Newcastle Falcons imports primed for home-court debuts…

Newcastle Falcons imports primed for home-court debuts at Broadmeadow

AMERICAN imports Nicole Munger and JaShaun Smith will make their long-awaited home-court debuts when the Newcastle Falcons host Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the NBL1 East Conference double-header at Newcastle Basketball Stadium on Saturday night.

Munger is expected to be joined on court by Spanish club teammate Ana Fernandez Oraa, who was due to arrive on Friday afternoon in Sydney, where she was being met by Munger and Falcons coach Chloe Mullaney to be driven back to Newcastle.

SUDDEN IMPACT: American import Nicole Munger has wasted no time in showing her all-round skill set since joining the Newcastle Falcons. Picture: Simone De Peak

A 28-year-old point guard, Fernandez Oraa played alongside Munger for the Ariadne club in the Canary Islands earlier this year. Though she has received her FIBA international clearance, Fernandez Oraa could be used sparingly in her first appearance in Newcastle colours.

"We'll see how she pulls up after the long flight, with jetlag and everything, so we'll play that one by ear, but we're just glad to have her here with us for the rest of the season," Mullaney said.

Munger said Fernandez Oraa would provide the young Falcons team with leadership and experience.

"I'm really excited about playing my first game at home and it will be great to have Ana here too," Munger said. "I've been here a few weeks now and it was fun to play at Maitland last week, but I'm looking forward to playing in front of our home crowd."

Munger scored an equal game-high 22 points and added seven rebounds, two assists and a steal to steer Newcastle to an 80-57 victory over the Mustangs in Maitland last Saturday, helping the Falcons snap a three-game losing streak.

One of those losses was to the Sea Eagles at Northern Beaches Indoor Sports Centre on May 29, when the Falcons fell 69-51 a day after an 85-50 loss to Lauren Jackson and the Albury-Wodonga Bandits in Newcastle.

The Falcons are sixth with a 6-4 win-loss record and are keen to avenge that loss to Manly, who have won five straight to be fifth.

The game is scheduled for a 5pm tip-off, followed by the men's game at 7:15pm, when Smith will take the court at Broadmeadow for the first time since arriving in Newcastle on April 22. Smith spent a frustrating six weeks on the sidelines waiting for his FIBA clearance, and since then has battled foul trouble in Newcastle's past two games against Bankstown and Maitland.

"I'm thankful that I'm finally cleared, and I'm very excited for the chance to play in front of our amazing fans," Smith said.

The spring-heeled swingman has come off the bench in his first two games, scoring 11 points in an 82-65 win against Bankstown a fortnight ago and six in their 93-71 loss to Maitland last week, throwing down a spectacular dunk in each game.

But Smith picked up four fouls in just under 17 minutes against the Bruins and fouled out in a little under 15 minutes against Maitland as he adjusts to the way the game is officiated in Australia.

Despite their loss to the Mustangs last Saturday, Newcastle (8-3) are alone at the top of the table and should be confident after beating the 11th-placed Sea Eagles (5-8) 73-62 on the road on May 29.

But Falcons coach Peter Astley is approaching the game with extreme caution as Manly stars Kevin White and Indiana Faithfull did not play in the game four weeks ago, and he said their results did not accurately reflect the quality of their personnel.

"Manly are a very experienced, very talented group and they've been together for a long time, so this will be one of our toughest games of the season," Astley said.

"We were very poor, and very flat against Maitland last week, so we really need to learn from that and bounce back from that and prove that it was just a bad night for us."

Astley hopes centre Tom Dawson will return after missing the Maitland loss because of a bout of flu.

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