Eagles Recap | Women/Men Round 12

Featured image: @codexdesignstudio, Mark Filpo

The East Perth Eagles women delivered a dominant performance for a massive win over the South West Slammers on Saturday night before the men got the bounce back win they needed as well in Round 12 of the NBL1 West season.

Coming off a tough double header the previous weekend, it was just the one game each for the Eagles teams on Saturday night at Eaton Recreation Centre.

That started with the East Perth women winning big 110-57 before the Eagles men backed it up also beating the Slammers 77-71.

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WOMEN

The Eagles welcomed back a couple of key players and scored their biggest win of the season beating the South West Slammers 110-57 on Saturday evening.

East Perth had lost both games the previous weekend in overtime at home to the Kalamunda Eastern Suns and then on the road the following evening to the Rockingham Flames, but that was without Stacey Barr, Jo Odude, McKenna Dale and Jaymie Symons.

Both Barr and Odude returned for the clash with the Slammers at Eaton Recreation Centre and the Eagles put up 33 points to 19 in the first quarter to set the tone for the evening.

That lead got out to 28 points in the second quarter in favour of East Perth, 44 in the third and 53 in the fourth which ended up being the winning margin as the Eagles improved to a 10-4 record in fourth position as a result.

Sarah Mortensen had a big night for East Perth to end up with 25 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists on 10/20 shooting from the floor with 2/3 at the free-throw line.

Brooke Malone also had a standout showing made up of 24 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and three steals with hitting 5/10 from behind the three-point line.

Sydney Wright added 22 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals with 4/9 long-range shooting with Stacey Barr returning with 11 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Zaya Black also finished with 11 points, five assists, three steals and two rebounds with 3/5 three-point shooting while Jade Williams contributed nine points and five rebounds, Jo Odude six points and four boards, and Aleka Kabugua two points, a rebound and an assist.

The Eagles welcomed back both Stacey Barr and Jo Odude for the clash with the Slammers following the previous week's double header and they started on fire with 33 points to 19 away from home.

East Perth shot 13/21 from the field with 6/11 from three-point territory in that first quarter with Barr enjoying her return with eight points while Brooke Malone scored 10 and Sarah Mortensn eight as well.

That lead continued to grow for the Eagles with another 23 points to nine in the second quarter and by half-time they were shooting 49 per cent to just the 32 from the Slammers while East Perth hit 7/19 from behind the three-point line to 1/15 from South West.

Sydney Wright had 14 points already for the Eagles while Melanie Hoyt had 16 of the 28 in the opening half for the Slammers.

It was then another 28 points to 14 in favour of East Perth in the third quarter on the back of another 10/26 shooting from the floor and 4/13 from downtown without having a turnover and pulling down 10 offensive rebounds.

At the same time, the Eagles forced the Slammers into another five turnovers and held them to 5/16 shooting as the lead got out to 84-42 by three quarter-time.

It was more of the same in the last quarter with the Eagles putting up another 26 points on 10/21 shooting with 5/13 from deep while holding the Slammers to just the 15 points on 7/15 shooting with seven more turnovers.

MEN

The Eagles returned to the winner's list with a hard earned 77-71 victory on the road to the South West Slammers on Saturday night.

The Eagles arrived at Eaton Recreation Centre having lost six of the past seven games and needing to bounce back with a win to consolidate their place in the top eight.

It was just a one-point lead by quarter-time for East Perth and then only a five-point edge by half-time, but the Eagles took over in the third quarter with 18 points to 10 and then led by 15 in the fourth before holding on for the six-point win.

The result improves the Eagles to a 7-8 record on the season to remain in eight position by the end of Round 12.

East Perth finished the game shooting just 42 per cent from the field with 8/29 from downtown and 9/15 at the foul line with 16 turnovers, but it was enough to beat the Slammers who shot the exact same 30/71 from the floor with 5/24 from beyond the arc and 6/14 at the stripe while having 20 turnovers.

Lat Mayen top scored in the win for the Eagles with 18 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals with 4/9 three-point shooting.

De'Sean Parsons also finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals, David Okwera 12 points, eight boards and four assists, Nick Filpo eight points, two rebounds and two assists, and Mitch Benger eight points and two boards.

Ioannis Dimakopoulos also had four points, Bing Huang four points, five rebounds and two steals, Kai Kabugua three points and five boards, and Lee Roberts three points, three rebounds and two blocked shots.

It was a crucial game in the context of the season for East Perth but they did fall down to the Slammers early by five points before going on a 7-0 run to go into quarter-time with the narrow 21-20 advantage.

There wasn’t much between the teams over those first 10 minutes with the Eagles shooting 9/19 from the field to 7/15 from the Slammers but the home team had seven free-throw attempts to two while the teams combined for 11 turnovers.

The Eagles ended up outscoring the Slammers 24 points to 20 in the second quarter as well to go into the half-time break leading 45-40 with Lat Mayen having knocked down three triples on his way to 13 points.

East Perth were shooting at 47 per cent to the 42 from South West while the Eagles also forced the Slammers into 10 turnovers, but the home team had 16 free-throw attempts to four over the first half to stay in the contest.

The Eagles dominated the third quarter with 18 points on 7/16 shooting despite having another six turnovers but they did force the Slammers into another five turnovers and to shooting 5/17 from the floor and to just the 10 points.

That saw East Perth leading 63-50 by three quarter-time but they still had to hold on in the finish to score the crucial six-point road victory to consolidate their hold on a playoff position.