LAST year's Women's SBL grand finalists opened the 2016 finals in emphatic fashion with big quarter-final Game 1 victories at home on Friday night while the Perry Lakes Hawks won a thriller over the Mandurah Magic.

Three of the four Women's quarter-final match ups got underway on Friday night with the higher seeded teams playing host and the Willetton Tigers and Rockingham Flames won big, and the Hawks got home in a nail-biter.

The Friday night results saw the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers beat the Lakeside Lightning 101-58 at Willetton Basketball Stadium, the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames defeat the Texture WA Perth Redbacks 90-66 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex and the Perry Lakes Hawks down the Mandurah Magic 71-69 at Bendat Basketball Centre.

Starting with the thriller of the night, the Hawks came from behind to beat the Magic by two points.

It was a tight first half with Perry Lakes just leading 39-38 at the half before Mandurah pulled away a little in the third period with 23 points to 18.

But Perry Lakes hit back to hold Mandurah to just eight points in the final period while scoring 14 themselves to claim the win.

Some late free-throws from Deanna Smith, Antonia Edmondson and Lauren Jeffers iced the win for the Hawks before a late basket from Adijat Adams cut the final margin back to two points.

The Hawks ended up shooting 23-of-57 from the field at 40 per cent and 8-of-17 from three-point range at 47 per cent while the Magic managed 26-of-76 at 34 per cent from the floor, and 7-of-28 at 25 per cent from deep. Mandurah did dominate the glass, though, with 46 rebounds to 34.

Smith ended up top-scoring for the Hawks with 28 points, four steals and three rebounds on the back of shooting 4-of-6 from three-point territory.

Edmondson added 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists with Jeffers contributing 10 points, five assists, four steals and four boards.

Casey Mihovilovich led the way for the Magic with 25 points and five assists but shot just 7-of-23 from the floor and 5-of-17 from three-point range. Adams added 10 points and five rebounds, Annette Davis nine points and 12 boards, and Rachel Halleen eight points and seven rebounds.

Then in Rockingham, the Flames began their quest for their championship three-peat in style beating the Redbacks at home by 24 points.

Rockingham has won the last two Women's SBL titles and finished the 2016 regular season in second place and made a statement early against Perth on Friday night with 25 points to 13 in the first quarter, and another 28 to 19 in the second.

That meant the game was all but over at half-time but the Flames continued on in the third period with another 27 points to 13 to lead by 35 before the Redbacks showed some fight in the fourth to cut the final margin to 24.

Rockingham shot 41 per cent from the field and 36 per cent from three with the Redbacks hitting 34 per cent from the floor and 16 per cent from downtown, but the Flames pulled in 63 rebounds to 31 to control the possession count.

Ifunanya Ibekwe had a big night for the Flames finishing with 22 points, 15 rebounds and three assists with Darcee Garbin contributing 19 points and 14 boards.

Sami Whitcomb added 14 points, nine rebounds and three assists for Rockingham, Jacinta Bourne 14 points and nine boards, Ashlee Sidebottom nine points and six rebounds, and Tarsha Fletcher eight points nailing two of her three triples.

Jess Jakens played her best game for the Redbacks since returning from an ankle injury finishing with 14 points, six rebounds and two assists with Gabby O'Sullivan adding 14 points.

Rebecca Benson added nine points, three rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots for Perth, Ajay Jones eight points and four assists, and Lisa Wallbutton seven points and 10 boards.

And at Willetton, it was a tight first half with the Lightning sticking with the Tigers on the back of hitting seven three-pointers but they couldn’t keep it up after half-time.

Willetton's pressure went up noticeably after half-time and the Lightning ended up with 27 turnovers for the night with the Tigers scoring 34 points from those.

Willetton also dominated inside with 54 points in the paint to 20 as Louella Tomlinson and Zoe Harper proved too big, too strong and too good. In the end the Lightning managed just 14 second half points and the Tigers went on to win by 43 points.

Willetton finished up shooting 38-of-69 at 55 per cent from the field while Lakeside shot just 22-of-62 at 35 per cent.

Harper finished with 23 points and nine rebounds for the Tigers on the back of a dominant first half with Tomlinson ending up with 18 points, six boards and three blocked shots.

Kate Malpass added 17 points, eight assists and six rebounds for Willetton, Desiree Kelley 12 points, six boards, three steals and two assists, Emma Gandini nine points, Emma Lobb nine points and Lara Napier six points and 10 assists.

Tia Ucich top-scored for the Lightning with 13 points while Devanny King finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals, Ashleigh Grant 10 points and six boards, and Alison Schwagmeyer seven points and eight rebounds.

Alex Bell added nine points and four rebounds for Lakeside and Courtney Byrnes six points and four assists.

Willetton coach Simon Parker felt that the Tigers had done most things right in the first half aside from shutting down Lightning from three-point range, and then they dominated in all facets after half-time.

"We had all these areas on the board that we wanted to make sure we were winning at half-time and the only one we weren’t winning was the three-point count so we were actually winning every stat besides that," Parker said.

"That's what was keeping them in the game to be honest so we just made sure that we were getting high hands, and up and in a little further to make sure they couldn’t get shots off.

"We just made a few adjustments on D. Our goal was to keep them under 60. If we are going to win we have to keep teams under 60 so that was our goal."

Meanwhile, Lightning coach Craig Mansfield saw the warning signs at half-time but not quite to the extent as what played out.

"I said to the girls in the room that I was a little bit worried at half-time. We had made seven threes and they played patches of zone where we scored 10 points against so I was worried those things might swing a little bit in the second half and we could fall behind, which it did," Mansfield said.

"But I didn’t expect the bottom to fall out quite as badly as it did and then once it got into the 20s a third of the way through the fourth, you are just trying to avoid injury for next week.

"I said to the girls after the game and I'm a firm believer that you are never as good as you think you are, and never as bad as you think you are – you are generally somewhere in the middle.

"They certainly beat us well tonight so we watch the film and try to find ways to get better defensively next weekend."

FRIDAY WOMEN'S SBL QUARTER FINAL MATCHES
Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 101 defeated Lakeside Lightning 58
Orange Autos Rockingham Flames 90 defeated Texture WA Perth Redbacks 66
Perry Lakes Hawks 71 defeated Mandurah Magic 69

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin