Pleasant pressure for Langton's Norwood

Feature image via: Sharnee Jones 

NBL1 Central’s Eva Langton feels a little bit of pressure in her first season with championship winners, the Norwood Flames, but assured it is motivation to chase her first title with the club.

The women’s Flames side were the 2023 conference winners, and Langton entered 2024 with the goal of replicating that title.

“I definitely feel a little bit of pressure. But pressure is good, you want to do the club proud,” Langton said on the NBL1 Unleashed Podcast.

“Coming in you want to make sure you’re upholding the values and meeting their standard or try and improve their standard in a sense.

“So there is definitely a little bit of pressure there, but we are working hard and it’s quite a different team to what they had last year.”

With the ever-evolving league, each season players continue to grow into star players – making the ladder season to season look very different. 

“Every year you expect key players are going to get better from other teams, and imports are going to get better that are coming in. so the league is going to keep getting better and better,” The New Zealand-born star explained.

“Every club and every team is working to increase and get better every season so you want it to be more competitive.

“There is pressure, but it’s good pressure and we're working together to get further up the table.”

 The 25-year-old forward earned herself the Player of the Week Award in Round 7 for her 35-point game against the Woodville Warriors – currently averaging 13.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.

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 The Flames have claimed some tight wins across the season and will look to crawl back up the ladder with hard work and preparation at practice, guided by Langton’s beneficial call.

“We’re trying to make practice more and more competitive; I’ve tried to push the girls and say ‘let’s make practice more intense’,” she said.

“We’ve had a lot of tight games and in the last two to three moments it’s so crucial to execute offensively and defensively, and that’s where we are struggling a little bit. That’d the focus, to execute where necessary.”

The Flames take on the Central District Lions on Sunday at 12:30pm local time, streaming live via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App.