A STAT-STUFFING performance from Daniel Raber in limited minutes led the Cockburn Cougars to a massive 53-point win over the Eastern Suns in Round 16 of the National Basketball League (NBL)1 West Women’s competition over the weekend.

The penultimate round of the 2024 season saw some high-scoring clashes, and none more so than the matchup between the Cougars and Suns. Despite being so late in the season, there are still a plethora of sides still hitting the scoreboard in a big way, and are gearing up for big finals campaigns.

Cockburn travelled to Ray Owen Sports Centre to take on Eastern, and it was actually an arm-wrestle in the opening quarter, with the Suns trailing by just four points at the first change. However, the second and third periods were completely dominated by the Cougars, who outscored the opposition 79-31 in that time, before taking the foot off the pedal in the fourth to snag a 131-78 win.

Although there were plenty of strong contributors for the winning side, no one had a bigger impact than Raber, who was dominant despite not playing too many minutes.

Eastern Suns (78) def. by Cockburn Cougars (131)

Daniel Raber – 31 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, one steal

Raber came close to a massive triple-double in the win over the Suns, tormenting the defence by consistently popping up in one way or another to help her side to a huge victory.

In just 21 minutes of court time, Raber made every post a winner, getting involved on nearly every possession in that time and helping establish a match-winning lead in the second and third quarters in particular.

She shot 15/21 from the field en route to 31 points, with all of her makes coming from inside the arc as she sliced up the defence inside the paint and had some easy baskets as a result of her willingness to take on the opposition.

Raber split her rebounds evenly between the offensive and defensive end with five apiece, punishing the Suns for not boxing out and allowing her a free run at the ball.

She was also an elite playmaker, hitting up her teammates with tremendous passes and particularly combining well with Stephanie Gorman (29 points, seven three-pointers) on the perimeter whenever the defence sagged off.

It was a massive performance from Raber given the amount of time she was actually in the game, and certainly helped build her side’s dominance in the match.