Morton steps up for Sailors

Minus the bumps and bruises that come with playing in the paint, the holiday season has been relatively pain free for Alex Morton.

The 6-foot-1 junior center has led the Newport Harbor High girls’ basketball team into the New Year with a winning record. The last time the Sailors won more games than they lost before Jan. 1 was during the 2004-05 season.

Morton said she feels good about the Sailors’ 8-7 start. They’re winning and she’s healthy. That wasn’t the situation last season. Both her and the Sailors went into the break hurting.

Last Christmas, Morton said she felt like someone punched her in the stomach. She wasn’t even fighting for a rebound.

Gallstones knocked Morton out.

The excruciating pain occurred off the court and it wouldn’t go away. All Morton recalls is the ride to the hospital and finding out doctors were going to perform emergency gallbladder surgery.

Morton wasn’t alone, her mother, grandmother and aunt were at the hospital with her. Someone important was missing, her father, Garinn.

Garinn is the man who taught Morton the game of basketball. Without him, Morton said she doesn’t turn into the top rebounder in Orange County this season.

“I wanted him to be there because it was the first time I was having surgery, but it was hard to get a hold of him because he was at work,” Morton said. “After I woke up from the surgery, he was right there next to me and he’s always there for me.”

Garinn isn’t too far away from Morton during games.

The 1981 Newport Harbor graduate is the team’s statistician. Morton keeps her father busy.

Morton has recorded 12 double-doubles in 15 games, an impressive total. She’s averaging 16.4 points and 14.4 rebounds per game.

Morton has developed into a force down low for Newport Harbor. First-year coach Justin Long counts on Morton to produce on both ends of the floor.

Long said he has never had to put any added pressure on Morton. She figured things out on her own after the summer, when the Sailors lost their best player from the season before in Katey Thompson.

Morton and Long don’t blame Thompson, a Newport-Mesa Dream Team forward last season, for fully committing to volleyball in her senior year.

“She’s got better and bigger things going on,” Long said of the 6-1 Thompson, who has committed to the UC Santa Barbara women’s volleyball team. “You hate to see her get injured in basketball when that’s not her [sport].”

Thompson still shows up to watch Morton and the Sailors play. Thompson’s younger sister, Kasey, starts at forward.

During the Battle of Bay game against Corona del Mar on Dec. 21, Thompson worked the scoreboard. Morton put her to work, scoring a game-high 17 points and she added 16 rebounds in Newport Harbor’s 42-36 home victory.

Morton has a knack for helping the Sailors beat their Back Bay rivals. In last season’s game, Morton propelled Newport Harbor to a 34-29 victory at CdM. The game was her third game back since she recovered from having her gallbladder removed.

With a healthy Morton and a strong supporting cast, Long likes the Sailors chances of competing in the Sunset League this season. Newport Harbor has struggled in league, winning one game the past two seasons.

“I believe we’re talented enough to make the playoffs,” said Long, who’s trying to guide Newport Harbor to its first postseason berth since the school joined the Sunset League in 2006-07. “We’re the lowest ranked team in our league, but we can change that.”

Morton is doing her part to transform Newport Harbor into a winner.