Round Two for the Eagles men's team showed a continuation of the previous week’s success, defeating the Wanneroo Wolves 111-80 at Morley Recreation Centre on Saturday night.

Eagles guard Drew Williamson opened up the home sides account within the first 15 seconds of the game. Shortly after, forward Jarrod Balcombe topped it up with a dunk that was set up by good pressure from within the key by forward Nikola Donlagic.

Near the end of the first quarter, centre Michael Jones placed the Eagles even further in front by scoring a three point shot, the Eagles finishing with a solid 14 point advantage at the first break.

Point guard Elgar Tamsalu got the second quarter underway to maintain the Eagles advantage. Centre Michael Jones was making excellent use of the key in both offensive and defensive rebounds getting a collective total of eight rebounds for the match.

The Eagles started the second half of the match in front of the Wolves 57-42 and started to turn the heat up even more by scoring their next six points within the first three minutes of the third quarter. The Wolves were appearing to be quick on their feet but just couldn’t keep up with the game-play of their opponents.

As the final quarter started, point guard Elgar Tamsalu and forward Jarrod Balcombe streamlined some fantastic passing down the court resulting in an alleyoop, widening the lead to 26 points with six minutes to go in the match.

With under five minutes to go, forward Brighton Pass made his 2013 on-court debut for the Eagles and contributed straight away with a three point bucket, immediately followed by forward Jarrod Balcombe once again, scoring the last three points of the game.

Despite the Wolves putting up a good fight showcasing talented players such as centre Robert Huntington and guard Trian Iliadis, it were the Eagles who came out on top after leading for 46 minutes of the match.

In the Women's game, the Eagles found themselves chasing the Wanneroo Wolves up and down the court in their first home game at Morley Recreation Centre where they were defeated by the Wolfpack 86-39.

The Wolves got off the mark quickly, building a 7-0 lead early. Eagles forward Liz Cooke was showing some great defence in the key but it wasn’t until just after the first time out that Eagles forward Danielle Lipscombe scored the home sides first two points, however it was the Wolves who were in control and by the end of the first quarter the score was 25-6 in favour of the visitors.

Forward Amy Chinnery scored three points within the first four minutes of the second quarter shortly followed with Liz Cooke gaining another two points just before the six minute mark. Once again, it was Eagles forward Liz Cooke teaming up with forward Jodee Sontay showcasing excellent team work within the key to finish the quarter with another two points, however the Wolves had extended the lead to 27 at the main break.

With seven minutes left on the clock the score had become 72-37 and the Eagles were pulling out all stops to close the gap. Eagles Import guard Jillian Shelley was obtaining the rebounds by occupying the key well but the Wolves were the ones distributing themselves evenly across the court, running out 47 point winners.

There was impressive play from Wolves guard Nikita-Lee Martin and forward Casey Lockwood who shot a combined 25 points for the visotrs, almost a third of the total match score.

East Perth Eagles WSBL coach Aaron Berryman conveyed that more discipline is needed on court and is looking forward to building upon this in the coming weeks.

Next week the Eagles play the Stirling Senators away at Warwick Leisure Centre on Thursday night, with the Men looking to extend their undefeated start to the season.

Article by Arielle Cooper (East Perth Eagles)
Photo by Mick Cronin