South West Slammers women’s suffer 71-point loss to Mandurah Magic before going down to Perry Lakes by 16

South West Slammers’ women’s side suffered their heaviest loss of the NBL1 West season so far to Mandurah Magic on Thursday night, being smashed by 71 points at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre. Drastically improved performances at the start of the 2025 NBL1 West women’s season had fuelled hope the days of hugely one-sided results were behind the side, but a 106-35 result suggests they still have much work to do compete against the league’s leading teams. The Slammers were not able to get anything going on the offensive end, connecting on only 12 of their 60 field goal attempts on the night and just one of their 20 three-pointers. Imports Mykea Gray (10 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals) and Cayla King (11 points) tried hard but all the other Slammers combined came up with only 14 points on the night. Turnovers were another major issue from yesteryear which plagued the Slammers in the game, throwing the ball away 35 times, while allowing the Magic to grab 25 offensive rebounds. The Slammers found themselves behind by 25 points at the first interval after the hosts stacked on 38 points in the opening term and the margin only grew across the rest of the night, getting out to 40 points at half-time and 53 at the final break. Remarkably, a 13-point first quarter was as good as it got on the offensive end, with the visitors scoring only another 23 points across the remainder of the night. The Slammers produced a better performance to honour the 350th game of club legend Kate Fielding at Eaton Recreation Centre against Perry Lakes Hawks on Saturday but still went down by 17 points. Fielding is back on the court this season for the first time since 2019, playing spot minutes to provide veteran leadership while also serving as the side’s assistant coach. Another slow start saw the hosts behind by 20 points at half-time but they were at least able to prevent the margin from ballooning further in an eventual 84-67 loss. Sloppiness with the ball again proved to be a major hindrance, with the Slammers giving the ball away 29 times, meaning they ended up with fewer offensive opportunities than the visitors despite winning the rebound count by 13. Gray again led the way with 24 points — 20 of which came in the second half — and young guns Alexis Donovan (16 points) and Addison Edwards (six points, 11 rebounds) were among the other Slammers to impress.