Selfless Mortensen sets the tone for Eagles

Featured image: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

The East Perth Eagles got closer to a fourth quarter performance that coach Jonelle Morley has been looking for in the NBL1 West win over the Rockingham Flames with Sarah Mortensen delivering her first triple double to show what the ultimate team player she is.

Two weeks earlier in Rockingham and despite missing some key players, the Eagles did put in a strong showing at least for two and-a-half quarters the night after a tough overtime game the previous night.

So with Stacey Barr and Jo Odude back on Saturday night and at home at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre, East Perth came away with the 89-80 victory against the second placed Flames to improve to an 11-4 record to stay in fourth position after Round 13.

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There were plenty of strong performances in the win for the Eagles including Brooke Malone and Stacey Barr both scoring 24 points, but it was two-time championship winner Sarah Mortensen who again showed what a standout all-round player she is.

Mortensen delivered the first triple double in her NBL1 West career that's already seen her named twice to the All-First Team and she ended up with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in her 34 minutes.

While Mortensen is capable of dominant scoring performances, what coach Morley continues to love about her is that she is always putting the team first.

"That was a part of what we wanted when we were putting this team together is knowing that any of those girls can go out there and score 30 or 40 points on their night, but the reason we're winning games is because of how they are working together as a team," Morley said.

"That's no more so than probably Sarah and she had some incredible numbers in that game and had a triple double which no one is really talking about when there's other players across the league getting attention.

"But for Sarah, it's pretty usual for her to pull in lots of rebounds and get up points, but also to have 10 assists in a game like that it certainly is helping us win.

"I love coaching her and absolutely she's a great person, but she listens, she looks to implement things on the court and she's buying into the way we want to play.

"I think if all of us do that, then as a team collectively we're going to be great and there's no two ways about it, she could be scoring 30-plus a game but is doing all the right things to help us win as a team."

Looking back on Rockingham win

Looking back on that win against the Flames, it improved East Perth to the 11-4 record which is now the exact same as the second placed Rockingham and third ranked Warwick so Morley is fully aware how important it is.

"I think it was a really quality game from both teams and they were missing their points guard but they had Amy Atwell in and we had the majority of our girls having come back in too who had been out the couple of weeks before," Morley said.

"I expected it to be a high quality game and it really was, and we did play closer to four quarters, but we still had a bit of a fall down at the end of the third or start of the fourth.

"But we had a quick chat and regrouped and I was really proud for the girls to be able to go back out there and end the game really well which was good."

Getting through the worst of injury troubles

Things got challenging going back a couple of weeks for East Perth on the personnel front when they had the double header against Kalamunda and Rockingham but were without Barr, Odude, McKenna Dale and Jaymie Symons.

Morley is now hopeful they are through the worst of that but it's not total smooth sailing just yet.

"To be honest we're still not quite through it just yet and we might not be quite full strength again this weekend which you'll see once we get to the game, but I think for us part of that is the long game," Morley said.

"We're trying to make sure that we have fit bodies as we head towards the finals and if that means giving a couple of girls an extra week's rest or not rushing them back onto the court, then that's what we're going to do.

"We have the ability to do that because we have so much depth in the team and every time that we've had girls out, we've had the likes of Ari, Aleka and others step up and really be able to play a key role in a couple of games this year.

"That's exciting for me that we're giving some of those girls an opportunity as well."

Still hopeful on McKenna Dale

The one player that East Perth still haven’t got to see for more than 44 seconds this season is standout New Zealand guard McKenna Dale.

Having previously played in the WNBL with the Bendigo Spirit and Sydney Flames, in the NBL1 West at the Mandurah Magic and having a standout college career finishing up at Virginia, and she joined the East Perth with impressive pedigree.

She is a big and versatile guard who can do a lot of things, and Morley remains confident she'll still make it back this season after hurting her knee in that first appearance against the Perth Redbacks back on May 30.

"We're absolutely hopeful and it was incredibly bad luck to step out on the court for less than a minute and slip and hurt herself, but we're obviously very hopeful," Morley said.

"She's got one of those injuries that's a bit of a wait and see to see how much she's able to build each week.

"We're trying to give her as much support as possible, but she's a player that has a huge career ahead of her so we won't rush her although of course we are hopeful to have her back before finals so we can get her some games in with the team.

"But we'll see what happens and how that plays out over the next couple of weeks."