West Spotlight | Cougars overrun Eagles to make it 30 straight

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Stacey Barr and Sarah Mortensen weren’t short on motivation to help the East Perth Eagles end the Cockburn Cougars winning run, but their depth shone through as the defending NBL1 West champions came from behind to prevail 91-81.

The Cougars were back home at Wally Hagan Stadium on Friday night having won their past 29 matches which includes all 23 last year including the Grand Final and then the first six of 2026.

Speaking of that Grand Final, two East Perth players of 2026 played at RAC Arena that night with Mortensen winning a second championship with the Cougars while Barr did all she could to help the Warwick Senators over the line with 35 points and 13 rebounds.

Now both arrived on Friday night trying to stop the Cougars reaching a 30th straight win and for a lot of the game, they were on track to do that including leading by double figures for a lot of the first half and by as much as 14.

East Perth were still leading by two at three quarter-time, but Cockburn overran them in the finish outscoring a tired looking Eagles in the last 10 minutes 25 points to 13 on the way to the 10-point victory to make it 30 victories in-a-row.

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The Cougars did end up having six players score in double figures while they finished up with eight extra shot attempts and went 14/40 from three-point territory opposed to 8/25 from East Perth while pulling down 18 offensive rebounds to 11.

It was a show of depth in the win in the end from the Cougars as they began life without Alex Ciabattoni who is now back in Adelaide for the rest of the season where she's playing with the also undefeated West Adelaide Bearcats.

Championship captain Jewel Williams finished with 16 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals while knocking down 4/9 from three-point territory.

Darcee Garbin is working back nicely playing for the first time as a mother and fresh off signing to return to the WNBL with the Tasmania Jewels. She had 15 points, eight rebounds and two assists.

Cierra Walker added 14 points and three assists, Daniel Raber 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds, Jaya Scafidi 13 points and five boards, and Jessie Edwards 12 points and seven rebounds.

Sarah Mortensen was back to her former home court for the first time in Eagles colours to take on the team she'd helped win two championships and she made a hot start with nine points in the first quarter and 15 to half-time.

She finished with 19 for the night with eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks on 9/16 field goal shooting.

Sydney Wright had a fascinating battle with Cougars captain Jewel Williams for a lot of the night and ended up with 18 points and two assists with Brooke Malone adding 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists, and Stacey Barr 15 points and 10 assists.

Zaya Black was another former Cougar back to her former home court and East Perth were +9 in her 23 minutes where she had four points and five rebounds.

It always shaped as the biggest threat the Cougars had faced to their winning streak so far and that was even more the case by quarter-time when the Eagles opened up a 31-20 lead with two-time Cockburn championship winner Sarah Mortensen scoring nine of those points.

It was a hot start from East Perth with 5/7 three-point shooting to 3/12 from Cockburn along with pulling down 17 rebounds to nine for the 11-point edge.

East Perth's lead was back out to 13 points in the second quarter and still by half-time the Eagles were shooting at 50 per cent from the field and from beyond the arc, but Cockburn had got themselves back in the contest.

The Cougars put up 29 points to 20 in the second quarter and by half-time Jaya Scafidi, Darcee Garbin and Jewel Williams all had 11 points to their home to cut the Eagles lead to 51-49 with Mortensen still leading the way with 15 points.

It was 17 points apiece in a tense and tight third quarter with East Perth still clinging to a two-point advantage to three quarter-time with Cockburn needing to dig deep to keep their winning run intact.

It was then all the Cougars in the fourth quarter with the depth they possess fully on show the longer the game went as they overpowered the Eagles with 25 points to 13 on the way to the 10-point victory to make it 30 in-a-row despite having trailed much of the contest including by as much as 14.

The Cougars now face another significant test on Saturday with a Grand Final rematch against the Warwick Senators while the Eagles don't play again until another away game next Friday night against the Perry Lakes Hawks.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 8

COCKBURN COUGARS 91 (Williams 16, Garbin 15, Walker 14)

EAST PERTH EAGLES 81 (Mortensen 19, Wright 18, Malone 16)