STACEY Barr made quite the statement on return to the Women's SBL on debut for the Willetton Tigers on Friday night while the Mandurah Magic continued their winning start.

There were the two games in the Women's SBL on Friday night to open Week 2 of the 2017 season.

That saw Barr return from her time in the AFL Women's competition with the Fremantle Dockers in remarkable fashion delivering 37 points as she debuted for the Tigers leading them to the 96-87 victory over the Cockburn Cougars at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

Friday night's other game saw the Mandurah Magic defeat the Lakeside Lightning 87-77 at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

Week 2 Women's SBL Preview 

The defending champion Tigers might have lost their season-opener to the Magic last Saturday night, but they welcomed back Zoe Harper, and welcomed Barr and Gemma Houghton on Friday night against the Cougars.

While Barr delivered a remarkable individual performance for the Tigers less than a week after the last game of the AFL Women's season, the Cougars put up a great fight led by Kersten Mitchell.

However, the defending champs just had a bit too much in the finish to win by nine points.

Barr had a night to remember for Willetton having made the move from the Kalamunda Eastern Suns over summer. She finished with 37 points and nine rebounds shooting 12-of-26 from the field, 7-of-13 from downtown and 6-of-11 from the charity stripe.

Harper was also back for the Tigers and contributed 12 points and 12 rebounds with Emma Gandini adding 10 points, three boards and three assists, Emma Lobb eight points and Kate Malpass eight to go with nine assists, four steals and three rebounds.

Mitchell showed just how valuable a pick up she will be for Cockburn this season doing all she could match what Barr was doing for the Tigers.

She finished the night with 33 points, 11 rebounds and three steals on shooting of 11-of-19 from the field and 10-of-16 at the line.

Brianna Moyes also had a good game for Cockburn with 21 points, seven assists and four rebounds.

Isabelle Miotti added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists and Talisia Bourne 10 points.

Then at Lakeside Recreation Centre, the Magic maintained their good form to start the season beating the Lightning by 10 points to back up last week's win over the Tigers and giving Lakeside its first loss. The Lightning beat the Slammers on the road last Saturday night.

The Magic welcomed WNBL championship winner Carly Boag as well fresh off the grand final for the Sydney Uni Flames and she was terrific off the bench playing 33 minutes and delivering 17 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.

Casey Mihovilovich also had 21 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals for Mandurah with Nici Gilday adding 19 points, five boards and four assists.

Emma Klasztorny also delivered 14 points and eight rebounds.

Sydnee Fipps did all she could to try and lift the Lightning over the line ending up with 21 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Ali Schwagmeyer also had 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals for Lakeside but shot just 3-of-11 from the floor.

Alex Bell had an impressive performance for the Lightning with 17 points including 3-of-5 from three-point territory.

Round 2 of the Women's SBL season will conclude on Saturday night with the Stirling Senators hosting the Rockingham Flames, the South West Slammers taking on the Perth Redbacks and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns facing the Perry Lakes Hawks.

FRIDAY NIGHT ROUND 2 WOMEN'S SBL RESULTS
Willetton Tigers 96 defeated Cockburn Cougars 87
Lakeside Lightning 77 lost to Mandurah Magic 87

SATURDAY NIGHT ROUND 2 WOMEN'S SBL FIXTURES
Stirling Senators v Rockingham Flames – Warwick Stadium 6pm
South West Slammers v Perth Redbacks – Eaton Recreation Centre 6pm
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v – Ray Owen Sports Centre 6.30pm

Photo by June Halliday