Chloe Gaynor took her Newcastle Eagles Women’s Team north of the border to Playfair, East Kilbride on Sunday to take on the Caledonia Gladiators in their only scheduled pre-season outing. It was also  first outing for The Gladiators in pre-season.

The Eagles travelled with confidence and hope after Head Coach Chloe Gaynor announced a clean bill of health and a squad ready to play after a good week of practice. The Eagles expecting a tough game against one of the pre-season pundits’ favourites for SLB honours this coming campaign.

In the end in a hugely defensive encounter, it was Newcastle that prevailed in a gripping match-up that will give both camps something to ponder and work on going into the new season For Gaynor and her coaching staff there were huge positives as they build towards their opener.

The Eagles started with Alyssa Marin and Shanique Lucas at guard, Mari Mongomo at small forward and Captain Jada Dapaa and Andrea Daley in the forward slots. And what a start the flying Eagles made showing little sign of rustiness nor lack of game time as they stormed into an early lead.

They took the first quarter in some style by 25 points to 14 and actually increased that to 18 points at 34 – 16 as the second ten-minute period opened. Caledonia were stunned but recovered some poise and came back to level the quarter.

But it meant that Newcastle still held a healthy 11-point advantage going into the locker rooms to talk things over.

The third period did go to Caledonia but by only a single point to make it a ten-point game at 53 – 43 to the visiting Eagles who were in lockdown mode and not looking likely to throw away the advantage they had established early on in the contest.

So it proved down the stretch as the final period ended with the Eagles taking the plaudits and the game by winning the last stanza by a single point to close out a game where they led from first buzzer to the last in a great all-round team performance.

Perhaps not the result many thought would be registered and of course it was both teams’ first run-out of the 2025/26 season. There was little doubt that over the full forty minutes the sides were reasonably well-matched for three quarters.

Unfortunately for the hosts it was the first quarter that made the difference in the game after Newcastle gave themselves an excellent staring position and platform that they held on to strongly throughout the rest of the game.

Rookie USA forward Daley was the game’s MVP with an superb first showing in the famous black and white and Newcastle’s depth also showed as ex-Durham Palatinate Sarah Wells came off the bench to tremendous effect.

Around them the Eagles had an excellent supporting cast who all played their parts and who all got meaningful minutes in a result and performance that delighted Gaynor who assessed it all post-game.

“I was more pleased with the intangibles we showed than the actual basketball. I think ultimately that’s what won us the game and that’s a great foundation to build from. Certainly, it was a game about defence.”

“Caledonia do a great job of taking you out of what you want to run, we managed to settle in to finding solutions and played to our strengths. A solid foundation and standard set to build from.”

That build will be another solid week of practice for the team as they prepare to take on B. Braun Sheffield Hatters at the Vertu Motors Arena on Sunday 21st September in their opening SLB league game.

The game tips off at 16:30 and tickets are available from the box office. The first chance to see the 2025/26 Newcastle Eagles Women’s team in action this season.