East Recap | Round 2 Sunday

Image credit: Sproule Sports Focus

Nicole Munger delivered 40 points and 15 rebounds for the defending NBL1 East champion Newcastle Falcons while Manly Warringah Sea Eagles hit back, and Matthew Gray and Lachlan Charlton lifted Albury-Wodonga Bandits and Penrith Panthers to wins.

EAST RECAP | ROUND 2 SATURDAY

WOMEN

Penrith Panthers (63) lost to Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (85)

The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles suffered a heartbreaking overtime loss on Saturday but took out that frustration on the Penrith Panthers with the 85-63 victory on Sunday.

After starting the season beating the Centre of Excellence last week, the Sea Eagles looked on track to take care of business against their rivals, the Norths Bears, on Saturday before giving up the last 18 points of regulation and then losing in overtime.

They arrived at Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre on Sunday with that chip on their shoulder up against a Panthers team playing their only game of the weekend and looking to back up beating the Sutherland Sharks to open their season.

The Sea Eagles were leading by four points in the first quarter but then locked in further in the second period holding the Panthers to just nine points and scoring 19 themselves to be on top 41-27 by half-time.

Manly Warringah then caught fire offensively with 33 points in the third frame and ended up leading by as much as 33 in the fourth on the way to the eventual 22-point victory to shake off what happened just under 24 hours earlier.

Taylor Wurtz delivered 23 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in the win for the Sea Eagles on hitting 5/12 from three-point range with Kim Dickinson adding 19 points, four boards and two steals.

Sari Mowbray also contributed 14 points, four rebounds and four steals with Alex Delaney adding 10 points, six boards, five steals and two assists.

It was a first loss of the season for Penrith with Mia Heide top-scoring with 20 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks with Jordan Vasquez providing 11 points and 10 boards, and Sofia Hunt 11 points, four rebounds and two assists.

PENRITH PANTHERS 63 (Heide 20, Vasquez 11, Hunt 11)

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 85 (Wurtz, Dickinson 19, Mowbray 14)

Newcastle Falcons (90) defeated Albury-Wodonga Bandits (72)

Nicole Munger was at her dominant best to lead the defending champion Newcastle Falcons to an 11th straight NBL1 East win with the 90-72 victory against the Albury-Wodonga Bandits.

The two teams were fresh off wins on Saturday as well with the Bandits beginning their road double beating the Maitland Mustangs while the Falcons continued their winning ways against the Central Coast Crusaders.

The Falcons were back home at Newcastle Basketball Stadium and started strongly with another 20 points to 13 in the opening quarter, but the Bandits have impressive firepower too and hit back with 23 points to 17 in the second frame.

That saw Newcastle leading 37-36 by half-time but the defending champions pulled away on the back of the brilliance of Munger in the second half with 30 points to 21 in the third term, and 23 to 15 in the fourth.

The Falcons would lead by as much as 21 points on the way to winning by 18 to improve to 3-0 on the season having now won 11 straight NBL1 East games including last year's championship triumph.

Nicole Munger was an unstoppable force in the win for Newcastle with the two-time MVP delivering 40 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and three steals on 17/24 shooting from the field.

Meg Jefferson added 19 points and 12 rebounds, Lucy Wilsmore seven points, three boards and two assists, Kate Kingham six points, four rebounds and three assists, and Sophie Brennan six points and four boards.

Albury-Wodonga is now 2-1 to start the new season with Brynn Masikewich delivering 24 points and 12 rebounds while Caitie Jones backed up her 38 points from the night before with 21 points and three boards.

Riley Lupfer had a tough shooting night going 2/12 from deep for 10 points, six rebounds and three assists.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS 90 (Munger 40, Jefferson 19, Wilsmore 7)

ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 72 (Masikewich 24, Jones 21, Lupfer 10)

MEN

Penrith Panthers (84) defeated Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (72)

Lachlan Charlton knocked down five of his team's eight three pointers to lead the Penrith Panthers to their first win of 2025 with the 84-72 home victory against the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

The Sea Eagles came into the Sunday match up looking to back up their first win of 2025 the previous evening at home to the Norths Bears while the Panthers hadn’t played since losing at home last Saturday in a thriller to the Sutherland Sharks.

The Panthers played host to the Sea Eagles at Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre with the home team starting on fire with 23 points to 11 in the first quarter.

That lead for Penrith continued to grow and got out to as much as 21 points in the second quarter and the Panthers were still in control leading 47-31 by the half-time interval.

That lead got out to a game-high 22 points in the third quarter and from there Penrith were able to cruise to the eventual 12-point victory even while scoring just the 12 points themselves in the final term.

Lachlan Charlton ended up shooting 5/11 from three-point territory on his way to 20 points, five rebounds and two assists for the Panthers with Zeke Evans adding 16 points, 12 boards, five assists and three steals.

Jett Hickson also had 15 points and five rebounds, Jonah Pares 11 points, seven boards and four assists, and Adam Lulka seven points, four rebounds and four assists.

Preston Purifoy delivered 21 points and five rebounds on 5/10 three-point shooting for Manly Warringah with Mason Bragg delivering 18 points, seven boards, six steals and three assists.

Stefan Valkovic added 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Jamie Munro 10 points, five boards and two steals.

PENRITH PANTHERS 84 (Charlton 20, Evans 16, Hickson 15)

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 72 (Purifoy 21, Bragg 18, Valkovic)

Newcastle Falcons (72) lost to Albury-Wodonga Bandits (77)

Immanuel Allen, Ahren Freeman and Jacob Cincurak all came up huge late as the Albury-Wodonga Bandits prevailed in a hotly contested 77-72 battle with the Newcastle Falcons.

Both the Bandits and Falcons lost their first games of the season last weekend and then also suffered heavy defeats on Saturday raising the stakes for their Sunday match up to close Round 2.

Albury-Wodonga did pull away late in the first quarter going on a 10-0 scoring run to lead by 11 points and be on top still 27-18 by quarter-time.

The lead for the Bandits got out to 13 points in the second frame and by half-time they remained leading 49-39 with their lead back out to 12 early in the third quarter, but then Newcastle fired with an 11-0 scoring run to set up a big finish.

While Newcastle did briefly hit the lead early in the fourth quarter, Albury-Wodonga did have all the answers including a go ahead three-pointer from Jean-Luc Morel before Immanuel Allen completed a three-point play to put them back up five.

Then down the stretch, Jacob Cincurak and Ahren Freeman made crucial shots and Allen was able to seal the eventual five-point win at the foul line.

It's a first win of the season for the Bandits with Matthew Gray starring coming off the emotion of going back to play against the Maitland Mustangs having been part of their three straight grand final appearances on Saturday night.

Gray delivered 22 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals with Freeman adding 21 points, 11 rebounds and four steals, Allen 10 points, two boards, two assists and two steals, and Morel 10 points, three rebounds and two blocks.

The Falcons are now winless three games into the 2025 season with Eylijah Stephens delivering 19 points, five rebounds and four steals on 4/8 three-point shooting.

Myles Cherry contributed 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists, Ryan Beisty 12 points, 10 boards and seven assists, Matur Maluach eight points, and Kobe Shannon eight points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS 72 (Stephens 19, Cherry 15, Beisty 12)

ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 77 (Gray 22, Freeman 21, Allen 10, Morel 10)