Round 9 Eagles Wrap – Women/Men

The East Perth Eagles had their best combined winning night in some time with the women's and men's victories on Friday on the road to the Joondalup Wolves part of the 2024 NBL1 West season.

It was a Friday night on the road for the Eagles at HBF Arena against the Wolfpack with the East Perth women storming home for the stunning 78-74 comeback victory.

East Perth's men were then able to back that up with a fourth straight win of the season beating Joondalup 95-86 but then on Sunday afternoon it was the Geraldton Buccaneers defeating East Perth 97-76.

WOMEN

It was a second win of the season for the East Perth Eagles women but it was the most impressive and memorable of those victories to beat the powerful Joondalup Wolve on their home floor 78-74.

The Eagles had ended their losing streak three weeks earlier with the victory against the Mandurah Magic but taking on the challenge against the Wolfpack on their home floor at HBF Arena was a whole different challenge.

It was a Wolves team who won their first five games of the season and were also fresh off beating the Willetton Tigers after their first two losses of the season, so they were always going to be a significant challenge for the Eagles who were hunting a second win of 2024.

The East Perth Eagles have produced a remarkable final quarter to deliver the upset of the NBL1 West season with the come from behind 78-74 win over the Joondalup Wolves.

Joondalup did open up a nine-point lead in the opening period to be still leading 16-11 by the end of one while still holding a 32-26 edge going into the half-time interval.

The Wolfpack did remain in control for a lot of the second half including leading by seven still at three quarter-time.

East Perth had only scored 46 points in the entire first three quarters so the job was ahead of them against one of the league's top teams.

However, it was a different looking Eagles line-up from the start of the final period with Sarah Allen starting their charge with a three-pointer in her 95th game in the league.

Laci Hawthorne then scored inside to bring it back to a two-point ball game but Joondalup did get a steadying triple from Darien Huff although Hawthorne responded immediately with a three ball of her own.

Hawthorne was playing like a woman possessed and scored again to tie scores up with seven minutes to play but over the next four minutes and Joondalup steadied to be back up by six with 2:45 to play.

It was still a four-point Wolves lead a minute later but then Allen hit another three ball for East Perth to keep things interesting. It was Allen the hero once more with her third triple of the final quarter to put the Eagles in front.

Tessa Morrison and Mary Goulding then made clutch free-throws for the Eagles to score the remarkable comeback four-point victory to give them two wins on the season.

Sarah Allen made three shots for the night and they were all massive three-pointers in the final quarter on her way to 10 points along with six assists despite suffering a nasty mouth injury during that same time frame.

Laci Hawthorne had a huge performance with 29 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals with Mary Baskerville adding 13 points, 17 boards and four assists, Tessa Morrison 10 points, three rebounds and three assists, and Mary Goulding nine points, six boards and five steals.

Bri Bailey also chipped in with an important seven points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals in almost 27 minutes of court time off the bench.

MEN

The East Perth Eagles arrived at Joondalup's HBF Arena on Friday night having won its last three matches this men's season and they kept their winning run going in impressive fashion.

The Eagles arrived on the back of wins against the Mandurah Magic, Geraldton Buccaneers and Cockburn Cougars as they looked to keep the momentum going against the Wolves.

In the end, the front court power led by Sebit Reath and with Lukas Milner still to come into the team set the tone for the eventual 95-86 road victory for the Eagles.

East Perth started strongly to lead by nine points during the first quarter and still by five at quarter-time.

The lead for the Eagles was back out to as much as nine in the second term as well with the visitors turning into half-time still leading 50-42.

With Joondalup having few answers for what Sebit Reath was delivering inside for East Perth and the way Taylor Young was running the ship, East Perth remained in control throughout the majority of the second half as well.

The lead for the Eagles was as much as 22 points in the final stanza as well before they went on to secure the nine-point win to make it four straight to improve to a 6-4 record.

Reath was a dominant force for East Perth finishing with 31 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots on shooting 11/21 from the field and 4/8 from behind the three-point arc.

Young ran the team expertly too for 22 points, five rebounds and two steals with Sunday Dech contributing 16 points, six boards, four assists and two steals, and Sharif Watson 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Lee Roberts also ended the night against one of his former teams with seven points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots, David Okwera seven points, five boards, two assists and two blocks, and Nick Filpo two points and three assists.

Then on Sunday, the Eagles were back home on Peter Campbell Basketball Arena at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre to play host to the defending champion Geraldton Buccaneers.

The two teams met just two weeks earlier in Geraldton where the Eagles scored a memorable victory to snap the 19-game home winning run of the Buccaneers, and to win in the city for the first time since the championship year of 2014.

It was also the first win anywhere for East Perth over Geraldton since 2016 so it was going to be fascinating how the two teams performed in the Sunday afternoon encounter to close Round 9 of the 2024 season.

East Perth was on a high after that Friday night win against the Wolves as well while Geraldton started its double on the road with the win on Saturday against the Cockburn Cougars.

The two teams came into the Sunday match up as two of the form teams of the men's competition but it was the Geraldton Buccaneers who had all the answers to complete the road double beating the East Perth Eagles 97-76.

The Buccs got off to a flying start to the Sunday afternoon contest with 11 straight points to go up eight in the opening quarter.

East Perth were able to respond with 10 consecutive points of their own and by quarter-time the Geraldton lead was back to 22-18.

The Buccs took further control in the second quarter with another 29 points to 22 to go into the half-time break with the 51-40 advantage over East Perth.

The Buccaneers remained in control throughout the second half as well in impressive fashion with the lead growing to 17 points in the third period, and 21 in the fourth before they went on to secure the victory by that margin.

The loss sees the winning run of East Perth end at four with the Eagles now sitting on a 6-5 record having split their two games this weekend.

Experienced NBL guard Sunday Dech finished with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Eagles with former Grand Final MVP Lee Roberts contributing 18 points, 10 boards and four assists.

Jerami Grace was back in the line-up and had 17 points on 6/8 shooting with David Okwera adding nine points and two rebounds, and Taylor Young six points, three boards and three assists.

Sebit Reath also had three points, two rebounds and two steals, and Sharif Watson two points, three assists, three steals and two rebounds.