Eagles Recap | Women Round 16

Featured image: @codexdesignstudio, Mark Filpo

Sarah Mortensen dominated with 34 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists in a big Thursday night home win for the East Perth Eagles in NBL1 West Round 16 before losing a thriller just about on the buzzer to the Perth Redbacks on Saturday.

With just three games in the season remaining, it was a big double header for the Eagles and they started on Thursday at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre with the 91-76 victory against the Lakeside Lightning.

East Perth then fired back from a 14-point deficit against the Perth Redbacks on Saturday night at Belmont Oasis before the home team won 96-93 on the late three ball from Olivia Berry.

Those results leave the Eagles on 14-5 record in third position with the week off this weekend while the men head to Geraldton and then finishing the regular season against the Cockburn Cougars next Friday night back at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

THURSDAY

The East Perth Eagles took control in the second half outscoring the Lakeside Lightning 48 points to 32 on the way to the 91-76 victory at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

The Eagles were back home on Thursday night for the Round 16 match up on a four-game winning streak and with Lakeside leading by a point at half-time, the home team took over from there.

East Perth had 30 points to 20 in the third quarter and 18 to 12 in the fourth on the way to the 15-point victory to make it five straight victories and to retain second position in the standings.

The Eagles ended up shooting 46 per cent from the field for the game to 38 from the Lightning with East Perth also collecting 20 offensive rebounds to 12, and forcing the Lighting into 15 turnovers to end up attempting nine more shots and three extra free throws.

Sarah Mortensen had a monster performance in the win for East Perth with 34 points, 14 rebounds (nine offensive) and seven assists on 14/22 shooting from the floor, 2/4 from the outside and 4/4 at the free-throw line.

Sydney Wright also delivered 19 points, six rebounds and four assists with 4/9 three-point shooting with Stacey Barr contributing 12 points, nine assists, eight boards and two steals, and Brooke Malone six points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Jade Willliams added six points and five rebounds, Jo Odude five points, four boards and two steals, Ari Van Vliet four points, Tahlia Kelly three points with a long-rang bucket, and Zaya Black two points, four rebounds and two assists.

Lakeside did manage to open up an early six-point lead but East Perth responded with their own 6-0 run and were narrowly leading 20-19 by quarter-time on their home floor.

The Eagles then worked on top and led by as much as 11 in the second quarter but Lakeside responded with 10 straight points of their own and as a result the visitors were narrowly leading 44-43 at the half.

The biggest difference was the Lightning shooting 8/19 from the outside to the 3/12 from East Perth with import pair Delanie Crawford and Esme Morales combining for 27 points for the Lightning with Sarah Mortensen up to 16 for the Eagles.

The Eagles then put up 30 points in the third quarter on the back of shooting 11/22 from the field and 5/10 from beyond the arc while limiting the Lightning to 20 on 6/14 shooting with East Perth leading 73-64 by three quarter-time as a result.

The Eagles then went on with the job from there with 18 points to 12 in the fourth quarter to score the 15-point victory and to retain second spot as a result.

SATURDAY

It was the last road game of the regular season for the East Perth Eagles and they did come back from 14 points down before it was the Perth Redbacks snatching the win at the death with a three-pointer from Olivia Berry.

The Eagle arrived at Belmont Oasis on a five-game winning streak but the Redbacks were fighting for their playoff lives as well and started strongly at home to open up a 14-point lead by the second quarter.

Perth were still on top by seven at three quarter-time, but the Eagles fired back and got back level and that's where things stayed until the late three ball from Berry that secured the win for the Redbacks.

By the end of the game, the Redbacks did end up shooting 45 per cent from the field to 42 from the Eagles but East Perth went 19/28 at the foul line to 15/21 while also having 14 offensive rebounds and forcing the home team into 17 turnovers to give themselves a chance.

Eagles captain Stacey Barr ended up scoring 26 points with four assists, three rebounds and two steals on 5/11 shooting from the outside.

Brooke Malone was back on her former home floor and had 20 points and eight rebounds with Sarah Mortensen delivering 15 points, 16 boards, six assists and two steals.

Jade Williams also had 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, Sydney Wright 11 points and five assists, Zaya Black five points and a steal, and Jo Odude two points on 1/1 shooting.

The Eagles had the chance to further secure second position backing up from Thursday but it was the Redbacks with the better of the start to open up an 11-point lead during the first quarter.

Perth were then still leading 24-18 by quarter-time on the back of shooting 62 per cent from the field to 32 from East Perth while Brooke Malone had already scored nine points for the Eagles back on her former home floor.

The lead for the Redbacks then got out to 14 points in the second quarter and the home team were still leading 52-40 by half-time with the Eagles having 11 turnovers in the opening half with Jade Williams leading the team's scoring with 10.

The Eagles did fire back with 27 points to 22 in the third quarter with 11/20 shooting from the field with Stacey Barr up to 17 points by three quarter-time while Malone added another seven points.

That saw East Perth close the Redbacks lead to seven by three quarter-time before three-pointers to Sarah Mortensen and Barr early in the third final term had the Eagles back within four points.

Not long after and Barr hit another triple and Mortensen scored inside to make it a two-point game and then Mortensen hit a pair of free throws with three minutes to play to level scores up.

East Perth could never quite work in front and scores were still level with time running out and the Redbacks coming out of a timeout for Olivia Berry to knock down the game winning three for the three-point victory for her team.