2015 season starts off with a bang (Week 1 Friday night SBL wrap)

THE SBL season for 2015 kicked off with a bang on Friday night with the Mandurah Magic men and women coming away with hard fought wins over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns, and the Perry Lakes Hawks and East Perth Eagles splitting their men's and women's contests.

The 2015 season began on Friday night with two tantalising women's fixtures and they saw the Perry Lakes Hawks beat the East Perth Eagles 73-48 at the WA Basketball Centre and the Mandurah Magic defeat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 62-49 at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

Then in the men's contests to close the opening night, the East Perth Eagles beat the Perry Lakes Hawks 103-85 and the Mandurah Magic ended up prevailing over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 106-98 in overtime.

The Hawks have made plenty of noise in the off-season in their attempt to get back into the women's SBL playoffs in 2015, and they got that quest off to the perfect start with a 25-point win over the Eagles at the WA Basketball Centre on Friday.

Megan McKay top-scored for the Hawks with 13 points and six rebounds while shooting an efficient 6-of-8 from the field.

New import Kassi Conditt made an encouraging start to her SBL career with 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists while also doing well shooting 5-of-7 from the floor.

Mia Satie was another to have a good game for the Lady Hawks with 12 points, five rebounds and two assists while Georgia Clarke added nine points, Lucy Stewart eight, Sarah Donovan seven and Danika Pisconeri four to go with 10 rebounds and four assists.

The Eagles women have now lost 17 straight matches dating back to last season, but there were some encouraging signs on Friday.

The amount of contributors was perhaps the most encouraging aspect with Stephanie Jones scoring nine points, Denielle Lipscombe six, Courtney Stubbs six, Dannielle Devenny six (seven rebounds), Haylee DeSousa six, Kelsey Maffin five and Nicole Jorre St Jorre four.

The night's other women's fixture saw a battle of two of last season's contenders Kalamunda and Mandurah, and it was the Magic who recorded the 13-point victory with the Eastern Suns needing to find a way to cover the loss of a host of key players from last season.

It was a strong way for the Magic to open the new season on the road with Casey Mihovilovich proving her decision to play on in 2015 an early win for the club with her finishing with 14 points, six steals, four rebounds and three assists.

Briana Klasztorny also had 14 points and four boards for Mandurah with Jorjah Smith also adding 14 points and six rebounds off the bench. Ashlee Sidebottom scored 13 points and pulled in six boards as well in a strong all-round showing from the Magic.

Jessie Edwards top-scored for the Suns with 18 points and finished with a double-double pulling in 11 rebounds. Rebecca Motroni scored 14 points but they just didn’t receive enough help despite seven points, 10 rebounds and three assists from Natalia Soli'ai.

The defending men's SBL champions East Perth got its 2015 campaign off to a good start as well coming away with an 18-point win at the Hawks back at the WABC where they won last year's title.

Sunday Dech showed that he could be ready to go to the next level with his game in 2015 fresh off another year with the Perth Wildcats as a development player, and he led the way with 33 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals while shooting 12-of-22 from the floor.

Another young gun that the Eagles are excited about is Rhys Vague and he showed why on Friday with 24 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while going 9-of-17 from the floor, and 6-of-10 from deep.

The veterans then all made solid contributions as well for the Eagles with Jamie Barnett adding 15 points and four rebounds, Joe-Alan Tupaea 10 points and Drew Williamson four points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Brighton Pass also contributed 10 points off the bench in a good start to the season for East Perth.

Ben Purser started off the new season with another strong showing leading the way for Perry Lakes with 23 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Bryton Hobbs also added 19 points, five rebounds and three assists with Ryan Smith finishing with 11 points and eight boards and Josh Garlepp 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists off the bench. Import big man Jason Conrad had six points and five rebounds in his SBL debut.

The Mandurah men then backed up the efforts of their women to start the night by beating the Eastern Suns by eight points on the road in a thrilling overtime battle.

Ben Smith dominated for the Magic in the post with 32 points and 20 rebounds on the back of shooting 14-of-20 from the field.

Captain Taylor Mullenax showed that he's ready for another big season with the Magic with 25 points and six rebounds while Rhett Della had a big game off the bench with 19 points and 15 rebounds.

Daniel Florance added 14 points and 12 rebounds for Mandurah and Jarrad Jackson 11 points and six assists.

It was a strong showing from Kalamunda in defeat with Lien Phillip finishing with 23 points and 17 rebounds while Jaarod Holmes added 19 points and eight boards, Kevin Anthony 15 points and six rebounds, Seva Chan 11 points and 11 assists, and Geordie Murray 11 points.

FRIDAY WOMEN'S SBL MATCHES
Perry Lakes Hawks 73 defeated East Perth Eagles 48
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 49 lost to Mandurah Magic 62

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Perry Lakes Hawks 85 lost to East Perth Eagles 103
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 98 lost to Mandurah Magic 106




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