Falcons fledgling Chyra Evans will be surrounded by familiar faces on both sides of the court at Newcastle Basketball Stadium on Saturday night when she plays her last game of the NBL1 East season before heading to the United States to begin her college career.
The Michigan-bound 18-year-old will line up for Newcastle against the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence (CoE) in a wildcard game that could provide the Falcons with a ticket to the NBL1 National Championships in Melbourne next month.
Evans was based at the CoE for the past two years where she was coached by Kristen Veal and Sarah Graham, who still oversee the Canberra-based program that attracts Australia's best young talent.
Newcastle junior Saffron Shiels will suit up for CoE on Saturday alongside Coffs Harbour's Isla Juffermans and the nucleus of the Australian that finished fifth at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Hungary last month.
"It's been great playing for Newcastle this season and I'm happy I made the choice to come home," Evans said.
"With my last game being this Saturday, I'm glad it's against the CoE as I'm able to see some of the girls I used to live with and see my old coaches before I head off to college next Friday."
Evans has averaged 21.1 points and 10.6 rebounds a game this season, to be ranked sixth in the East Conference in both categories. She will begin her college career at the University of Michigan, where her Falcons teammate Nicole Munger played from 2015 to 2019.
As Evans's mother and coach, Newcastle mentor Chloe Mullaney will be sad to see Chyra go with only one week left in the regular season, but is excited about the opportunity.
"At the start of the season, it looked like Chyra was leaving in June and would have missed this game, so it's good that she'll get to play against CoE before she goes," Mullaney said.
The Falcons have won four straight to be fourth with a 13-5 win-loss record in the East Conference, and will play their final two league games against second-placed Norths (14-4) at home then third-placed Sutherland (13-4).
The CoE team are in the middle of a national tour playing a series of games against NBL1 clubs to determine which team progresses to the NBL1 National Championships from September 9 to 11.
Effectively, the team that defeats CoE by the most will qualify as the wildcard team, joining winners of the NBL1 East, North, South, West and Central Conferences in Melbourne.
That team is currently Southern Districts Spartans, who won 97-59 in Brisbane on Tuesday night, so Newcastle must win by 39 points or more to overtake Southern Districts.
The predecessor to the NBL1 East was the NSW Waratah League, and Newcastle and Sutherland were declared joint champions last year after COVID forced an early end to the season before the finals. The CoE will play Sutherland on Sunday.
"It's an unusual situation but we just have to stick to our game plan and focus on winning the game first and foremost, and see what happens after that," Mullaney said. "We're pleased with the way we've been playing lately, and we match up pretty well against them, but they're the best young players in Australia and they're well coached so they'll be tough."
Newcastle's men's team host Bankstown Bruins at Newcastle Basketball Stadium at 3pm on Sunday in a game they must win to remain on track for the NBL1 East finals.
The Falcons (11-8) have lost four straight and five of their past six to slide to fifth, trailing Canberra (14-5), Norths (13-7), Illawarra (11-7) and Maitland (11-7) with three games to play against the last-placed Bruins (5-14), Norths and sixth-placed Sutherland (10-9).
"We've dug ourselves a bit of a hole and it's been a tough couple of weeks for us, but we showed some signs of improvement against Norths last Sunday," Newcastle coach Peter Astley said.
"The only way out of it is working hard and sticking together and that's what we're trying to do."
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