East Spotlight | Bears dominate Hawks to go 7-0

Featured image: Rob Sheeley/@robshots

The Norths Bears held the Illawarra Hawks to just 40 points in 40 minutes to put in another standout all-round performance to stay undefeated in the NBL1 East with the 88-40 Sunday victory.

The Bears arrived at The Snakepit having won their opening six matches of the season including on Anzac Day against the Sydney Comets with the Hawks having lost on Saturday as well at home to the Sutherland Sharks by 30 points.

Norths then asserted their dominance early on Sunday and never let up to hold the Hawks to just 40 points and 14 made shots for the game while they led by as much as 51 before winning by 48 and improving to the perfect 8-0 record.

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It was a dominant all-round performance from the now 7-0 Bears even while shooting 39 per cent from the field in the end and going 13/46 from downtown to go with 13/17 from the free-throw line.

Norths also pulled down 18 offensive rebound and forced the Hawks into 26 turnovers on the way to taking 26 extra shots and with Illawarra only shooting at 26 per cent without making a three-pointer from their 12 attempts.

It was a rough afternoon for Illawarra at home but it could have been worse had it not been for Asha Phillips who scored 15 points to go with seven rebounds and two steals.

Una Jovanovich also had nine points and three rebounds for the Hawks, and Emerson McCrea six points and five boards.

The Bears kept their unbeaten start to the season going beating the Sydney Comets on Anzac Day and looked to maintain that momentum against a Hawks team who lost at home the day before to the Sharks by 30.

The signs were ominous already in the first quarter with Norths racing out to the 27-9 lead by quarter-time on the back of going on a 14-0 scoring run.

Jaz Shelley already had 10 points while the Bears went 4/10 from three-point range in the opening period to 0/5 from the Hawks, and 9/10 from the foul line to 1/4.

Asha Phillips did her best to try and give Illawarra a spark scoring six of her team's nine points with the rest of the side shooting just 1/9 in those first 10 minutes.

It was more of the same the rest of the afternoon including another 22 points to 10 in favour of the Bears in the second quarter that saw them head into half-time leading 49-19 on 7/21 three-point shooting to 0/8 while attempting eight more shots and forcing Illawarra into 12 turnovers.

Neither team got any offensive flow in the third quarter with just 11 points from Norths and 10 from Illawarra, but the Bears did fire again in the last quarter with another 28 points to 11.

That included Norths shooting 10/20 from the floor in that last quarter along with 5/10 from downtown, and 3/4 at the foul line to secure the commanding 48-point triumph as they improve to 7-0 as a result.

The Bears will remain o the road to play the Hills Hornets on Saturday while the Hawks stay at home to play host to the Centre of Excellence on the same evening.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ANZAC ROUND

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 40 (Phillips 15, Jovanovich 9, McCrea 6)

NORTHS BEARS 88 (Shelley 18, E Donnelly 18, Martin 14)