ALI Schwagmeyer delivered a scintillating 30-point first half to set up a big win for the Lakeside Lightning over the Joondalup Wolves in the Women's SBL on Friday night with the Stirling Senators also beating the Willetton Tigers.

There were two games in the Women's SBL on Friday night and with Schwagmeyer delivering 30 of her 38 points for the night in the first half, the reigning MVP inspired the Lakeside Lightning to an 81-71 win over the Joondalup Wolves at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

The Stirling Senators also continued their impressive form winning a fifth straight match beating the Willetton Tigers 68-65 at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

Week 6 Women's SBL Preview 

Starting with the Tigers hosting the Senators, Willetton was still without Kate Malpass and Stacey Barr, but did welcome new import Jessica Hootmann into the line-up for the first time in 2017.

But Stirling came to Willetton in some hot form having won four straight matches and the Senators came out strongly leading by five points at quarter-time and by eight at the half.

The Tigers were always going to fight back and were up by two heading into the fourth quarter but the Senators held them to just nine final period points to end up winning by three in a thrilling finish.

Kisha Lee again top-scored for Stirling with 18 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and two steals.

Taylor Roberts added 14 points and five rebounds for the Senators, Jasmine Martin 13 points, seven boards and three assists, and Amber Land 12 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Zoe Harper returned for the Tigers and top-scored with 16 points and 13 rebounds with new import Hootmann adding 14 points, seven boards and five assists.

Desiree Kelley contributed 12 points, five steals, three rebounds and three assists as well for Willetton with Emma Lobb adding 10 points, five boards and four assists.

Then at Joondalup Basketball Stadium, Schwagmeyer was simply unstoppable for the Lightning against the Lady Wolfpack with 30 first half points to help her team to a 51-34 advantage.

The Wolves did fight back in the second half but could never get close enough to seriously threaten Lakeside who recorded the impressive 10-point win over last year's minor premiers and grand finalists.

It was a simply stunning performance from Schwagmeyer and she finished the night with 38 points and seven rebounds on the back of shooting 13-of-22 from the field, 4-of-7 from downtown and 8-of-8 at the charity stripe to improve the Lightning to a 4-2 record on the season.

Sydnee Fipps had a particularly strong second half for Lakeside to provide a strong one-two punch with Schwagmeyer to end up with 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Lightning coach Craig Mansfield was understandably delighted with the win at Joondalup but wasn’t getting too carried away.

"We were really happy with the first half in particular. The entire first half was really good offensively and we moved the ball side to side, and in and through and obviously Ali had a big half. We made some threes but in that second quarter we got both ends right offensively and defensively," Mansfield said.

"We haven’t done that much in my 18 months at Lakeside for long periods so if we can continue to do that it will be good. The second half then against opposition that good even without Amos it was hard to maintain that pace and we were never going to win by 30.

"I just told the girls to stay calm and it never got to single figures and our defence stayed good enough even though Klara and Belcher had their spots. As much as they have a lot of good players, they aren’t used to playing without Amos so we know they will be different with her in the team.

"They are a very good team and we were lucky to get them on a night without Amos but this is a difficult venue to win in. I consider this and Rockingham the two most difficult places to get a road win in so we are really happy."

There's little time for Lakeside to celebrate either as they now look to keep Cockburn winless in 2017 on Saturday night.

"I said to the girls after the game to make sure they don’t worry about the standings. Cockburn have lost a number of close games, they've played some teams at full strength and I look at them on paper and think they are a really good group," Mansfield said.

"They've got a couple of bigs, they have a really good point guard and they have everything they need to be very difficult. They have their new import as well so we'll see how we match up with her and how the game unfolds.

"I think Cockburn are a very good team and by the end of the season they'll be in the top eight. When you win the first night of a double-header, it doesn’t mean the job's done. It just gives you a really good opportunity the second night and hopefully we can get the job done. But it will be a big challenge."

Alex Bell added eight points and four boards for the Lightning and Tia Ucich eight points.

The Wolves sorely missed point guard Shani Amos and would have been disappointed in their first half performance, but they did fight hard after half-time.

Klara Wischer did most of her damaging in the second half finishing with 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals for Joondalup.

Nikita Martin added 12 points, 14 rebounds and five assists for the Wolves while Chelsea Belcher delivered 14 points off the bench. Ellyce Ironmonger also finished with eight points, 16 rebounds and three assists.

Wolves coach Craig Friday clearly wasn’t happy with the start to the game and to allow Schwagmeyer 30 points. He had some other concerns without too but was at least happy with the fight from his group after half-time.

"She was great obviously but I thought the inconsistency of the calling called us out of the game early. They were allowed to put their hands all over us in the post but she puts the ball to the floor we kept getting the calls against us. I don’t know why there's such a difference and I'll query that this week and I do think that inconsistency of the call early put us off as well," Friday said.

"The second half was much better than the first. We came out and didn’t execute what we wanted to do in the first half. We had a few people turn up late and I was late so there was a lot of things, but at the end of the day we just didn’t put a process in place. We were our own worst enemy in the first half but credit to Lakeside for coming out and playing well."

Week 6 of the Women's SBL will continue on Saturday night with the South West Slammers playing the Mandurah Magic, the Lakeside Lightning taking on the Cockburn Cougars and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns facing the Cockburn Cougars.

Then on Monday night, the Stirling Senators take on the Perry Lakes Hawks at Warwick Stadium.

And on ANZAC Day, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns host the Willetton Tigers and the Cockburn Cougars take on the Rockingham Flames.

FRIDAY NIGHT ROUND 6 WOMEN'S SBL RESULTS
Joondalup Wolves 71 lost to Lakeside Lightning 81
Willetton Tigers 65 lost to Stirling Senators 68

SATURDAY NIGHT ROUND 6 WOMEN'S SBL FIXTURES
South West Slammers v Mandurah Magic – Eaton Recreation Centre 6pm
Lakeside Lightning v Cockburn Cougars – Lakeside Recreation Centre 6pm
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v East Perth Eagles – Ray Owen Sports Centre 6.30pm

MONDAY ROUND 6 WOMEN'S SBL FIXTURES
Stirling Senators v Perry Lakes Hawks – Warwick Stadium 6.30pm

TUESDAY ROUND 6 WOMEN'S SBL FIXTURES
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v Willetton Tigers – Ray Owen Sports Centre 1pm
Cockburn Cougars v Rockingham Flames – Wally Hagan Stadium 1pm

Photo by Vikki Hile