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots. Stephanie Jones had a big game for the Cougars with 26 points and 17 rebounds.

Article by Chris Pike