With their season on the line the women’s Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers responded, hammering the Perry Lakes Hawks 84-55 at the Eaton Recreation Centre on Saturday to hold on to eighth on the State Basketball League ladder.

The 29-point victory came just 24 hours after the Slammers were beaten 79-62 by the Willetton Tigers in a crucial round for the three teams battling for the final spot in the playoffs.

Entering the round trailing the Slammers by just three percentage points the Hawks lost twice to remain ninth while both Willetton and the Slammers split their round 14 fixtures to stay 10th and eighth respectively.

Slammers guard Lauren Jeffers was outstanding in the South West’s win over the Hawks, scoring a season-high 31 points while also contributing eight assists and four steals.

Jeffers was particularly impressive in the paint, repeatedly driving to the basket to earn 19 shots from the charity stripe where she missed just once all night.

The ever-dependable Amy Patton also stepped up to the occasion, scoring 13 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in a dominant display of defensive rebounding.

The Slammers also enjoyed solid contributions from a range of other players, Darren Austin rotating Brittany Gliddon, Lisa Carthwright, Cat Waycott, Rebecca Preston and Keryn McGregor to great effect throughout the night.

The South West took advantage of a poor first quarter shooting display from Perry Lakes to build a five-point lead at quarter time and did not look back from there, increasing their advantage at every change before blowing the visitors away with a 26-point final quarter.

On Friday, the Slammers were undone by an underachieving Willetton side determined to keep its season alive.

Experienced Tiger Lisa Wallbutton turned in her best performance of a disappointing season to date, top scoring with 22 points as the South West failed to recover from a sloppy second quarter.

After winning the opening exchanges to hold a one-point lead at the first break the Slammers shot at just 26 per cent and turned the ball over five times in the second stanza to hand momentum to the Tigers who pulled even further away in the second half.

Patton (29 points, 12 rebounds, four assists) was her usual impressive self and was well backed up by Jeffers (15 points, five rebounds, three steals) but it was not enough to stop the rampaging Wallbutton and a deep Willetton bench rotation.

Article by Josh Zimmerman: South Western Times & Bunbury Herald

Photo by Mick Cronin: Slammers guard Lauren Jeffers