Newcastle Eagles went into their final regular season game of the season against Caledonia Gladiators knowing that they could not improve on their fifth place standing in the SLB. In the end a 92-73 loss against the League’s second top side mattered little.
It was only in the latter stages of the match-up that Caledonia went away from an Eagles side that showed once again great commitment and desire. Head Coach Chloe Gaynor summed up her feelings after the final buzzer.
“I thought we did pretty well. We had a great start to the game. We went out with the fight that I thought we would and we can show and have shown for previous games. But at times there were rotations out there that we haven’t had on the floor for a long time.”
“That was to make sure we were resting the right people for the right times for future games. Overall, though everyone that stepped out on the court today did a really solid job.”
Gaynor singled out two of the younger members of her roster. Grace Rae and Alex Campbell have come through the Eagles Academy system and showed they belong at this level.
“Grace came in played a lot more than she usually does and I thought she was exceptional in what she gave us. It was the best version of her for where she’s at in her pathway and career. Tonight, she scored her first SLB points and I’m really happy for her in that.”
“Alex was our secondary ball handler when she’s been playing predominantly off ball. At times she was excellent at both ends of the floor. Pleased that players got the chance to step up against one of the best teams in the league.”
“They asserted some dominance out there and heading into the playoffs we can rotate those guys a little bit more.”
Referring back to the game Gaynor confirmed that she felt it was a worthwhile exercise taking plenty of positives from it despite it being a loss.
“It was good for us in the sense that we had the opportunity to build momentum and work on things we identified last week against Oaklands that we needed to learn from. I saw positives signs in that. It gives us confidence heading into next week.”
“There are things out there that we can do well and things that we slipped up on we got a chance to work on them in this game. No game is ever meaningless. Playing Caledonia is good for us. It didn’t affect the standings but it’s a great test heading into the playoffs.”
They travel to Oaklands next Saturday to face a team they’ve played three times this season and lost to all three times. Gaynor though is still confident that her side can progress.
“We highlighted last week if we’d won, we’d have finished fourth and if we lost, we’d finish fifth but regardless we were probably going to see Oaklands again. We knew that game down there was important.”
“Likewise, they were thinking the same thing. Knowing we were in the lead in that game for the majority of it we highlighted the areas that were expensive from last week. They were the areas we needed to work on and where we lost the game.”
“This week we’ll prep on that. If we show the best version of ourselves, it could well be a game that could go our way.”
It’s certainly going to be a big game next Saturday and one well within the Eagles grasp.
