Already an Australian and NSW junior representative, 18-year-old Evans will join the Emerging Opals in Sydney on Sunday to prepare for a trial game against Japan on Tuesday.

The Japan national team will use that match as part of their build-up to a series of three international friendlies against Australia's Opals in Sydney (May 27 and 29) and Newcastle (May 31).

Before suiting up in the green and gold, Evans is focused on another tough assignment for the Falcons.

Averaging 18.8 points and 12.2 rebounds a game, Evans is sixth in the East Conference in scoring and third in rebounding. Her 21 points and 11 rebounds helped the Falcons to a 65-55 victory over previously unbeaten leaders Sutherland in Newcastle last Saturday.

The Falcons' third straight win pushed them to third with a 5-1 win-loss record but the Hawks (5-2) sit just behind them in fourth, and should be confident after four straight wins against Manly (82-70), Maitland (79-64), Hills (106-82) and Inner West (84-62).

"They have a young group like us and they sit just below us on the ladder so they'll be decent, and you can't take any team lightly in this league," Newcastle coach Chloe Mullaney said.

"We need to take up where we finished last week against Sutherland and be ready to play hard for 40 minutes."

Illawarra are led by American import Tyler Scaife, who averages 17 points a game, Rebecca Abel (13.6 points, 4.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds) and home-grown products Georgia Ohrdorf and Ella Dent.

Averaging 16.7 points and 8.3 boards, Ohrdorf leads the Hawks in rebounding and is their second leading scorer behind Scaife. Dent leads the East Conference in assists, averaging seven a game, to go with her scoring output of 14.2 points.

"Ella Dent and Rebecca Abel are one and two in the league in assists, so they like to move the ball around and find the open player," Mullaney said.

The women's game is scheduled for a 5:30pm tip-off, followed by the men's game at 7:30pm.

Newcastle (4-2) have climbed to third after four straight wins but men's coach Peter Astley expects them to have their hands full against fifth-placed Illawarra (5-3), who boast the East Conference leading scorer and passer in Kiwi Gardner.

A former development player for the Golden State Warriors, Gardner is averaging 32 points and 6.7 assists a game. Illawarra's roster also includes former NBL players Oscar Forman and Lucas Walker, though Forman has played just once this season.

"They've got some extremely talented players in their squad, and a lot of experience," Astley said. "You don't know whether blokes like Oscar Forman and Sean Mullan are going to play or not, or how much they're going to play, but we do know they have a dynamic point guard in Kiwi Gardner and he leads the league in scoring and assists, so he not only scores a lot for them, he creates a lot."

The Falcons will again be without centre Tom Dawson (ankle) and back-up big man Jai Smith (illness) will miss the trip.

That means Newcastle will again lean on leading scorers Myles Cherry, Ryan Beisty and Matur Maluach, and the leadership of point guard Jaidyn Goodwin.

Cherry was named NBL1 East Player of the Week for his 36-point haul in Newcastle's 78-75 victory over Sutherland last Saturday.

"We're dealing with injuries and illness but that's the world we live in right now, everyone is going through it, and we've just got to deal with it," Astley said.

"We're preparing for a tough night down there but we've played pretty well these past four weeks and built up some confidence through winning, so we'll give it a crack."

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