East Spotlight | Bruins stun Sea Eagles to end streak

Featured image: Michael Farnell @sportsimageryau

The streak is over! And another one goes on with the Bankstown Bruins continuing their winning ways with Shyla Heal in their NBL1 East line-up as they ended the winning run of the defending champion Manly Warringah Sea Eagles at 26 with the 82-65 win.

The Sea Eagles won the last 19 games of 2025 on the to way to beating the Centre of Excellence in the Grand Final to secure the NBL1 East championship.

They have backed that up by winning their first seven games of 2026 as well by an average of 33.9 points, but the Bruins were up to the challenge at Bankstown Basketball Stadium.

Having won their last four games themselves and looking a distinctly different outfit with Heal in the line-up, Bankstown shot out of the blocks and never looked back.

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The Bruins opened up a 25-point lead in the second quarter and that got out to 31 in the third and even with the class and experience the Sea Eagles have, they couldn’t ever get within striking distance from there.

It's a first loss for Manly Warringah since April 12 last year when they lost in Albury Wodonga to the Bandits and have not only not lost since, but never really come close with only three single figure margin wins in their 26-match streak.

But Bankstown came with a game plan and executed perfectly for the 17-point win as they win five straight themselves to now improve to a 6-2 record.

The best part about the performance from the Bruins was that it was on the back of a full team contribution and didn’t rely on any particular individual brilliance.

Shyla Heal had a big impact still even while shooting 6/17 from the field by going 5/9 from three-point territory on her way to 18 points and 10 assists.

Kiahna Davis-White added 14 points, six rebounds and two steals with Margot De Freitas finishing with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists, and Tahlia Tupaea 11 points, nine boards, four assists, four steals and two blocks with 2/3 shooting from downtown.

The Bruins were also +28 with Davida Dale out on the floor who finished with eight points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.

It was tough going the whole way for the Sea Eagles as they tasted defeat for the first time since April 12 last year with them ending up only shooting 29 per cent from the field, only going 10/17 at the foul line and having 15 turnovers.

Zoey Miller was limited to just 22 minutes because of foul trouble but she did threaten in the third quarter to have a significant impact and finished with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists before fouling out.

Alex Delaney had 10 of her team's 16 points in the first quarter and ended up with 21 with 11 rebounds on 4/9 three-point shooting with Sari Mowbray contributing 12 points, six boards, three assists and three steals.

The Bruins weren’t daunted by the challenge up against the unbeaten defending champions and they put together a stunning 12-0 run in the first quarter on the way to building a double-figure lead.

Bankstown were still leading 23-16 by the end of the first quarter with the Sea Eagles hitting 4/10 from downtown but only 1/9 from inside the arc while also having five turnovers.

The Bruins took advantage to be up by seven and then blow the game apart in the second period with another 11-0 run that saw the lead balloon to 25 points.

Shyla Heal wasn’t needed to do much scoring but still had a big impact with six points and seven assists to half-time with Bankstown well in control leading 48-30 on the back of shooting 47 per cent from the field to 28 while also forcing the Sea Eagles into 11 turnovers.

Zoey Miller was battling foul trouble but despite picking up a fourth, she had a big impact in the third quarter to try and will Manly Warringah back into the contest with most of her nine points, six rebounds and four assists coming in that period.

The Sea Eagles only managed to outscore the Bruins by one for the quarter, though, and the Bruins continued to have all the answers. With scoring drying up for both teams in the final term, Bankstown completed the deal on the 17-point win to snap the winning run of the reigning champs.

Both teams back up to play on Sunday as well with Bankstown trying to keep the momentum going when they host the Sutherland Sharks with the Sea Eagles taking part in a tantalising Grand Final rematch with the Centre of Excellence.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 6

BANKSTOWN BRUINS 82 (Heal 18, Davis-White 14, De Freitas 13)

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 65 (Delaney 21, Mowbray 12, Miller 10)