THE last opening weekend Women's quarter-final match up took place at Joondalup Basketball Stadium on Saturday night with the minor premier Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves beating the Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars by 17 points.

The 2016 SBL finals got underway on Friday night with the first three Women's quarter-final match ups that saw the Willetton Tigers beat the Lakeside Lightning 101-58, the Rockingham Flames defeat the Perth Redbacks 90-66 and the Perry Lakes Hawks take a thriller 71-69 over the Mandurah Magic.

Week 1 Friday night Women's SBL Quarter Final wrap 

Then on Saturday night, the top seeded Joondalup Wolves took on the No. 8 ranked Cockburn Cougars at Joondalup Basketball Stadium, with the Lady Wolfpack proving too strong winning 84-67.

The best of three series will now move to Wally Hagan Stadium next Saturday night and if the Cougars are able to beat the Wolves on their home deck, the deciding Game 3 will take place on Sunday back at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

The Wolves came into the contest ready to make a statement that they could transfer their dominant regular season into the finals and they did that in the opening period piling on 28 points to just 10 from the Cougars.

While Cockburn never threw in the towel and continued to fight hard, the visitors could never really make any inroads on Joondalup with the Lady Wolfpack going on to win by 17 points after leading by 18 at the end of that statement opening period.

The Wolves ended up shooting 44 per cent from the field and the Cougars 41 per cent, but the real difference came with Joondalup pulling in 11 more rebounds, dishing out 12 more assists and forcing Cockburn into 19 turnovers which they scored 20 points from.

The great strength of the Wolves this season has been the ability of so many different players to stand up on any different night, and on this occasion it was Nikita-Lee Martin who was the standout finishing with 26 points, two rebounds and two steals shooting 8-of-14 from the field, 2-of-4 from three-point range and 8-of-8 from the foul line.

Amy Kidner had another strong performance for the Lady Wolfpack with 23 points, six rebounds and four assists as well nailing 10-of-14 from the floor.

Klara Wischer didn’t have a great shooting night going 4-of-15 but still contributed well for Joondalup finishing with 15 points and nine rebounds.

Ellyce Ironmonger added 10 points, 11 boards, four assists and two blocked shots for the Wolves while point guard Shani Amos finished with four points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Candace Williams did all she could to try and lift the Cougars finishing the night with 28 points and 13 rebounds on shooting 10-of-21 from the field and 8-of-10 from the free-throw line.

Cherridy Thornton also battled hard for Cockburn ending up with 15 points, three rebounds and three assists while Taryn Priestly had 12 points, three boards and two steals for the Cougars, and Kirsty Pitcher seven points, four rebounds and two assists.

SATURDAY WOMEN'S SBL QUARTER FINAL MATCH
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 84 defeated Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars 67

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography