South West Slammers women’s coach Mark Edman says side embraced celebrations after snapping long losing streak

South West Slammers women’s coach Mark Edman says he made no attempt to put a dampener on his side’s celebrations after they snapped a near three-year losing streak on Saturday. The Slammers came into their 2025 NBL1 West season opener at Eaton Recreation Centre carrying the burden of a 52-game run without a win, which they broke in brilliant fashion by beating Eastern Suns by 18 points. The result saw the side taste victory for the first time since May 2022 and ended an even longer wait for a win on their home court which dated back to 2019. After most of his team tasted victory in Slammers’ colours for the first time, Edman said he was happy for them to embrace an “overwhelmingly amazing” feeling. “I didn’t even realise until I read afterwards that the last time we had a home game win was six years ago, that wasn’t even on my radar either,” he said. “We needed that for the girls’ mental state. “To have that win, I wouldn’t blame them to be celebrating. You can’t take that away from them, when they’ve been waiting that long for a victory. “We’re just going to use this as fuel to go forward.” The Slammers’ new import duo of Mykea Gray and Cayla King were both brilliant on the night, combining to score 45 points. Having only arrived in the country last week, Gray produced a 24-point, seven-steal, four-rebound, three-assist effort on club debut, while King drilled five three-pointers on her way to 21 points. Edman said he was delighted with the pair’s immediate impact. “We haven’t seen the best of them yet, that’s the frightening part,” he said. “I think the first quarter, Mykea was extremely well-controlled. There was a lot of nerves, as you’d expect for the first home game. “I think our true game shone in that third and fourth quarter, and their leadership shone as well. The Slammers’ next assignment will come in the form of Goldfields Giants, who finished only one spot ahead of them on last year’s ladder and suffered a 38-point loss to Cockburn Cougars in their season opener, in Kalgoorlie on Saturday. Edman said his side would draw great confidence from their early victory. “To get the two wins in a row, that was one of my targets at the start when taking this on,” he said. “Basketball’s a funny game . . . I don’t go into any game thinking we’re going to slay the (other) team, you’ve got to have respect. “They’ve probably got some teething issues like everyone else does at the start. “We just have to stick to our systems and our gameplans and hopefully the strategy we put forward, like it did on Saturday, will help us come away with the win.” The Slammers’ women’s clash with the Giants at the newly-redeveloped Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium tips off at 6pm.