NBL1 West Recap | Friday Women's Round 7

The East Perth Eagles have shown signs of their dramatic improvement so far in the NBL1 West Women's Division this season and it all came together on Friday night as they upset the Joondalup Wolves on their home floor.

East Perth have been the perennial strugglers of the women's competition in recent seasons, but that clearly is no longer the case and that was even before they delivered the upset of the NBL1 West season to date on Friday night.

Even without WNBL star Mary Goulding in the line-up for the Lady Eagles, experienced point guard BJ Moyes picked up the slack to lead the way and produce an exceptional win for East Perth.

The Lady Wolfpack dominated the West Coast Classic last year on the way to winning the championship and had won their opening four matches of the NBL1 West season as well, but they couldn’t make it five straight on Friday night.

The Eagles hosted the Wolves at Herb Graham Recreation Centre on Friday night and came away with the 75-58 victory to improve to a 4-3 record while the Wolfpack slipped to 4-1.

Round 7 in the NBL1 West Women's Division continues on Saturday night with the Mandurah Magic hosting the Perth Redbacks while the Warwick Senators are at home to the Lakeside Lightning, the Rockingham Flames play the Cockburn Cougars and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns host the South West Slammers.

The round then concludes on Tuesday evening at Bendat Basketball Centre with the Perry Lakes Hawks facing the Joondalup Wolves.

NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 7 – FRIDAY NIGHT

EAST PERTH EAGLES 75 defeated JOONDALUP WOLVES 58

There was just the one match in the NBL1 West Women's Division on Friday night to open Round 7 with the East Perth Eagles hosting the Joondalup Wolves at herb Graham Recreation Centre.

The teams locked horns at the Mirrabooka venue with the Lady Wolfpack putting their undefeated record this season on the line on the back of winning last year's West Coast Classic that was played in place in place of the SBL season.

East Perth was back on their home court and looking to continue their improved start to the new season as well setting the stage for what loomed to be a tremendous standalone Friday night contest.

The Lady Eagles managed to start strongly too against a team they have traditional struggled against in recent times. East Perth was able to put up 19 points in the opening quarter and holding Joondalup to just the 13 to go into the quarter-time break with a six-point advantage.

The Eagles held firm in the second term as well and on their home court managed to maintain a 36-31 lead heading into the main break.

Thigs remained tight throughout the third quarter as well with the Eagles still leading by four points heading into the fourth quarter but the game was right up for grabs.

With the game to be decided, it was East Perth that lifted and dominated the last period with 21 points to eight to end up delivering the tremendous 75-58 victory to signal just how far they have improved so far in 2021.

It was an even more impressive performance from East Perth considering that Tall Ferns star Mary Goulding is currently unavailable as she is with the New Zealand national team attempting to earn a spot in the team for the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup.

That comes after she re-signed with the Bendigo Spirit for another WNBL season and she has been terrific so far for East Perth, but to the credit to her teammates they made up for her absence on Friday night against the Lady Wolfpack.

Experienced point guard BJ Moyes was outstanding for the Eagles with 23 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals on 7/12 shooting from the field, 2/4 from downtown and 7/7 from the foul line.

Opal Mader was another strong contributor for East Perth with 17 points and four rebounds with Tahlia Fejo delivering another 17 points, five assists, four steals and four rebounds.

Eryn Fisher battled hard down low with 12 points, three rebounds and three assists with Bree Fisher contributing five rebounds and Jade Gowland eight boards.

Shooting just 17/67 at 25 per cent from the field and 3/19 at 16 per cent was always going to be tough for the Wolves to put together a winning formula on the night especially when including their 19 turnovers.

Chelsea Belcher top-scored for Joondalup with 16 points while Amber Land contributed 11 points and nine rebounds, Kayla Steindl nine points and six boards, Nes'eya Williams eight points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Tia Ucich seven points, two boards and two steals.