Round 4 Eagles Wrap – Women/Men

Mary Goulding made a dazzling return for the East Perth Eagles on Saturday night while the men produced a standout team performance to score the 27-point home win at Peter Campbell Basketball Arena.

The Eagles were back home at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre on Saturday evening as part of Round 4 in the NBL1 West season playing host to the Perry Lakes Hawks.

First up and the Hawks women were able to beat the Eagles 87-79 despite encouraging signs including the performance from Goulding.

The East Perth men then came out and produced their best, and most complete, performance of the 2024 season to beat Perry Lakes 96-69 in emphatic fashion.

WOMEN

The East Perth Eagles were back to the Peter Campbell Basketball Arena on Saturday evening hunting their first win of 2024, but it wasn’t quite to be against the Perry Lakes Hawks.

The Hawks came into the match up fresh off beating the Perth Redbacks at Bendat Basketball Centre the previous night by 23 points so they arrived to take on the Eagles full of momentum.

East Perth also welcomed back Mary Goulding after she missed last week's loss to the Redbacks after returning home to New Zealand for a wedding with the Eagles hunting a first win since May 26 last year.

One of the wins East Perth had last year was against Perry Lakes but it was the Hawks who started strongly on Saturday opening up a 10-point advantage by the end of one.

The Perry Lakes lead got out to 13 points in the second period but then the Eagles worked back into the contest and cut the half-time deficit to 45-39.

The Eagles were within striking distance and then had closed the gap further to trail by just three points at three quarter-time, and then the home team kept the momentum going coming into the fourth term.

East Perth hit the front early in the final period after a pair of free-throws to Goulding but from the moment scores were tied at 64-64 with seven minutes to play after Lawi Hawthorne scored, Perry Lakes took back over the contest.

The Hawks outscored the Eagles 23 points to 15 the rest of the way to end up scoring the 87-79 victory to keep East Perth winless so far in 2024.

Despite the result, there was plenty to like from the Eagles who were led by Mary Goulding with 25 points and 16 rebounds on shooting 9/15 from the field and 6/7 from three-point territory.

Tessa Morrison added 12 points, four rebounds and three assists for East Perth with Laci Hawthorne contributing 12 points and 20 rebounds, and Mary Baskerville 10 points, five boards and three assists.

Bri Bailey also ended up with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists with Sarah Allen contributing seven points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals, and Taylor Roberts three points.

MEN

The East Perth Eagles produced a standout all-round team performance to beat the Perry Lakes Hawks 96-69 for the first victory for the club at Peter Campbell Basketball Arena.

The first win of the season for the Eagles came on the road to the Kalamunda Eastern Suns back in Round 2 so coming into Saturday night's game they were attempting to get a first win on their new floor at the redeveloped Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

East Perth were also looking to hit back from a heartbreaking loss last Saturday to the Perth Redbacks where the Eagles did look to have the win in the bag, so motivation was high up against a Perry Lakes team who did beat the Perth Redbacks the previous evening.

The Eagles threatened to blow the game open early with an 11-point lead but the Hawks responded and were down just one by quarter-time.

East Perth again pushed out to an 11-point advantage in the second period and this time maintained most of it to be leading 42-34 at half-time.

The Eagles then dominated the second half outscoring the Hawks 28 points to 18 in the third stanza, and 26 to 17 in the fourth on the way to the eventual 27-point victory.

The Eagles had a host of strong contributors including Taylor Young delivering 18 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds while Sunday Dech added 18 points, seven boards, six assists and two steals.

Sebit Reath also had 18 points, three rebounds and two assists with David Okwera contributing 14 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and three assists, and Sharif Watson eight points, 11 boards, three assists and three steals.

The contributors didn’t end there with Michael Clare delivering eight points and two blocks, Nic Filpo seven points and an assist, Nathan Drown three points on a triple, and Nigel Adonis two points, a rebound, an assist and a steal.