THE Lakeside Lightning heated up the race for the women's SBL minor premiership beating the Rockingham Flames on Friday night while the Wolves and Eastern Suns scored important wins as did the Lakeside, Joondalup and Stirling men's teams.

All three women's SBL matches on Friday night loomed as terrific contests coming into the round, and that's exactly how it panned out with the results heating up the race for the minor premiership, and certainly for fourth position as well.

The results saw the Joondalup Wolves beat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 62-59 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium, the Lakeside Lightning down the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames 80-71 at Lakeside Recreation Centre and the Stirling Senators defeat the Willetton Tigers 81-73 at Warwick Leisure Centre.

The Wolves and Eastern Suns entered their clash in terrific form with Joondalup having won four of its last five matches, and Kalamunda seven straight but it was the defending champions who prevailed by three points in the finish.

The thrilling win improves the Wolves to a 14-5 record to remain entrenched in third position in the standings while the Eastern Suns stay in fourth spot on 13-8 with their winning streak ended.

Alex Kerr was the star of the night for the Lady Wolfpack finishing the game with 21 points and 10 rebounds on the back of shooting 10-of-16 from the field.

Nikita-Lee Martin also had 11 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the Wolves.

Alison Schwagmeyer had another big game for the Eastern Suns with 21 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and two steals with Jennie Rintala adding 12 points.

It was then the top-of-the-table clash between the Flames and Lightning, and it was Lakeside who prevailed by nine points to mean that the race for the minor premiership remains well and truly alive.

By winning, Lakeside remains unbeaten at home this season with the Lightning improving to a 17-3 record to now be just the one game behind the Flames who are sitting on an 18-2 record after starting the season with 17 straight victories.

Kari Pickens has won the last two women's SBL Player of the Week awards and she was again outstanding on Friday for the Lightning with 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Emily Fielding added 13 points for Lakeside, Courtney Bayliss 13 and Krystal Stoneking 12 to go with 10 rebounds, four steals, two blocked shots and two steals.

Darcee Garbin tried valiantly for the Flames ending up with 21 points and 17 rebounds with Jacinta Bourne scoring 19 points to go with five rebounds and three steals. Samantha Whitcomb was restricted to just 12 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

The Senators then gave themselves a chance to still finish in fourth position with an eight-point win at home over the Tigers.

Stirling improves to a 12-8 record as a result and up into fifth position to be just a game behind the fourth-placed Suns while the Tigers remain eighth on 7-12, but are vulnerable to still lose a playoff berth to the South West Slammers.

Taylor Wild was outstanding for the Senators with 26 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, three steals and a blocked shot.

Emma Berryman added 15 points for Stirling, Lyndal Gardner 14 and Amber Land 10.

Mikayla Pirini top-scored for the Tigers with 14 points while Melissa Marsh added 13 points and Antonia Edmondson 13 to go with nine rebounds and five assists. Desiree Kelly contributed 11 points as well for Willetton.

The men's fixtures then saw all three home teams score impressive victories on Friday night as the Lightning and Senators further cemented their positions inside the top eight, the Wolves kept their playoff hopes alive.

The Joondalup Wolves hammered the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 124-86 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium while the Lakeside Lightning beat the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames 105-98 at Lakeside Recreation Centre and the Stirling Senators beat the Willetton Tigers 119-104 at Warwick Leisure Centre.

The Eastern Suns have been struggling in recent weeks since the departure of centre Luke Nevill and that was again the case on Friday night with the Wolves scoring an important and crucial 38-point victory.

The big win improves the Wolves to a 12-11 record on the season but they do remain in ninth position and still a game out of the top eight behind the East Perth Eagles and South West Slammers.

Seb Salinas top-scored for the Wolves with 19 points and 11 rebounds on the back of shooting 8-of-12 from the field and 3-of-6 from long range.

Trian Iliadis also scored 18 points to go with five rebounds and four assists for Joondalup with Reece Maxwell adding 15 points, Ephrem Davis 15, Sean Easther 15 and Rob Huntington 12.

Ben Smith top-scored for the Eastern Suns with 21 points, four rebounds and four assists with Louis Timms adding 20 points and Adhar Mayen 15.

Little separated the second-placed Flames and the third-placed Lightning come into Friday's contest at Lakeside, and now even less is between them following a seven-point victory to the home team and the defending men's SBL champions.

The Flames remain in second position despite the loss on a 16-8 record but the Lightning are now breathing down their necks on 15-9.

Brad Tinsley led the way for the Lightning finishing the night with 30 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and six steals.

Jesse Dixon added 18 points for Lakeside, Steven Butler 17, Caleb Palkert 12, Chris Sofoulis 12 and Jarrad Prue 10 to go with 26 rebounds, five blocked shots and two steals.

Tom Remmerswaal top-scored for the Flames with 20 points while Travis Moore added 16 points (11 rebounds), Ryan Godfrey 15, Andrew Bowman 13 (nine rebounds, nine assists), Taylor Land 13 (13 rebounds, six assists) and Luke Roberts 10.

The Senators then well and truly kept their top four hopes alive and all but secured a playoffs berth by continuing their good recent form with a solid 15-point win over the Tigers.

Stirling now improves to a 14-10 record to be in sixth position in the standings but a real chance of taking the Perth Redbacks' fourth position while the loss is another dagger in Willetton's feint playoff hopes with the Tigers falling to a 7-14 record in 12th spot.

Cody Ellis again led the way for the Senators with 29 points on the back of shooting 11-of-14 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point territory.

Jordan Wild added 27 points and 20 rebounds also for Stirling while shooting 11-of-14 from the field as well with Cory Cooperwood terrific with 24 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Josh Throns contributed 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Senators with Austin Bruton scoring 10 points as he celebrated his 250th match in the SBL in style.

Tom Witts also celebrated his 200th SBL appearance with the win and contributing six points and a rebound in 17 minutes of court time.

Quinn McDowell did all he could to try and get Willetton over the line finishing with 31 points, 12 rebounds and four assists on the back of shooting 13-of-19 from the field and 4-of-6 from downtown.

John Dickson contributed 21 points and eight rebounds as well for the Tigers with Jake Burston and Mitch Clarke adding 12 points apiece.

FRIDAY WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
Joondalup Wolves 62 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 59
Lakeside Lightning 80 defeated Orange Autos Rockingham Flames 71
Stirling Senators 81 defeated Willetton Tigers 73

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Joondalup Wolves 124 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 86
Lakeside Lightning 105 defeated Orange Autos Rockingham Flames 98
Stirling Senators 119 defeated Willetton Tigers 104

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography