West Spotlight | Eagles survive late Hawks scare

Featured image: @Chyon Kondylas Photography

Makenna Marisa made an immediate impact on debut for the Perry Lakes Hawks and her team made a late charge but the East Perth Eagles just managed to hold on for the 84-82 Friday night NBL1 West victory.

Marisa provided a significant boost for Friday night's match up at Bendat Basketball Centre as they tried to avoid a third straight loss up against an Eagles team having won six of eight games so far in 2026 and being on top of the defending champion Cockburn Cougars for three quarters last week.

Perry Lakes then managed to open up an eight-point lead and to still be on top by five at half-time and one at three quarter-time but then the Eagles took over.

East Perth went up by 10 themselves in the last term but then a late 7-0 Perry Lakes run had the margin two but neither team could execute down the stretch leaving the Eagles to hold on and win by two.

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The victory improves East Perth to a 7-2 record on the season with a replacement for Jasmin Fejo still to arrive while Perry Lakes are now 2-7 but they will be looking forward to seeing what the duo of Marisa and Bridgette Rettstatt can deliver moving forward.

Brooke Malone made a hot start for East Perth to have 20 of her team's 43 points to half-time on her way to 23 in the game to go with six rebounds and two steals on 9/16 field goal shooting and 3/5 fro three-point range which she already had by half-time.

Jade Williams also finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocks for East Perth, Sarah Mortensen 15 points, 12 boards and six assists, Sydney Wright 17 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Stacey Barr seven points, 10 boards and seven assists despite 3/15 shooting.

It was an impressive debut from Makenna Marisa for Perry Lakes who played this past WNBL season for the Southside Melbourne Flyers before then heading straight to Germany where her season with Keltern only just wrapped up earlier this month.

So it's been quite the hectic schedule for the 24-year-old scoring guard out of Penn State but she wasted no time making an impact for the Hawks with 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists with 19 of her points up to three quarter-time.

Bridgette Rettstatt also had 17 points, 14 rebounds and two assists with Mila Wawszkowicz finishing with 12 points, four steals, two assists and two blocks, and Eva Smith 10 points and two steals.

East Perth got the better of the start with an early five-point lead but with new arrival Makenna Marisa on board, Perry Lakes got back into the contest with a 7-0 run and by quarter-time the Eagles were just clinging to the 22-19 advantage.

The Hawks managed to open up an eight-point lead in the second quarter as well and by half-time were still leading 48-43 on the back of 14 points from Marisa in her debut while as a team Perry Lakes were shooting 7/18 from downtown to the 4/14 from East Perth.

Brooke Malone was keeping the Eagles in the contest and had 20 points to the half with 8/11 shooting and going 3/5 from deep while the rest of her teammates had just the 23 points on 10/27 shooting with 1/9 from beyond the arc.

It remained a tight contest through the third quarter and by three quarter-time East Perth had closed the deficit back to a point, but the game was right up for grabs heading into the fourth.

But that's where the Eagles took control and ended up building a 10-point lead and were on top 84-75 with just over two minutes to play and looked to have things wrapped up.

Perry Lakes had other ideas, though, and with a three-pointer to Mila Wawszkowicz and buckets to Bridgette Rettstatt and Marisa on the back of horror Eagles turnover, suddenly it was a two-point ball game in the final minute.

But Perry Lakes couldn’t quite take the next step to either level scores or go ahead despite another turnover from Stacey Barr for the Eagles who then also missed a pair of free throws. It wasn’t fatal, though, with the Eagles holding on for the two-point win.

Both teams back up to play against on Saturday with Perry Lakes attempting to bounce back against a Cockburn Cougars team coming off their first loss since the 2024 Grand Final while the Eagles will be looking to remain perfect at home when they host the Joondalup Wolves.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 9

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 82 (Maris 21, Rettstatt 17, Wawszkowicz 12)

EAST PERTH EAGLES 84 (Malone 23, Mortensen 15, Williams 15)