Round 17 Spotlight | Eagles upbeat despite Senators loss

A brilliant triple-double from Stacey Barr and a strong showing from the Warwick Senators all-round saw them prove too strong for the East Perth Eagles on Thursday night, but it doesn’t detract from how far that team has come under Blake Srdarev.

The Lady Eagles have now lost their past two matches to the Perry Lakes Hawks and Warwick Senators to leave their hold on a spot in the top four up in the air with one match of their NBL1 West Women's Division season remaining at home to the Eastern Suns next Friday.

However, even the fact that they are now in a battle over a top four position shows just how far they have come less than two years since Blake Srdarev took over as coach in his first head coaching role after learning his trade under Simon Parker at the Willetton Tigers, among other basketball roles.

At the time the 2019 SBL season ended, East Perth had won just one of their previous 54 matches and really, that says it all about how far they have come. They had an improved performance in the West Coast Classic last year, and now have had a standout inaugural NBL1 West season.

The Eagles started off the season well enough with a 4-4 record from the opening eight games, but then things really began to click with Mary Goulding standing out, Opal Mader and Tahlia Fejo not far behind, and a good support cast behind them.

They went on a stunning seven-game winning streak to lock away a finals spot and to put them in a strong position to make the top four. That culminated in a brilliant 82-69 win over the Rockingham Flames last Friday.

However, they then lost by 29 the next night to the Perry Lakes Hawks and then on Thursday night, they put in a good showing and gave themselves a chance, but ultimately the Senators proved too strong winning 95-89.

It was an evening with a host of standout individual performances too including Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard finishing with 23 points, five rebounds and five assists for Warwick on 10/16 shooting and hitting 3/4 from three-point territory.

Stacey Barr produced a triple-double also for the Senators made up of 22 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists with Tayla Hepburn contributing 14 points and five assists, Chloe Forster 13 points, six steals and four assists, and Nicole Jorre de St Jorre 12 points and three assists.

The Lady Eagles did dearly miss the scoring punch of Tahlia Fejo but Mary Goulding battled hard once more for 26 points, 23 rebounds, four assists and two steals with Opal Mader contributing 25 points, three rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

It was an important win too for the Senators and it keeps them in the hunt for a top four position ahead of hosting the Willetton Tigers on Saturday.

After the game on Thursday night, Srdarev admitted the adjustments the Eagles are having to make without injured pair Tahlia Fejo and Jade Gowland, but given they played so well against Rockingham six days earlier, he's not too concerned.

"We are just adjusting a little bit with a couple of outs, Jade Gowland and also Tahlia Fejo so we are looking at a few things and potentially needing to pivot coming into this back end of the season. But the competitive and fierceness is there, there are just some things we need to tighten up on now," Srdarev said.

"These losses can be good and bad for us, and we've talked about it as a group. It's good in the sense that you can learn some things but a week ago we were here and had a massive win against a Rockingham team who was back to full strength.

"So it was only six days ago that we probably had our best game of the season and then it was tough against the Hawks on the back end of a double-header. 

"Then this game I thought we played at a high level for periods and there were other times when we turned the ball over too much and our trans-D wasn’t good enough. So it's good that it happens at this point of the season to give us that kick up the arse, but it's obviously not good because you want to win every game to try and finish in the top four."

Fejo was having a standout season for the Eagles showing all of the ability that had her previously on the Perth Lynx roster. 

Behind Goulding, she was giving East Perth that outscoring punch but now she won't be back for the rest of the season and neither will Gowland. While that's disappointing for Srdarev, it's all about making the right adjustments to make sure it's not too cruel of a blow.

"It's unlikely we'll get Tahlia back. She won't be out on the court, but she's still in our group and can still contribute a lot by being around. There are some things that she's done for us that we now need to try and replace," Srdarev said. 

"We've tried two different starting line-ups without her now the last two games and some different rotations, and we need to make a pivot and have a look at different things with how we are playing. 

"Jade Gowland is another one who has played a major role and we won't get her back either, but it's all about on person going out and the next one coming in. Mary was away when we beat Joondalup for example so we have good depth. 

"We didn’t win this game tonight, but we were only a couple of baskets away from saying how wonderful it is."

Ahead of returning to the Bendigo Spirit for the upcoming WNBL season, New Zealander Goulding has been a revelation for East Perth in 2021. Her scoring and rebounding numbers are through the roof, and even in Thursday's loss to the Senators, she still had 26 points and 23 rebounds.

While Srdarev is delighted with what she's providing, it's her teammates like Fiona Madden, Mader, Sariah Penese, Bree and Eryn Fisher, and point guard BJ Moyes who are helping her shine too.

"Mary is an elite player and she works hard so she deserves it, and she's on court every single day and wears us out with her work ethic, which is fantastic. But it's the others that I've been even more impressed with actually," Srdarev said. 

"Every time that Mary scores or rebounds, it's because someone else done their role or sacrificed. We always talk about as a group that we get success by going it as a team with someone sacrificing, setting screens or playing out of their position or doing something they don’t normally do. 

"It's hard to get 11 players to play with a star and we play Mary in that role, but most teams have a star. You need 11 players to accept their role and play well within it for it to work as a team. Mary is playing great but it's just as much credit to everybody else for how they have gone about it."

BJ Moyes is crucial to East Perth too and having an experienced point guard who has been to the WNBL level running things has been a significant boost for the Eagles, and Srdarev believes she's being vastly underrated.

"BJ controls the team really well, she communicates well with the girls and her defence is elite," he said.

"She is really having a resurgence and her numbers might not be standing out enough for her to be attracting much attention but she is so much more than just the numbers and she's doing so well for us."

Going back two years ago and the 2019 SBL season had just ended for East Perth after a 1-21 record, they were after a new coach and Srdarev and built a reputation as one of the best young coaching minds in the state. 

He was used to being part of a successful women's program at Willetton so that meant those he trusted weren’t sure if the job at East Perth was necessarily wise.

But he felt differently and wanted to take on the challenge and now as he prepares to get his team ready for a finals assault, he couldn’t be happier with the way things are panning out.

"When I was thinking about taking on the role I sought some guidance and did my own thinking, and a lot of the feedback was telling me not to do it. I even had that in my mind, but then I thought why not," Srdarev said. 

"I like a challenge and a project, and I'm willing to match it with my work ethic so I decided I wanted to take it on. Those reasons not to do it were superficial and the reasons to do it were the things that I love and that drive me on. 

"It has been a lot of hard work starting before the West Coast Classic and we treated that as seriously as a normal season last year with our planning and recruiting. We put in a lot of time and effort to make sure we got the right people to come here, and that hard work has been worth it. 

"We might have got more wins than even we might have expected this year, but the goal was to make the playoffs and we've done that. Now that we have gone so well we have adjusted our goals and want to go as far as we can this year."

The other thing to be encouraged about with this East Perth resurgence is that it's including players like Bree Fisher, Eryn Fisher, Fiona Madden, Cameron Flynn and Shannon Street who were there for those tough times, and now getting to enjoy being part of some winning teams.

"I have loved the girls that had been at the club for a long time already when I took over and have stuck at it, and I hope they are now enjoying this," Srdarev said.

"Then there were girls like Emerson and Hannah who played in the West Coast Classic and they haven’t played as much this year, but are still a big part of our plans for the future. 

"All those players are key to everything we do and they are willing to do anything they can for the team, and have been willing to accept lesser roles in some point but they are still giving their all. 

"Eryn is a great example of someone who has come along really well too. She is maturing and growing all the time, and I couldn’t have been more impressed with her."

East Perth now take on Kalamunda at Herb Graham Recreation Centre next Friday night in their final regular season game and Srdarev then can't wait to attack the playoffs.

"We now have one more game before finals and I feel like we've been really intense about our training and games, and lately we have been throwing some things around a little bit to look at things before finals to be proactive," he said. 

"We are very much to the playoffs I believe so we can't wait."

NBL1 WEST WOMEN'S DIVISION 2021
ROUND 17

TUESDAY
Perry Lakes Hawks 80 defeated Mandurah Magic 52

THURSDAY
East Perth Eagles 89 lost to Warwick Senators 95
Joondalup Wolves 83 defeated Cockburn Cougars 66

FRIDAY
Perth Redbacks v Mandurah Magic – Belmont Oasis 6.30pm
Perry Lakes Hawks v Kalamunda Eastern Suns – Bendat Basketball Centre 6.30pm
Willetton Tigers v South West Slammers – Willetton Basketball Stadium 6.30pm

SATURDAY
Mandurah Magic v Rockingham Flames – Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre 5pm
South West Slammers v Joondalup Wolves – Eaton Recreation Centre 5pm
Warwick Senators v Willetton Tigers – Warwick Stadium 5pm