South West Slammers women’s side produce one of best performances of season in loss to Lakeside Lightning

South West Slammers women’s side produced one of their best performances of the season in an 18-point loss to Lakeside Lightning at Eaton Recreation Centre on Friday night. In a reunion with former Slammers men’s coach Marty Zeller, now coaching his daughter Teige Morrell with Lakeside, the Slammers produced their highest score of the season in a 95-77 defeat to seventh-placed Lakeside. The margin of defeat is their second-smallest of the year, behind only their 14-point loss to Goldfields Giants in May. For the first time this season, the Slammers were within single digits of their opposition at the main break, heading for half-time trailing by nine points after closing out the second term with a 13-4 run which featured two threes from Courtney Bayliss and another from Zaya Black. But the visitors took control of the contest with a 28-13 third term before the Slammers were able to show some fight in the last quarter, cutting their deficit by six points. Veteran Bayliss produced her best performance of the season for the Slammers, having her biggest night of the season both as a scorer with 20 points and on the glass with 13 rebounds. Young guard Charlotte Mills was also excellent, scoring an efficient 17 points on only eight shots while grabbing seven rebounds, and Black (16 points, four rebounds, four assists) continued her strong campaign. The Slammers could not stop Perth Lynx development player Morrell, who scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Lightning, while Caitlyn Jones and Marnelle Garraud both produced 24-point efforts.