East Finals | Sea Eagles sink Bears perfect season

Featured image: James O'Donohue | @jamesodphotography

For the second straight week on a Saturday night team an undefeated NBL1 team has failed to reach a Grand Final and it was a putback right at the buzzer from Bree Delaney that saw the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles sink the Norths Bears 79-77.

The defending champion Sea Eagles opened up a 23-point lead on the undefeated Bears in the second quarter on Saturday at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre.

But the Bears fired back and even drew back level in the dying stages with the game appearing set for overtime until Delaney got her shot off after an offensive rebound from her own shot that hit the side of the backboard just before time expired.

There was a nervous wait for all involved as the video was checked by the officials, but the shot clearly was off in time and the Bears' perfect season was ended by their old rivals who earned themselves a chance at back-to-back championships.

The Bears end up suffering the same fate that the Cairns Marlins did in the NBL1 North last Saturday night after they had become the first men's team to compile an undefeated record around the country.

Even worse for Norths, it's a familiar story for Jaz Shelley. She won the MVP award in the NBL1 South last year as part of a Geelong United team who didn’t lose until the Grand Final against the Knox Raiders.

She has joined the Bears in 2026. She went on to win the MVP once again and then again was instrumental in her team being undefeated only this time for that run to end in a preliminary final.

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The two northern suburbs rivals meet back in the 2023 Grand Final before the Bears also ended the Sea Eagles season in 2024, but Manly Warringah had won the championship in 2025 so both teams had high hopes of making another Grand Final in 2026.

The Bears beat the Centre of Excellence to earn their place straight in the Grand Final while Manly Warringah had to hit back from a first up loss to the Bankstown Bruins to beat the Newcastle Falcons last week to reach the preliminary final.

The Sea Eagles got off to a fast start and then ended up leading by 11 in the first quarter and were still on top 25-17 by the end of one.

Manly Warringah then took further control in the second frame by scoring 15 straight points and then going up 23 before going into the half-time break in control 51-30.

Jayda Jansen had 12 points and Zoey Miller 11 with the defending champs shooting 19/31 from the field to 11/38 to be on track to be the first team into the Grand Final and to beat Norths in 2026.

But the Bears weren’t about to let that happen without a fight and scored the first eight points of the second half leading to a timeout from Nate Kirwan.

Sari Mowbray did score shortly after for Manly Warringah, but they would only score six points in total for the third period on 2/16 shooting while having six turnovers.

Up the other end, Norths did manage 24 points with 8/15 shooting and 4/6 from the outside and a big finish was set up with the Sea Eagles only clinging to a 57-54 lead.

Manly Warringah scored the first four points of the fourth quarter but a triple each from Issy Morgan and Talya Brugler kept the Bears in the contest.

Again the Sea Eagles pulled away to up seven after three-pointers from Alex Delaney and Lily Fandre but the Bears answered once more and then when MVP Jaz Shelly hit a huge three with seven seconds left, scores were level and the game appeared heading to overtime.

Kim Dickinson missed her attempt on the last possession for Manly Warringah and then so did Bree Delaney after the offensive rebound. But she got the rebound from that too, and then got up another just with 0.2 seconds left and it was good.

The celebrations were delayed somewhat while the referees checked the vision, but eventually the Sea Eagles celebrated and the Bears were left to rue seeing their undefeated season ended in a preliminary final on their home floor at the buzzer.

Manly Warringah now have chance to be the first team in the NBL1 era to win back-to-back championships and going back further to be the first in the competition overall since the Bankstown Bruins won four straight between 2003-06.

They will be playing the Bruins next Sunday afternoon at Guzman y Gomez Stadium starting at midday.

Zoey Miller delivered 17 points, five rebounds, five assists and three blocks in the win for the Sea Eagles with Jayda Jansen adding 14 points and four assists, and Lily Fandre 14 points and four rebound.

Alex Delaney added 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks before fouling out with Sari Mowbray having nine points and six boards, and Kim Dickinson eight points and seven rebounds.

It's a first loss for the Bears since last year's semi finals and suddenly their season is over with Issy Morgan finishing with 27 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Talya Brugler also had 16 points, five rebounds and three steals, Jaz Shelley 14 points, eight assists, seven boards and four steals, and Emma Donnelly nine points and four rebounds.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | PRELIMINARY FINAL

NORTHS BEARS 77 (Morgan 27, Brugler 16, Shelley 14)

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 79 (Miller 17, Fandre 14, Jansen 14)