Slammers thirst for Oasis win

After matching it with the high flying Lakeside Lightning for lengthy periods, the Printsync South West Slammers women were unable to land a telling blow during Saturday night’s 82-70 loss at the Eaton Recreation Centre.

Despite the loss, Slammers boss Nathan Grover was pleased with the overall effort but is well aware that Saturday’s trip to Belmont Oasis must result in victory as tricky fixtures loom just over the horizon.

Slammers: Made a positive start against the Lightning, and led by five points midway through the opening quarter. Gradually struggled to contain the visitors as the match wore on, with four Lightning players hitting double figures on the scoresheet.

Redbacks: Having a challenging season, although they enter Saturday night’s match in winning form, after knocking off the Mandurah Magic on the road. Take on the winless East Perth Eagles tomorrow night as a lead-in to Saturday night’s clash.

Nathan Grover’s take (Slammers)

On this weekend’s game: “These are the winnable games that we need to lock away. I think we have the confidence in the group at the moment — but we just need to get back to winning ways ahead of four really tough weeks.

“With how we have been playing the last couple of weeks, we are pretty happy as a group.”

On Makailah Dyer’s performance against the Lightning: “She was really good at controlling the tempo for us.

“When our players started pushing the tempo like they usually do, she pulled things back a little and settled things down for us.

“From there, she started to get into the offence and get her shots in for us as well.”

Scouting report(Perth Redbacks)

League position: 11th; Home record: 0-3; Away record: 1-3; Last round: defeated Mandurah Magic 71-65

Top performers

Slammers (v Lakeside Lighting, Round 7)

Courtney Bayliss — 21 points (2/6 from the field, 5/18 from beyond the arc, 2/2 from free throw line), nine rebounds, two assists, three steals, one turnover.

Redbacks (v Mandurah Magic, Round 7)

Susie Deegan — 22 points (5/10 from the field, 2/4 from beyond the arc, 6/9 from free throw line), seven rebounds, one assist, one steal, four turnovers.