East Spotlight | Sea Eagles soar in Grand Final rematch

The Centre of Excellence are still figuring some things out with a new-look line-up to close out the NBL1 East season and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles proved far too strong winning the Grand Final rematch 87-61 on Sunday.

The two teams played off in last year's NBL1 East Grand Final with the Sea Eagles prevailing to complete a 19-game winning streak and they'd already met at the Australian Institute of Sport earlier this season with Manly Warringah also winning by 13 points.

They battled again on Sunday at Northern Beaches Indoor Sports Centre with both teams fresh off playing on Saturday where the Sea Eagles beat the Albury Wodonga Bandits while the CoE had a win on the road over the Central Coast Crusaders.

That set up their clash on Sunday with Manly Warringah washing no time taking control and they were leading by 22 points at half-time before going on with the job in the second half on the way to the eventual 26-point victory.

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The pair of wins this weekend improve the Sea Eagles to 13-1 on the season on the back of shooting 51 per cent from the field to the 34 from the Centre of Excellence while going 13/30 from downtown to 7/23, and forcing the CoE into 16 turnovers.

Sari Mowbray ended up top scoring for Manly Warringah with 17 points with 3/5 three-point shooting with Jayda Jansen adding 15 points, four boards, four assists and two steals while also hitting 3/5 from beyond the arc.

Alex Delaney added 13 points and nine rebounds, Kim Dickinson 12 points and two boards, Bree Delaney 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks and Zoey Miller nine points, five assists and two blocks.

The Centre of Excellence are now 13-5 having split their weekend double on the road with Zara Russell finishing with 15 points and two rebounds on 5/8 shooting.

Isabel Smith added 12 points, five rebounds and two assists, Reece Anticevic eight points and two boards, and Lily Mapp six points, 10 rebounds and two assists.

Both teams were coming off wins on Saturday ahead of their Grand Final rematch on Sunday with the Sea Eagles going on a 12-0 run in the first quarter on the way to the 21-14 lead by quarter-time.

Alex Delaney and Sari Mowbray had six points each for Manly Warringah with them shooting 54 per cent from the floor to just the 29 per cent from the Centre of Excellence with Isabel Smith scoring seven of their 14 points.

That lead for the Sea Eagles ballooned to 22 points in the second term and by half-time that's where it was with the reigning champions leading 54-32 with 67 per cent field goal shooting to just 34 from the CoE.

Jayda Jansen had 13 points for Manly Warringah, Mowbray 11 and Kim Dickinson 11 while Zara Russell had 11 for the CoE.

It was another 26 points on 11/17 shooting in the third quarter as well from the Sea Eagles with the CoE managing just the 16 points on 5/14 shooting while having another five turnovers.

That saw Manly Warringah retain control to be leading 80-48 by three quarter-time and then the two teams only combined for 20 points in the last term but the Sea Eagles still cruised to the eventual 26-point victory in the Grand Final rematch.

The Sea Eagles remain at home next Saturday to host the Illawarra Hawks while the Centre of Excellence will have their last weekend of the regular season away to the Sutherland Sharks on Saturday and at home to the Inner West Bulls on Sunday.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 10

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 87 (Mowbray 17, Jansen 15, A Delaney 13)

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE 61 (Russell 15, Smith 12, Anticevic 8)