Eagles Rd 13 Preview | Friday, Saturday double

Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

The East Perth Eagles have a second straight double-header this weekend in the NBL1 West starting on Friday night at home to the Perry Lakes Hawks and then away to the Lakeside Lightning on Saturday.

With the Eagles women currently in fifth position and the men in ninth after last week's games with the Perth Redbacks and Cockburn Cougars, the Round 13 double-header could very well be defining in the context of the 2025 season for both teams.

It gets underway on Friday night at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre against Perry Lakes with the women starting at 6:30pm with the men then tipping off at 8:30pm.

Then on Saturday evening the Eagles head to Lakeside Recreation Centre with the women's clash with the Lightning starting at 5:30pm and the men to follow at 7:30pm.

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WOMEN

The Eagles women have the chance to put further gap between them and both Perry Lakes and Lakeside this weekend, but also to remain right in contention of a top four NBL1 West position.

East Perth beat the Perth Redbacks last Friday night at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre before then losing on the road to the Cockburn Cougars on Saturday.

Those results leave the Eagles in fifth position in the standings with an 8-5 record coming into another double-header in Round 13 against the Hawks on Friday and Lightning on Saturday.

Starting on Friday night, East Perth plays host to Perry Lakes on Peter Campbell Basketball Arena in what could well be a pivotal game for both teams.

The Eagles currently sit fifth at 8-5 while the Hawks are sixth just behind at 6-6 and coming off two wins against the Joondalup Wolves by a combined 66 points.

Not only is it going to be a significant game in the context of the season for both teams, but there are tremendous match ups all over the floor as well starting with the battle of high class centre with Sasha Goodlett to battle Megan McKay.

Perry Lakes share the ball handling duties out between Grace Stone, Jayda Clark and even Alex Fowler and Amy Jacobs in their starting group while they also have good depth off the bench with the likes of Maddy Dennis, Eryn Fisher and Mia Satie.

The Eagles having that genuine point guard with Abby Cubillo does provide a contrast in styles between the two teams while Awatea Leach, Madi Torresin, Taylor Roberts and Ari van Vilet are all going to have to be on their game up against the likes of Fowler, Clark, Jacobs and Stone.

On the back of that Friday night clash, East Perth backs up on the road to Lakeside on Saturday with the Lightning currently sitting ninth with a 5-8 record and trying to stay in touch of a playoff spot.

With a team featuring reigning MVP Teige Morrell, 2021 grand final MVP Sam Lubcke and import guards Kennedi Williams and Oceane Kounkou, the Eagles are going to have the handful with them as well.

Eagles coach Tim Symons is well aware of the importance of these two games and there's no excuses heading into the double-header.

"The plan this weekend is to get both games. Well over the half of the season and the top four have a gap which we need to close," Symons said.

"Looking to build on an up and down weekend that was. Gaining the win Friday was great but not the minutes spent to get the job done. Saturday a different story. No excuse double header. We just failed to show up. We didn’t execute the plan other than the third quarter for five minutes that closed the gap to 10.

"The challenge this weekend is to execute the plan for 40 minutes. Build on what we know works but most of all play hard basketball that disrupts the opposition execution of the scout and play team ball.

"Training this week has been brutal. Challenging, building but most of playing a style of basketball that keeps us proud."

MEN

The Eagles men missed a chance to return to the top eight last Saturday night but now have two more important opportunities this weekend against teams just behind them in the standings coming into Round 13.

East Perth scored a dominant 28-point win at home to the Perth Redbacks last Friday night but couldn’t quite back it up on Saturday at Wally Hagan Stadium giving up 122 points to the Cockburn Cougars who scored the 15-point victory.

That leaves the Eagles sitting in ninth position with a 6-8 record trying to chase down the Goldfields Giants (7-7), Mandurah Magic (7-8) and Kalamunda Eastern Suns (6-8) who currently occupy spots inside the top eight.

What makes this weekend doubly crucial for the Eagles is that it presents the chance not only to break into the top eight, but also to extend the gap on the Hawks and Lightning who both currently sit behind them.

It all starts on Friday night at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre with the Eagles hosting the Hawks with Perry Lakes coming into the clash also on a 6-8 record and trying to snap a three-game losing slide.

Then the Eagles back up against the Lightning at Lakeside Recreation Centre on Saturday with the home team coming into the round currently with a 4-10 record but with a dangerous team including big man import AJ Wilson, guard Isaiah Lewis and former NBL wing Corey Shervill.

It's going to be a weekend that will have a big say in what happens with the Eagles come the end of the season, and captain Lee Roberts is just focusing on the job at hand and trying to not think too much about the ramifications.

"We know what's at stake and we've always got that in the back of our mind, but we're coming out and we're just trying to take another step forward," Roberts said.

"We know what sort of team we can be and we know what level we can play at, and that's our main focus is trying to make sure that we get to our level of play.

"Perry Lakes is in the way of that and of us reaching our goals. We have a goal of winning both games this weekend and they stand in our way.

"As far as us being on the same record and everything, that makes it an important game, but when we lost that game last weekend when we could have possibly got into the sixth seed, we already knew that our rope has shortened tremendously.

"We know the stakes for this weekend and we understand what the game means to start off with on Friday."