Round 12 Eagles Wrap – Women/Men

The winning ways of both East Perth Eagles teams continued on Saturday evening down south with strong wins against the South West Slammers.

Coming off a perfect weekend with double wins for both Eagles women's and men's teams against the Joondalup Wolves and Mandurah Magic, they were able to back it up against the Slammers at Eaton Recreation Centre on Saturday evening.

Things got underway with a women's victory 89-48 as the Eagles made it three wins in-a-row as did the East Perth men with the thrilling 95-89 overtime win against the Slammers.

WOMEN

The East Perth Eagles women are now knocking on the door of a top eight position this NBL1 West season on the back of a third straight win with the 89-48 victory on the road to the South West Slammers.

The Eagles came into the contest at Eaton Recreation Centre on the back of wins last weekend against the Joondalup Wolves at home and on the road to the Mandurah Magic, and needing to keep the form going against the Slammers.

South West might have lost its previous 45 games in the NBL1 West competition, but the last win was against the Eagles back in May of 2022 so nobody at East Perth would be taking anything for granted heading to Eaton Recreation Centre.

East Perth also welcomed Sam Lubcke back into the line-up for the first time in 2024 with the 2021 All-First Team member adding another boost to an Eagles team already building some winning confidence.

The East Perth Eagles kept their momentum going making it three straight wins with the 89-48 road victory against the South West Slammers.

The Slammers did well to keep things close for a lot of the first half with East Perth only leading by five points at quarter-time, but they did extend that advantage to 41-27 by the half-time break.

The Eagles then dominated further in the third quarter holding the Slammers to just five points and scoring 24 themselves which saw the lead grow to 33 points.

That blew out to 43 points in the final term too and East Perth went on to score the 41-point win to make it three in-a-row on the season to remain in the playoff hunt with a 5-9 record.

Laci Hawthorne top-scored for the Eagles with 19 points and 11 rebounds with Sam Lubcke coming into the team and delivering 13 points, 10 boards and five assists in just over 19 minutes.

Bri Bailey also had 10 points, four steals, three rebounds and two assists, Tessa Morrison nine points, eight assists, five steals and four boards, Mary Baskerville eight points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists, and Sarah Allen seven points and six boards in her 100th NBL1 West game.

There were more strong contributors too with Taylor Roberts producing six points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals, Ella Dimanlig seven points on 2/3 three-point shooting, Aleka Kabugua six points, two rebounds and two steals, Cameron Flynn two points and two boards, and Hannah Swarbrick two points and five rebounds.

MEN

The impressive form continued to build of the East Perth Eagles but it took until overtime to overcome a dogged South West Slammers team with the eventual 95-89 victory.

Not only did the Eagles come into Saturday night's match up at Eaton Recreation Centre against the Slammers following wins last weekend over the Joondalup Wolves and Mandurah Magic, but having won seven of the past nine matches going back further.

That had East Perth knocking on the door of a top four position in the NBL1 West, but they did need to keep winning to make that happen and it was going to be a challenge up against a talented Slammers line-up led by Buay Tuach without the presence of soon-to-be Olympian Sunday Dech.

It was a night of wild fluctuations but in the end the East Perth Eagles found the more composure in overtime to secure the 95-89 victory against the South West Slammers.

The Eagles were on top for a lot of the evening with a three-point lead at quarter-time before another 21 points to 19 in the second quarter to go into half-time on top 48-43.

East Perth also had 26 points 17 in the third period with the lead growing to as much as 14 points, and the Eagles did lead by as much as nine in the final term.

However, the Slammers wouldn’t go away and all of a sudden with 3:30 to play, Xavier Cotton hit a three ball and the home team had grabbed the lead and had all the momentum.

Cotton then hit another one after a messy two minutes from both teams and it was the Slammers now leading by six points and it was the Eagles who had to dig deep.

East Perth were able to force a turnover leading to a three ball from Elijah Pawson. Then after a missed three from Buay Tuach up the other end, it was Pawson who drained another from downtown to tie scores back up.

South West had a shot clock violation giving the Eagles a chance to snatch it but David Okwera's contested jumper wouldn’t go and the game went to overtime.

In the extra period, East Perth got things started with two big finishes from Lukas Milner to set the tone and then buckets later in the five minutes from Okwera and Sharif Watson kept the Eagles on top, and they were able to secure the six-point win.

The win is a third straight for East Perth who improve to a 10-6 record as a result despite the absence of Sunday Dech with Taylor Young playing more than 40 minutes and finishing with 18 points, three steals, two rebounds and two assists.

Lukas Milner showed exciting signs in his third game of the season with 17 points, nine rebounds and two blocks too with David Okwera adding 16 points and 13 boards, Lee Roberts 13 points and eight rebounds, and Sebit Reath 10 points and seven boards.

On top of that, Sharif Watson was important not only with his eight points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals but also playing some standout defence particularly in the absence of Sunday Dech.

Elijah Pawson came up huge with those two big three-pointers on his way to eight points and three assists as well while Nick Filpo contributed five points, three assists and two steals.