East Spotlight | Mowbray hits late for Sea Eagles to prevail

Shakera Reilly shot the Maitland Mustangs to the lead in the fourth quarter but Sari Mowbray shook off missing her first 11 three-point attempts to hit two massive shots late to lead the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles to the 71-61 NBL1 East win.

The Mustangs were chasing a first ever win against Manly Warringah in the NBL1 East and were fresh off beating the Hills Hornets the previous night ahead of hosting the reigning champs at Mojo Homes Centre.

It proved to be quite the dramatic match up and just as it looked as though the Sea Eagles had assumed a degree of control leading by nine at three quarter-time, the Mustangs lit it up to start the final period and hit the front midway through with a triple from Reilly.

But the game breaker proved to be Mowbray who missed her first 11 three-point attempts and she showed no fear and pushed the Sea Eagles out to a six-point when she knocked down her first with 43 seconds to go.

She then sealed the deal with another 30 seconds later and converted the four-point play with Manly Warringah to end up winning by 10.

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The Sea Eagles improve to the 10-1 record after that big last minute to secure the 10-point win with Alex Delaney finishing with 22 points and 12 rebounds with 4/7 shooting from behind the three-point line.

Bree Delaney also added 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists with 3/5 long-range shooting while Zoey Miller contributed 11 points, six boards and three assists, Sari Mowbray nine points, five rebounds and four assists, and Josie Radan four points, 11 board and three assists.

It was a spirited showing from the Mustangs as they threw everything at beating the Sea Eagles for the first ever time in the NBL1 East and while it wasn’t quite to be, they can take plenty from the performance with them finishing the weekend at 4-7.

Sara Matthews had the hot start and finished with 19 points and nine rebounds on 4/7 three-point shooting with Shakera Reilly adding 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists with 3/6 shooting from downtown.

Kasey Neubert also had seven points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks, and Jessalyn Finney seven points, three boards and two assists.

Maitland came into the game fresh off the win the night before against the Hills Hornets while the Sea Eagles were playing their lone game of the weekend and it was a low-scoring battle in the first term.

The two teams only combined for 22 points and it was Maitland leading 13-9 by quarter-time with Sara Matthews scoring nine of those for the home team with both sides only combining to shoot 7/31 from the field with nine turnovers.

The scoring picked up in the second term and the Sea Eagles did manage 20 points to 14 on the way to leading 29-27 going into half-time while not having another turnover in the quarter.

Alex Delaney was up to 13 points and nine rebounds by half-time for the defending champions but Matthews had 13 as well on 3/4 three-point shooting for Maitland.

Delaney had another five points and two rebounds in the third term and Manly Warringah put up another 23 points to 16 to hold the 52-43 advantage by three quarter-time.

The Mustangs weren’t done with yet, though, and they went on a 12-2 run to start the final quarter and found themselves in front when Shakera Reilly knocked down the three-pointer.

They had thrown the challenge down to Manly Warringah and then despite having missed her first 11 three-point attempts of the game, Sari Mowbray hit two in the last minute to secure the eventual 10-point win for the Sea Eagles.

Maitland will next be in action on the road on Saturday against the undefeated Norths Bears while the Sea Eagles will be back at home to the Hills Hornets.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 8

MAITLAND MUSTANGS 61 (Matthews 19, Reilly 15, Neubert 7, Finney 7)

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 71 (A Delaney 22, B Delaney 18, Miller 11)