The Seriös Group Newcastle Eagles face their toughest Women’s Basketball League regular season task on Sunday evening with a trip to Oaklands University to take on the all-conquering London Lions.

Whilst nothing in sport is a guarantee it would be a result of seismic proportions should Matt Newby’s team come back to Tyneside with a victory after the contest. In terms of what Newcastle and Newby will be looking for is a sign that his team is making progress.

Last weekend’s home loss to Essex Rebels was disappointing in the end but throughout the first thirty-five minutes they were in touch with The Trophy runners-up and a team that looked destined for the top four.

Assistant Coach Luke Orwin summed up the mood in the camp prior to the match-up with the Women’s British Basketball League’s top rated and highly regarded team starting by looking back at the Essex game.

“We were all disappointed with the game against Rebels both the result and the performance. They are a very good team and we competed well at times but we feel we could have taken the game down the stretch.”

“Having 16 more potential scoring possessions than they had tells us we could have been right there. We took a lot of positives out of the game particularly our improved adherence to the scouting report compared to the Nottingham and only having 8 turnovers.”

“We’re now at the stage where we are creating ample shots to win games in this League but we have to makes these count against higher order teams.”

London are obviously one of the higher order teams and Orwin gave the team’s thoughts and philosophies on the approach for that game.

“The game against London is a complete free roll of the dice. It’s a chance for us to prove ourselves against the very best and continue making improvements ahead of some key games coming down the line.”

“We’ve strengthened since the previous meeting. They are two star names down due to the Olympic qualifying tournament so we will be looking to make some tweaks to our lineups and strive to be more productive.”

Orwin has now been Assistant to three Head Coaches all of which have been different in their approach to the job. He feels Coach Newby is bringing some added benefits to the team and programme.

“Matt has had multiple tenures in the professional game and he’s brought a more clinical approach to training and games. The players are benefitting from a more professionalised and intensive environment. This in turn promotes individually accountability and collective responsibility.”

There’s no doubting that the whole of the Seriös Group Newcastle Eagles roster and backroom staff are leaving no stone unturned in their quest to make a run at a decent position for the end of season play-offs.

Work is still going on in the background on a daily basis to see how best the team can approach that task and it is hoped to release more good and exciting news very soon that should help that quest.