West Spotlight | Eagles beat Flames with Mortensen triple double

Featured image: Mark Filpo, @codexdesignstudio

Sarah Mortensen had her first NBL1 West triple double with Stacey Barr and Brooke Malone scoring 24 points each as the East Perth Eagles overcame the return of Amy Atwell to beat the Rockingham Flames 89-80.

The two teams came into the Saturday night battle at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre sitting in top four positions and with the Flames trying to bounce back from a loss to the Cockburn Cougars with the Eagles having hammered the South West Slammers by 53 points.

They only met one another two weeks ago in Rockingham where the Flames did prevail by 12 points but that was on a weekend where the Eagles had lost in overtime the night before, and were without Barr, Jo Odude and McKenna Dale.

East Perth started on fire with 33 points in the first quarter with 11 of those courtesy of Barr and they were on top most of the evening but early in the fourth frame the Flames found themselves back in front.

>> WEST SPOTLIGHT | WEIR SHOOTS SENATORS TO FOURTH STRAIGHT

>> WEST WRAP | WOMEN'S ROUND 12

>> BLANCHETT'S BASKETBALL PASSION GETS HIM TO 250

The Eagles responded with the next nine points and that was enough to end up securing them the nine-point victory as they improve to an 11-4 record with the Flames now also 11-4 having lost their past two against fellow top four teams.

There wasn’t much that separated the teams all night but the Eagles did go 19/25 at the free-throw line opposed to the 10/14 from the Flames while the home team also pulled down 13 offensive rebounds to nine.

Sarah Mortensen recorded the first triple double in her 55-game NBL1 West career with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

Stacey Barr had 11 points in the first quarter and nine in the third on the way to 24 for the game with nine rebounds and four assists while Brooke Malone delivered 24 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals on 7/9 field goal shooting and 9/13 at the foul line.

Jade Williams also had 10 points and five rebounds, Sydney Wright 11 points and two assists, Zaya Black six points and four boards, and Jo Odude three points and eight rebounds.

Rockingham welcomed back Amy Atwell for the first time since May 23 and she did end up with 26 points and four assists with 6/17 three-point shooting highlighted by her nine points on 3/4 from beyond the arc in the third quarter.

Sara Puckett also provided 20 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals, Teige Morrell 20 points, 16 rebounds and three assists, and Lesila Finau seven points, six boards, three assists and three steals.

The two teams only met two weeks ago with the Flames winning at home but the Eagles had plenty working against them that they didn’t have as obstacles this time, and as a result started on fire on their home floor.

East Perth put up 33 points in the first quarter on 63 per cent shooting including 5/8 from downtown with Stacey Barr and Zaya Black going 4/4 between them from beyond the arc for a combined 17 points.

Rockingham were only managing to shoot at 33 per cent including 2/11 from downtown and as a result it was the Eagles leading 33-21 by quarter-time.

The Flames did outscore the Eagles in the second quarter but by half-time it was still the home team leading 49-43 even without Barr adding to her 11 points in the second frame.

Sydney Wright was up to nine points and Brooke Malone eight with the Eagles going 8/16 from behind the three-point line to just 5/18 from the Flames in the opening 20 minutes.

Amy Atwell was warming up nicely for Rockingham and had 15 points to half-time and then hit another three triples in the third period but still it was the Eagles leading 71-65 by three quarter-time with another nine points in the frame from Barr and eight from Malone.

Rockingham were always going to make a charge and they did hit the front early in the fourth quarter following an and-one from reigning MVP Teige Morrell, but her direct opponent Jade Williams immediately responded with two buckets up the other end.

Malone then scored going to the basket and Barr hit a three ball and from there the Eagles retained control on the way to the impressive nine-point victory.

East Perth now hit the road next Saturday night for another mouth watering match up with the Goldfields Giants while the Flames will attempt to hit back on Friday night when they play host to the South West Slammers.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 13

EAST PERTH EAGLES 89 (Barr 24, Malone 24, Mortensen 11, Wright 11)

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 80 (Atwell 26, Puckett 20, Morrell 20)