THE National Basketball League (NBL)1 action continued over the weekend, and in the West Women’s competition, Tiahna Sears led her Eastern Suns past the East Perth Eagles in a high-scoring clash at Ray Owen Sports Centre on the weekend.

Round 2 of the West Women’s competition had plenty of action over the weekend, with some cracking contests taking place in Western Australia. In Friday’s game, both Eastern and East Perth were looking to bounce back following disappointing Round 1 performances and claim their first win of the 2024 season.

It was a tale of two halves in this match, with the Suns jumping out to a double-digit lead on the eve of half-time after a dominant second quarter. However, the Eagles were not going to roll over easily, and stormed home to outscore the home side 38-28 in the fourth, but fell three points short of the miracle comeback.

Without a doubt, the Suns would not have been able to pull off the win if not for the performance of Sears, who did a bit of everything in a match-winning showing at home.

Eastern Suns (104) def. East Perth Eagles (101)

Tiahna Sears – 23 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, one block

Sears was on fire against the Eagles, producing the best performance of the round in the NBL1 West Women’s and single-handedly dragging Eastern over the line.

Firstly, she top scored for the Suns with 23 points, going to work inside the arc and finding her spot at a consistent level. Sears made seven shots on 12 attempts from the field, and even chipped in for a three-pointer once she began to find her rhythm on the offensive end.

She was crafty at being able to draw contact, and was near perfect from the free throw line, nailing eight of nine attempts from the charity stripes and proving a calm presence down the stretch when the Eagles made their push.

On the glass, Sears led from the front again with a team-high 13 rebounds, boxing out strongly and getting first hands on the ball. Although most of these came on the defensive end, a trio of offensive boards helped generate second-chance scores for the Suns.

When the defence looked to double whenever she got the ball, Sears kept a cool head, using her smarts as a passer to get her teammates involved and keep Eastern’s score ticking over, posting seven dimes, which was an equal game-high figure.

Sears was a one-woman army at times during Eastern’s thrilling win over the Eagles, and did whatever it took to drag her side over the line in a heroic performance.