Round 8 Eagles Wrap – Women/Men

It was a mixed evening at Peter Campbell Basketball Arena for the East Perth Eagles with the women falling to the defending champions but the men continued their form to make a statement against the Cockburn Cougars.

The Eagles were back in action at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre on Friday night in Round 8 of the NBL1 West playing host to the Cockburn Cougars.

It was a slow start for the East Perth women before going on to lose to the Cougars 71-45 but the men then produced a dominant performance with Lee Roberts back into the line-up to record the 109-95 victory against Cockburn.

WOMEN

Giving up a 13-2 start to the defending champion Cockburn Cougars made life difficult for the East Perth Eagles but they did show some encouraging signs in the second half to be built upon.

Despite trailing by 25 points at half-time, East Perth was able to stick with Cockburn throughout the second.

Considering that was a team featuring WNBL stars Steph Gorman and Alex Ciabattoni, former Lynx players Jewel Williams and Jessie Edwards, import Daniel Raber and some good young talent, there was a lot to take from the second half for the Eagles.

East Perth will now look to take the positives from that second half, learn from what happened in the first and aim to bounce back in the search of a second win of the season this coming Friday night on the road to the Joondalup Wolves.

East Perth was fresh off its first win of the season two weeks ago against the Mandurah Magic before the bye last week ahead of hosting a Cockburn team coming off two big wins last week over Perth and Warwick by a combined 75 points.

The Cougars arrived at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre on a mission too and raced out to a 13-2 lead in the opening six minutes with East Perth managing just the two points in that time.

From there, Cockburn went on to lead 19-8 by the end of the first quarter with the Cougars pulling away further in the second period with another 24 points to 10 to go into the long break leading 43-18.

It had been a brutal first half for the Eagles with the Cougars flexing their muscles, and with the result all but sewn up going into the second half, it was Cockburn just outscoring East Perth 28 points to 27.

It was a tough night for East Perth with Laci Hawthorne finishing with 17 points, 12 rebounds and two steals with Mary Goulding adding 14 points, nine boards and three assists.

Bri Bailey also had six points, four assists and three rebounds, and Mary Baskerville six points and three boards. Hannah Swarbrick also finished with two points and two rebounds, and Sarah Allen dished out three assists.

MEN

Impressive momentum continues to build for the East Perth Eagles with a commanding performance to defeat the Cockburn Cougars 109-95 at Peter Campbell Basketball Arena on Friday night.

With former Grand Final MVP Lee Roberts joining an already impressive front court of Sebit Reath, David Okwera and Sharif Watson, and with Sunday Dech, Taylor Young and Nick Filpo in the back court, it's an Eagles team firing on all cylinders.

Not only have the Eagles now won their past three NBL1 West matches, but it could quite conceivably six straight matches too given the two losses in that time saw East Perth have a chance on the buzzer to claim those wins over the Perth Redbacks and Willetton Tigers.

The Eagles came back home to Peter Campbell Basketball Arena at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre on a high following ending Geraldton's 19-game home winning streak in fine style last Saturday night.

East Perth then added back experienced big man Roberts for the first time this season following his campaign in Uruguay ending, and the Eagles went mighty big with their starting five.

With Roberts alongside Okwera and Watson with the back court of Young and Dech, it was a nightmare match up for a Cougars team coming into the game without experienced point guards Seva Chan and Kyle Armour.

Hunter Clarke then lasted less than nine minutes with his troublesome ankle and the Cougars were suddenly missing their top three choice point guards, and they were playing catch up most of the evening as a result.

East Perth had opened up a 28-21 lead by the end of the first quarter before pushing that lead out to 14 in the second term, and going into half-time on top 62-51.

Cockburn was doing its best to stay in touch, but giving up 62 points in a half was never going to get it done and the East Perth lead got out to 18 points in the second half before they went on to score the 14-point win.

It was the impressive front court from the Eagles which ultimately was the difference. The four pronged attack of bigs was a match-winning combination with David Okwera putting up another 19 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Sebit Reath might not have started but had a significant impact with 21 points, nine rebounds and two blocks with Lee Roberts putting up 17 points and seven rebounds despite battling foul trouble in his first appearance of the season.

Sharif Watson also had 13 points, three assists and three steals while there was also Taylor Young contributing 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds, Sunday Dech 13 points and six assists, and Nick Filpo 11 points, three rebounds and two assists.