Eagles Recap | Rd 8 Women/Men

Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

The East Perth Eagles had their first double win evening at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre for the NBL1 West season against the South West Slammers on Friday night.

The Eagles were back on their home floor of Peter Campbell Basketball Arena in Round 8 of the NBL1 West season on Friday night playing host to the visiting Slammers.

It proved to be a winning night for East Perth too starting with the women's team scoring the 93-75 victory ahead of the men backing it up with the 78-63 win.

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WOMEN

The standout start to the season of the Eagles women continued on Friday night with Madison Torresin and Sasha Goodlett outstanding in the eventual 93-75 win over the South West Slammers.

East Perth were fresh off beating the Mandurah Magic also at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre the previous Saturday and were able to make it six wins from seven games in 2025 with Goodlett and Torresin combining for 47 points, 18 rebounds, eight assists and five steals.

East Perth Eagles imports Sasha Goodlett and Madison Torresin combined for 47 points, 18 rebounds, eight assists and five steals in the 93-75 home win over the South West Slammers.

East Perth did go on a 10-0 scoring run in the opening quarter and were leading 26-15 by quarter-time on the back of hitting 5/12 of their three-point attempts, but the Slammers were efficient too hitting 3/4 from downtown even if they only got up eight shots in the entire first 10 minutes.

It was a total turnaround in the second quarter as the Slammers continued to show just how far they have improved in 2025 under the coaching of Mark Edman.

South West outscored East Perth 27 points to 13 while making 4/9 from three-point range and limiting the Eagles to just 13 shot attempts in total, and suddenly it was the Slammers leading 42-39 at the half.

The Slammers pushed out to a six-point lead in the third quarter too, but the Eagles soon warmed back up and with a 28-point third term, went into three quarter-time back in front 67-63.

The game was still on the line heading into the fourth but not for long with the Eagles outscoring the Slammers 26 points to 12 to clinch the eventual 18-point victory but they were made to earn it.

The Slammers did end up shooting 52 per cent to 49 from the Eagles, but East Perth got up 18 extra shot attempts on the back of 16 offensive rebounds to five, and forcing the Slammers into 23 turnovers.

The victory improves the Eagles to a 6-1 record on the season with Sasha Goodlett once again a powerful force inside with 24 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals on 9/14 shooting from the field and 6/7 at the line.

Madison Torresin continued her strong form with the Canadian forward delivering 23 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals on 8/14 shooting with 5/6 at the charity stripe.

Kiwi Awatea Leach also had 13 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds and two steals, Abby Cubillo 11 points, six boards and five assists, Taylor Roberts nine points and four rebounds, and captain Tessa Morrison eight points, four steals, two boards and two assists.

Aleka Kabugua also knocked down a three-pointer on the night for the Eagles while Akim Lual made her only field goal attempted too.

MEN

The Eagles men scored their first home victory of the 2025 season on Friday night and while it might not have been the prettiest performance, they were in control virtually the whole way before beating the South West Slammers 78-63.

East Perth had lost the opening four home matches at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre so far this season against the Rockingham Flames, Joondalup Wolves, Warwick Senators and Mandurah Magic.

Those are four of the top five teams currently in the competition, though, so the Eagles haven’t been far away and were looking to hit back from a loss at the buzzer on Peter Campbell Basketball Arena to the defending champion Magic last Saturday night.

From the outset the Eagles did a strong job defensively on the Slammers and especially limiting the impact of their import centre Jamal Poplar.

East Perth held South West to just eight points on 3/11 shooting in the first quarter. While the Eagles did shoot just 2/12 themselves from deep in that first quarter, they did put up 20 points including 10 of those after offensive rebounds.

East Perth pushed out to a 14-point lead in the second term and were still on top 40-28 by half-time with neither team shooting the ball well highlighted by the combined 5/27 from behind the arc.

The Eagles lead did get out to 19 points in the second half and while they never could quite put the Slammers completely away, neither could South West get back quite close enough to be within striking distance.

East Perth went on to score the 15-point victory on their home floor despite shooting just 41 per cent from the field and 5/25 from deep. The Slammers only shot 30 per cent with 4/25 from behind the three-point line.

The Eagles dominated the boards with 61 rebounds to 33 including 21 at the offensive end which helped them overcome having 23 turnovers for the game.

The win improves East Perth to a 3-5 record on the season with 2017 Grand Final MVP Lee Roberts playing a starring role with 21 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots with 9/10 shooting at the foul line.

Ioannis Dimakopoulos moved into the starting line-up too and the 7'2 giant delivered 16 points, nine rebounds and two assists despite battling foul trouble for the Eagles.

Jonah Antonio added 14 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two steals, Max Rice nine points, six steals, four boards and three assists despite 1/8 three-point shooting, Chier Maker nine points, three rebounds and two assists, and Nick Filpo an energetic five points, five assists and three boards.