Eagles Preview – Round 12

Both East Perth Eagles teams are coming off their best weekends of the NBL1 West season and will be looking to keep the momentum going on the road to the South West Slammers on Saturday night.

The Eagles women's and men's teams both had double wins in Round 11 of the NBL1 West season with wins at home to the Joondalup Wolves on Friday night and then backing it up beating the Mandurah Magic on the road on Saturday.

What that means is that the Eagles women are now still right in the playoff hunt and the men are in the mix of a top four spot heightening the importance of the games against the Slammers.

The women's contest at Eaton Recreation Centre begins at 5pm followed by the men's battle at 7pm.

WOMEN

The East Perth Eagles women won consecutive games for the first time this season last weekend and now will be out to keep the momentum going on Saturday evening against the South West Slammers at Eaton Recreation Centre.

After losing the first six games of the season, East Perth is now building nicely in the back end of the season having not only won those two games last weekend at home to the Joondalup Wolves and away to the Mandurah Magic, but four of the past seven games overall.

That has the Eagles only one win behind the eighth placed Willetton Tigers and another win on Saturday against the Slammers and they will be further closing in on a position inside the top eight with six games remaining following this weekend.

There was a lot to like with what East Perth did last weekend and it all started with impressive import pair Laci Hawthorne and Mary Baskerville.

In those wins against the Wolves and Magic, Baskerville averaged 28.0 points, 19.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists while Hawthorne produced 19.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists.

It was far from just those two starring, though, with captain Tessa Morrison delivering 10.5 points and 4.5 assists, Bri Bailey 8.5 points and 4.0 rebounds, Sarah Allen 11.5 points, 3.5 boards and 3.0 assists, Mary Goulding 9.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists, and Taylor Roberts 6.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists.

The Eagles now take on a Slammers team that is on a 45-game losing streak, but those still at East Perth will remember that the lone win South West has in its past 87 NBL1 West matches was against them back in 2022.

While it's been lean pickings for the Slammers with back-to-back 40-plus losing streaks, they can't be taken lightly and have good experience with Courtney Bayliss while Zaya Black won a championship at Cockburn last year, and Bree Chalk, Javene Fitch, Addison Edwards and Nyidier Riak are emerging talents.

It's a big occasion for Eagles guard Sarah Allen who will be playing her 100th game in the NBL1 West and while the Slammers might not have won for two years, there's nobody at East Perth taking anything for granted against them.

"Oh yeah, in this league definitely cannot take any team for granted," Allen said.

"Bunbury have put up a tough fight in their games and will definitely out to fight for a win. We just gotta carry the momentum from last week, focus on our defensive game and work from there."

MEN

The East Perth Eagles have a chance to break into the NBL1 West top four with a win over the South West Slammers at Eaton Recreation Centre on Saturday night.

The Eagles scored two strong wins against the Joondalup Wolves and Mandurah Magic last weekend to see them improve to a 9-6 record on the season.

It's only the Geraldton Buccaneers (13-1) and Willetton Tigers (12-2) who are out clear in top two positions right now, but the Eagles are hot on the heels of the Wolves (9-4), Magic (9-6) and Goldfields Giants (9-6), and ahead of the Rockingham Flames (8-6), Perry Lakes Hawks (7-7) and Warwick Senators (7-8).

That makes it another crucial game for the Eagles on the road to the Slammers on Saturday night. It has the potential to set up the run for that top four spot by the end of the season with six matches to come afterwards to close out the regular season.

The Slammers will be back on their home floor hunting a fourth win of their season but they are a significantly more dangerous and talented team than their current 3-12 record suggests.

It's a Slammers team that continues to be led by regular MVP and All-First Team candidate Buay Tuach who is putting up another 24.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists a game.

The Slammers also have a big man import, Alex Holcombe, who is delivering 12.7 points and 9.3 rebounds a game while they have some good emerging talent with Pharell Keats, Xavier Cotton, Devan Craig, Jack Flynn, Manyiel Wugol and Mayuol Makuac.

There's also the potential presence of veterans Clive Weeden and Cory Richardson along with a familiar face to the Eagles, 2014 championship winner Mathiang Muo.

It's going to be a fascinating night on a number of fronts for Eagles star and 156-game NBL veteran Sunday Dech who will get the job of trying to quell the influence of Tuach while also coming up against his East Perth championship teammate Muo too.

"We're looking forward to heading down to Bunbury tomorrow night to play the Slammers. They're a dangerous team which has pushed the opposition the close games this year especially down at Eaton," Dech said.

"For us, we're focusing on keeping our form rolling to push for that top four. We had a good weekend just past going 2-0. We know how much moment plays a factor this time of the year. So it'll be important to play for 40 minutes tomorrow night to secure the road win."