FOLLOWING a successful weekend that delivered four wins from four games for the Western Australian sides, the Perth Lynx and Perth Wildcats will both again face two opponents this weekend. 

For the Lynx, who reside second on the WNBL table after five consecutive wins, their round kicked off on Thursday night in a blockbuster, with a top of the table clash against the undefeated Bendigo Spirit. The Spirit finished last season 11-10 and missed out on the finals but have begun season 2024-25 in spectacular fashion.

Unfortunately for the Lynx, it did not all go to plan suffering a loss in a hard-fought six-point contest at Bendat Basketball Centre. Perth lead by six points at the final change, but a 25-13 final term ultimately sealed the win of the visitors, 72-66.

The loss for the Lynx came after dismantling the Townsville Fire in a 26-point blowout victory last Wednesday, and following that up with a seven point win over Southside. Miela Sowah led the way for Perth, scoring 43 points across the two games. She is averaging a career high 17 point per game this season, exploding into a key element of the Lynx’ championship aspirations. Her and Laeticia Amihere, also averaging 17 points per game, sit tied fifth in points per game across the entire competition. 

The Lynx then travel to Sydney to face the Flames, whom they beat by six points in their only matchup so far this year. The Flames, 2-4 for the season, have been defensively strong but have struggled to shoot the ball so far. When they last met, Amihere dominated with 28 points, four assists, four rebounds and four steals. Shaneice Swain knocked down eight three-point shots on her way to 26 points for Sydney, while Cayla George dropped 19 points and 16 rebounds.

The Flames got off to a hot start but were held tremendously well in the second half by the Lynx, who despite being beaten convincingly on the boards, managed to rack up buckets in the paint and off turnovers, while scoring 30 points on the fastbreak to Sydney’s 13.

Meanwhile the Wildcats are coming off a weekend highlighted by Bryce Cotton’s record-breaking performance against the New Zealand Breakers. The star guard scored 59 points, the most ever in the 40-minute NBL era. This weekend Perth face the second place Illawarra Hawks and the sixth placed Adelaide 36ers. Both are winnable games, and two wins would lift them above the Kings on the NBL25 table. 

Perth met the Hawks in Round seven and an early hot start vaulted them to an eight-point win without Cotton, on the back of a 26 point, six assist performance from Ben Henshall. He and Dylan Windler combined to knock down 10 threes as the home side shot 55 per cent from beyond the arc, and outrebounded Illawarra 38-28. They also led the Hawks 25-16 in assists, 17 of which came from stand-in ball handlers Henshall, Kristian Doolittle and Elijah Pepper.

After starting the season 5-1 Illawarra has now dropped four of their last seven games and are on the brink of falling to third on the table, as their starting lineup continues to shuffle around. Darius Days was able to climb out of his form slump in their last outing against South East Melbourne, dropping 18 points with nine rebounds but it wasn’t enough to get the job done as the Phoenix welcomed 45 points from Jordan Hunter and Owen Foxwell in a breakout game for the young guard. 

The Wildcats and 36ers will do battle for the first time this season, Adelaide having dropped three of their last four games and sitting at .500 for the year. They will once again be without star import Montrezl Harrell, who will miss a third game through suspension due to an incident involving spectators against Melbourne United, but the 36ers will welcome back Kendric Davis who missed two games for the same suspension. In their absence it was Isaac Humphries and Dejan Vasiljevic who stepped up, combining for 35 points in their last match against Tasmania. Adelaide were also boosted by a balanced game off the bench from young guard Keanu Rasmussen, while Lat Mayen also made an impact off the bench. 

Unfortunately for Adelaide, the news gets worse as they will also be without Vasiljevic after suffering a hamstring injury in the game against the JackJumpers. The side will be extremely depleted for their opening game of Round 11 against Brisbane on Friday night, before Davis will be a sight for sore 36ers fans’ eyes on Sunday at home against the Wildcats.

Perth will be seeking to remain undefeated since the FIBA break as they look to climb the NBL ladder in the second half of the season, after the return of star Bryce Cotton, and amid the impending return of Tai Webster.