East Spotlight | Sea Eagles set up battle for top spot

The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles held up their end to set up Friday night's top spot battle in the NBL1 East with the Norths Bears by beating the Sutherland Sharks 92-52.

The Sea Eagles were back home on Saturday at Northern Beaches Indoor Sports Centre having won nine straight matches to be just one game behind the Bears in second place while the Sharks had lost their past five and continued to be without Lauren Nicholson.

Despite Manly Warringah opened up a 24-point lead in the second quarter, Sutherland showed some fight to be back within 13 by the half.

But it was then all the Sea Eagles in the second half outscoring the Sharks 49 points to 22 to romp to the 40-point victory to improve to 17-1 with 10 wins in-a-row with Sutherland now 6-10 having lost six straight.

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It was a dominant performance from the Sea Eagles against a Sharks team missing not only Lauren Nicholson, but also Aliza Fabbro and they were no match for the defending champions.

Manly Warringah ended up shooting 41 per cent to 33 along with making 14/43 from three-point land to 6/24 and 18/23 at the foul line to 4/7 while also having 13 offensive rebounds and forcing Sutherland into 24 turnovers.

That saw the Sea Eagles get up an extra 11 shot attempts with the 16 more free throws with Bree Delaney started on fire with 15 points in the first half and finishing with 21 with four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Alex Delaney also had 13 points and five rebounds, Kim Dickinson 12 points and six boards, Jayda Jansen 12 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals, Sari Mowbray 11 points, two assists and two steals, and Zoey Miller 11 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals.

The Sharks have now lost the six in-a-row with Abi Curtin finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds and two assists, Olivia Douglas 11 points and six boards, Courtney West 10 points and seven rebounds, and Maddy Norris seven points, five boards and three assists.

Manly Warringah are already guaranteed a top two finish but just needed to win this game to stay a chance to end up on top and they started strongly with 21 points to 10 in the first quarter with Bree Delaney already up to nine points.

The Sea Eagles forced the Sharks into 11 turnovers while going 3/8 from downtown to the 0/5 from Sutherland in the first 10 minutes.

The lead then got out to 24 points in the second term for Manly Warringah after they scored 15 points in succession and by half-time they were still on top 43-30 but Sutherland had done well with a 9-0 run to cut that deficit back to 13.

Bree Delaney was up to 15 points with the 3/4 shooting for the Sea Eagles by half-time and then the home team took over further in the third frame with 26 points to nine to be up 69-39 by three quarter-time.

It was then another 23 points to 13 in the fourth quarter for Manly Warringah to win by 40 on the back of shooting 15/36 from the field and 7/22 from three in the second half to the 9/30 and 3/13 from the Sharks.

The Sea Eagles now prepare for their hotly anticipated match up with the undefeated Norths Bears on Friday night while the Sharks are back in action on Sunday on the road to the Inner West Bulls.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | FIRST NATIONS ROUND

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 92 (B Delaney 21, A Delaney 13, Jansen 12, Dickinson 12)

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 52 (Curtin 12, Douglas 11, West 10)