The Newcastle Eagles fly up to East Kilbride and the Playsport Arena on Sunday afternoon to take on the Caledonia Gladiators in a crucial WSLB Championship game. Head Coach Chloe Gaynor’s side will take to the court currently top of the standings and defending a 100% five-win league record.

However, they know it’s a tough task to win in Scotland against a Gladiators side that have qualified for the WSLB Trophy semi-finals and themselves have a four wins one loss league record. A win for the home side would mean them leap-frogging the Eagles in the table.

Last weekend Newcastle won a tough game on the road 75-66 in Leicester to record that win and one of the stars for Gaynor’s side was USA rookie guard Alyssa Marin. Marin is having a great start to her professional career averaging 18.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.8 Assists and 45.2% from 3-point range.

The Californian spoke about that Leicester game where she scored 19 points and once again showed her ability to score inside and out as she previewed the trip to Caledonia.

“It feels amazing to be where we are. It’s testament to all the hard work we’ve been putting in. Getting to know everyone and everyone coming into the system. Despite injuries and having people out I’m really proud of where are right now and we’ll continue to grow.”

“What got us through the Leicester game was our run in the fourth quarter. We went back to how we are and who we are as people and showing our identity as a team. We didn’t start off very well on our defence and on offence we couldn’t find a rhythm.”

“But in the end, we locked into what we’ve been practising. What we’ve been doing outside the game and just locking into that. My teammates have been finding me and really hyping me up. I think we have a really selfless team. Whoever is hot whoever is on we just seem to keep finding each other.”

The first-year guard is really enjoying her time so far on Tyneside and paid tribute to the away everyone around her has helped her make the transition from college player to professional in spectacular style.

“I love this team so much. Everyone has been so easy to talk too. I’ve been able to grow as a player and a person. I couldn’t have asked for better coaches, better teammates. They’re there for me in the ups, downs and really believing in me and that’s help me grow and made it easier.”

The Eagles now have to build on that Leicester win and look to see if they can end 2025 on top of the pile and maintain that unbeaten run. Marin knows though it’s not going to be an easy game. Especially as once again it looks like they might have injury issues to deal with.

“If we just stick to who we are as players it’s always going to be a dogfight with us. We hold our standards on how hard we play. We need to continue to do that, continue to remember what we’re doing in practice and reviewing film, I think it’s going to be a really good outcome for us.”

“The key is our aggressiveness. That’s been one of our main points. All season through all games is how aggressive we are, our energy, kind of slipping each other up and being the hardest team to play against. I think that’s going to be the biggest part of our game.”

Tip-off at the Playsport Arena for the crucial match-up on Sunday afternoon is 14:00pm as Newcastle and Marin look to deliver an early Christmas present for the Eagles organisation.