South Spotlight | Eagles continue unbeaten start

Featured image: Shane Panther | @shanejpg.sport

The big three of Alex Sharp, Erin Riley and Abbey Ellis all made strong contributions to keep the Diamond Valley Eagles unbeaten this NBL1 South season with the Friday night 84-66 home win over the Sandringham Sabres.

It was the lone Friday night game in the NBL1 South at Diamond Valley Sports and Fitness Centre with the Eagles putting their perfect record on the line against a Sabres team boosted with the inclusion of Steph Reid fresh off her stint in China with Guangdong.

Sandringham also arrived having won their opening two matches of the season even while awaiting the arrival of Reid so the stage was set for a tantalising match up.

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The Eagles managed to hold a narrow four-point lead by the end of the first quarter and five at the half, but then pulled away in the third quarter with 22 points to 14 and kept it going with 21 to 16 in the fourth for the 18-point win to improve to 3-0.

Neither team had great offensive nights but Diamond Valley dominated the possession game by pulling down 24 offensive rebounds to nine which helped them get up 16 extra shot attempts and five more free throws in the game.

The big three of Diamond Valley all fired even if they didn’t have particularly good shooting nights.

Alex Sharp, Erin Riley and Abbey Ellis only shot a combined 20/46 from the field and 7/23 from downtown, but each of them had a significant impact in the end result.

Ellis put up 24 points, six rebounds and three steals, Sharp 18 points, 12 boards and three assists, and Riley 14 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Isis Beh added 10 points and six rebounds for the Eagles, Victoria Ikenasio six points and four boards, and Shannon Dufficy five points, seven rebounds and three assists.

The Sabres only ended up shooting 36 per cent from the field to go with losing the possession battle with Isis Lopes top-scoring with 21 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Lucy Cochrane added 14 points and nine rebounds, Steph Reid 14 points, seven assists and six boards, and Maddie Angus nine points and seven rebounds.

It was a first quarter of runs for either side with Sandringham scoring nine straight points and Diamond Valley also going on a 10-0 streak before it was the Eagles leading 26-22 by quarter-time.

Diamond Valley pulled down 10 offensive rebounds to one and had seven free-throw attempts to one to be holding that four-point lead before stretching it out narrowly by half-time for the 41-36 advantage.

Still the Eagles were winning the possession game with 12 offensive rebounds to three, and nine free throws to three while Abbey Ellis had 11 points but had shot 0/5 from downtown with Isis Lopes keeping Sandringham close with 13 points.

Diamond Valley took control in the third quarter thanks to an 11-0 scoring run and Ellis hit three triples along the way for 12 points as the Eagles put up 22 points to 14 to be leading by 13 heading into the fourth.

The Eagles completed the job too with another 21 points to 16 in the fourth quarter despite Sandringham applying some pressure and scoring eight points from the Diamond Valley turnovers although the home team still went on to win by 18.

The Eagles have the short turnaround to remain at home to host the Mount Gambier Pioneers on Saturday while the Sabres don't play again until Thursday night when they host the Melbourne Tigers.

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DIAMOND VALLEY EAGLES 84 (Ellis 24, Sharp 18, Riley 14)

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 66 (Lopes 21, Reid 14, Cochrane 14)