Eagles Recap | Women/Men Round 1

Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

The East Perth Eagles women took charge in the second half for a first up NBL1 West win over the Willetton Tigers while it was the opposite story for the men to open the new season.

The Eagles started the 2026 NBL1 West season against the Tigers at Willetton Basketball Stadium with the new era for the women getting underway with the 76-60 victory.

The East Perth men then ended up going down to Willetton 96-82 to wrap up the night on the first evening of the new season.

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WOMEN

The East Perth Eagles had to adjust to the full court pressure of the Willetton Tigers to open the NBL1 West season but once they did they worked on top for the eventual 86-70 victory.

With three-time Best Defensive Player Emma Gandini showing the way, Willetton were able to force East Perth into 15 turnovers in the first half but the Eagles fought hard to still keep scores level by the half-time break.

East Perth then took control the longer the game went including 27 points to 16 in the last quarter on the way to the 16-point win to start the new era under coach Jonelle Morley in exciting fashion away from home.

Stacey Barr played her first game with East Perth since 2018 and put in a standout performance as expected from the two-time MVP and 172-game veteran. She ended up with 24 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two steals with 9/9 free-throw shooting.

Jasmin Fejo had a tremendous debut showing for the Eagles too with 19 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two blocks with 10/13 foul shooting while Brooke Malone marked her return to the NBL1 West with 13 points, six rebounds and two assists.

Zaya Black has previously played with the South West Slammers and Cockburn Cougars, and was tremendous too first up with East Perth for 13 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals in 21:29.

Sydney Wright has made the move from South Australia this season and debuted with nine points and four assists with Jo Odude contributing four points and eight rebounds, and Jade Williams four points and five boards.

Eva Cooke finished with 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals on 5/9 three-point shooting for Willetton with last year's grand final MVP Ruby Porter adding 16 points and three assists.

The Eagles started strongly to score the first five points of the game before Willetton responded with a 14-4 run and then the Tigers hit back before quarter-time with another 9-0 streak.

On the back of that, scores were all level at 18-18 by the end of the first period and then it remained a tight contest through the second frame with no more than five points coming between the two teams.

The pressure defence of Willetton continued to make life tough for East Perth and the Eagles did have 15 turnovers going into half-time, but when they were able to get through that some good things happened.

The Eagles still managed to score 21 points in the second quarter and by half-time had managed 20 points in the paint to 10 along with 10 second chance points from their 13 offensive rebounds to four.

Scores might have been level but the Eagles still had an extra three shot attempts and seven more free throws despite those 15 first half turnovers.

East Perth managed to handle the Tigers pressure better in the third quarter and put up 20 points as a result. Zaya Black scored on the buzzer they were leading 59-54 by three quarter-time.

The Eagles then dominated the final period with 27 points to 16 including making the most of forcing some Willetton turnovers on the way to the eventual 16-point first up win.

MEN

David Okwera, Bing Huang and Max Rice did their best to keep the East Perth Eagles in the contest but they were playing catch up most of the night before the Willetton Tigers secured the 96-82 home victory.

The Eagles did find themselves 15 points down during the second quarter but they finished the first half strongly to get back within five at the main break with Rice and Okwera combining for 28 of the team's 43 points.

Willetton then came out and scored the first nine points of the third quarter. Eventually the home team got out to a 21-point lead in the second half before the Eagles suffered the season-opening 14-point defeat.

Okwera has returned to East Perth in 2026 on the back of the best NBL season of his career with the Perth Wildcats. He was strong first up too with 25 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and five blocked shots on 11/20 shooting from the field.

Rice had 18 points to half-time and finished the game with 22 with five assists and four rebounds while Huang took on the point guard duties in his 19 minutes and ended up with 14 points, four rebounds and two steals.

Lee Roberts also ended up with six points and five rebounds, Nick Filpo six points, six boards and six assists, Jonah Antonio four points, three rebounds and two steals, Kai Kabugua three points, and Ioannis Dimakopoulos two points and five rebounds.

Bryce Johnson finished with 19 points and six assists for Willetton with Michael Vigor adding 16 points, Taeshon Cherry 16, Damien Scott 15 and Tom Gerovich 12 (10 rebounds).

Willetton finished the first quarter impressively and went on a 10-0 run on the way to a 12-point quarter-time advantage with new import Bryce Johnson already having eight points to his name while making all six free-throw attempts.

The Tigers opened up a 15-point lead early in the second quarter as well but the Eagles then picked up some momentum heading towards half-time including scoring eight straight points.

Max Rice had 18 points to the half and David Okwera added 10, but still Willetton were leading 48-43 in a half of basketball where there were 29 free throws put up.

East Perth might have had the momentum going into half-time, but Willetton quickly took charge again to start the third quarter racing out to a 15-2 run including the first five quick points from Johnson.

Michael Vigor and Damien Scott capped off that run with three balls to push the lead out to 18 and soon after Taeshon Cherry hit in the corner to make it 19, and still by three quarter-time the Tigers were up by 12.

Willetton was able to complete the job with another 20 points to 18 in the final period as well to start their season with the 14-point home win.