News

Opals name new team for China (June 21)
The Australian women’s basketball team, the Opals have moved another step closer to a World Championship gold medal, announcing a 12-woman, WNBL All-Star team to tour China at the end of June.
After a four-day camp in Geelong, Victoria over the long weekend, Opals coach Jan Stirling named a team to play China, Russia and the Czech Republic throughout the 11-day tour. 
All four teams will be competing in the FIBA World Championship for Women in Brazil this September, and the matches will give the Opals a taste of what to expect if they want to win their first World Championship crown.
The team to tour China includes seven athletes from the Commonwealth Game gold medal winning side. 
Opals team for China:
Jacinta Hamilton (Dandenong), Hollie Grima (Bulleen Melbourne), Katrina Hibbert (Bulleen Melbourne), Alicia Poto (Sydney Uni), Renae Camino (Townsville), Deanna Smith (Perth), Kathleen Macleod (Dandenong), Emily McInerny (Dandenong), Emma Randall (Dandenong), Jennifer Screen  (Adelaide), Carly Wilson  (Dandenong), Jenny Whittle (Canberra).
WNBL link

Jackson one of the decade’s best (June 16)
Lauren Jackson, the star and darling of Australian basketball, has been named in the WNBA’s All-Decade Team. Her inclusion cements her position as one of the greatest women basketballers of all time and in the 10 best of the last decade. She is the only non-American to make the cut.
A panel that included fans and WNBA players and coaches picked the team.
The inclusion puts her alongside greats including Houston Comet’s Dawn Staley, and Jackson’s fellow Seattle Storm teammate, superstar Sue Bird. "I'm both honoured and excited to be named to the WNBA All-Decade Team," Jackson said. "It also means a lot to share this special honour with (Storm teammate) Sue.”
Jackson has had a stellar week; she led Seattle to a 74-61 victory over the Chicago Sky yesterday, scoring 27 points and making 10 rebounds in a great performance. She also contributed 8 points to the Storm’s victory against Minnesota on Wednesday.
The All-Decade Team will play the WNBA All-Stars at Madison Square Garden in New York on July 12.
By Antonia Magee
WNBA

WNBA chooses its top 10 (June 14)
The WNBA in the USA has chosen the top 10 basketballers of the last decade.
"The All-Decade Team represents the very best in women's professional basketball in the WNBA and in the world," said WNBA President Donna Orender. "They represent all that is right with the WNBA and sports. The group consists of not only tremendous athletes who have reached extraordinary heights on the court, but of terrific women who give unselfishly of their time and effort in the community. They are multi-faceted role models, believers, dreamers, achievers, coaches, teachers, leaders and champions."
See this link

Seven Aussies to star in WNBA (May 21)
The US Womens’s National Basketball Association’s 10th anniversary season tips off on Saturday, May 20, and it will start with the defending WNBA Champion Sacramento Monarchs commemorating their 2005 WNBA title by raising the championship banner to the rafters before hosting All-Star guard Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury. Tip-off of that game at ARCO Arena is set for 4.00pm ET.
This year, the league features seven Aussies playing for five clubs: Jae Cross - San Antonio; Lauren Jackson - Seattle; Erin Phillips - Connecticut; Belinda Snell - Phoenix; Laura Summerton - Connecticut; Penny Taylor - Phoenix; Tully Bevilaqua - Indiana Fever.
Former Price Attack Opal, Sandy Brondello, is also involved in the league.  She is an assistant coach for San Antonio.
Source: WNBL web

Opals begin on a high (April 12)

Lauren Jackson does battle with the Chinese defenders. Pic Lisa McGinninie/Basketball Australia.

The Price Attack Opals were too good for China in their match at the Australian Institute of Sport Arena on Tuesday night, the Australians defeating their opponents 79-58 in the Opals World Challenge in Canberra. The series concludes tonight with an Australia versus USA match.
Lauren Jackson made 28 points in 22 minutes look like a walk in the park, top scoring for the match, and also dragging in six rebounds. Hollie Grima was also impressive for the Australians. She was given 20 minutes on court by Jan Stirling and responded with 12 points and eight rebounds.
“I thought that was our best game by far,” Laura Summerton said. “We played the full forty minutes and everyone got to contribute. We’re using Lauren a lot more now and we’re swinging the ball more and getting it through hands and defensively it was a really high quality game.”
Chinese guard Miao Lijie had 16 points to top score for her team.
The Price Attack Opals took the early lead with fast play and good shooting, however the Chinese managed to stay with them though some sharp shooting of their own.
The Opals dominance in the key started to show, through strong rebounding and post play; with Jackson standing out against her less experienced opponents.
Towards the end of the quarter, the Chinese started to exert more pressure on the defence and they pulled the score back slightly with good post moves being made by Liu Dan for China. Australia kept ahead though, ending the quarter in the lead, 22-15.
China missed their first shot of the second quarter and Erin Phillips made them pay, taking the rebound and sending a long bomb down to Jackson waiting under the basket. While she missed the basket, she drew another foul from the Chinese.
A second quarter competitive tussle for the ball ended with both teams having players on the floor and China drawing yet another foul, getting into more foul trouble with three in quick succession which sent the Price Attack Opals to the free throw line. By half time the Australians had increased the gap in the scores and led 47-28.
Jenny Whittle opened the scoring in the third quarter, and a Jackson rebound in the opening minute denied China a possession.
Miao Lijie made an impressive move and made a nice three; then, building on some strong pressure defence by the Chinese team the Price Attack Opals were beaten by the shot clock.
Australia still had a commanding lead going into the last quarter, 69-41.
In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, Jackson took a strong rebound and took it up the court to capitalise immediately. Late in the match, a fifth personal foul against Summerton led to her departure from the court.
“I thought I was only on about two or three fouls,” Summerton said in good humour after the match. “But it seemed like some came out of thin air!”
While Phillips continued to create scoring opportunities with her speed and strength in offence, the Opals could not capitalise and lost the quarter. China worked hard to drag back the score to 79-58 at the final buzzer.
“It’s very pleasing to come out with a young group like this and be ready to play,” Jan Stirling said. “We spoke about it and we knew that China were going to respond to their significant loss last night. It was important to us that we weathered the storm early and I thought they did really well.”
The Price Attack Opals will be taking on the USA on Wednesday night at the AIS Arena, in their toughest match of the tournament. The USA defeated the Opals by 20 points (83-63) in their match last Saturday night in Cairns.
Australia 79 – Lauren Jackson 28, Hollie Grima 12, Erin Phillips 9, Belinda Snell 9.
China 58 – Miao Lijie 16, Chen Xiaoli 11, Liu Dan 8.
Source: Basketball Australia

Four Nations matches start today (April 7)

Fresh from a win in the Commonwealth Games, the Opals will be playing a four-nation series in Cairns. (Pic: Cairns Taipans)

The Price Attack Opals are ready to take on some of the worlds best basketballers in the Opals World Challenge in Cairns and Canberra from today.
The Opals will take on the USA, China and Chinese Taipei throughout the six-day tournament, with two matches in Cairns on April 7 and 8, and three in Canberra on April 10, 11 and 12.
The Australians arrived in Cairns on Tuesday afternoon and have been training hard under coach Jan Stirling who is giving the players no reprieve after the team won gold at the Commonwealth Games only two weeks ago.
Three Opals players have been dogged by illness since the Games, Tully Bevilaqua and Lauren Jackson are just now recovering, and Erin Phillips is unlikely to travel to Cairns after coming down with a bad case of the flu. Team management is still hopeful Phillips will travel to Canberra on Sunday to join the team for the second half of the tournament.
The majority of the US team arrive into Cairns today (Thursday), but coach Anne Donovan and the WNBAs newest stars, WNBA Number 1 and 2 Draft picks Seimone Augustus and Cappie Pondexter will arrive on Saturday and will suit up against the Price Attack Opals that night.
Tom Maher is back on home soil, but he is on the other side of the fence, coaching the Chinese team. He hopes to take the team to the medal rounds at the World Championships in Brazil later this year and take even further at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The Chinese Taipei team is on the improve after finishing 14th at the 2002 World Championships in China. They have brought an all-female entourage to the tournament.
Source: Cairns Taipans web

Plus…
Townsville has snared Australia’s hottest female basketballer for season 2006/07, the SeaFM Fire recently announcing that Renae Camino had signed.
In between her Australian Institute of Sport schedule, Camino travelled around the country visiting those Clubs who have shown interest in having the 19 year old on their roster. At the beginning of her promising career, Camino has achieved a lot already, being named in the All Star 5 when she played with the Australian Gems at the 2005 FIBA U19 World Championships, being selected to represent Australia with the Price Attack Opals in the World Championship qualifiers in 2005 (although she injured herself and couldn’t play), voted 2004/05 WNBL Rookie of the Year, and was chosen as the AIS female athlete of the year for 2006.
“Renae’s commitment to her sport is incredible,” her new coach Dave Herbert said. “Her work ethic is unmatched and her desire to be successful cannot be questioned.”
“She is just the right sort of player we want in our program. When she came up for a weekend a couple of months ago the chemistry between her and the other girls was electric. After seeing that I would have been upset if she had chosen to go elsewhere!”
Source: WNBL

China basketball turns to boxing (Mar 30)
From the People’s Daily, in China: The national women's basketball team head coach Tom Maher, former coach of the Australian Opals, believes introducing boxing training will help players get quicker and stronger.
"It is a new training method. It improves the agility and the strength," said Maher, who introduced boxing when the team started training camp in Beijing early this month.
Team manager Bai Xilin also hailed the move.
"Chinese players lack the fighting spirit on the court. We need to fight for every ball and should not be afraid of physical clashes," Bai said. "We ask them to punch and fight during the boxing training and make them learn not to step back and quit. The players are also interested in the new training, and it becomes easier for them to be motivated."
Maher, with experiences of leading a use-to-be-minnows Australian national women's team to third place in the 1996 Atlanta Games, and to a silver medal win in the 2000 Sydney Games, also singled out defence as a key factor if the team is to challenge the world's best.
"They still need to learn how to stay in position to get the rebound. The defence is the No 1 thing."
Though with difficulties and pressure, Maher tries to keep upbeat.
"China is a big basketball country with a good sporting atmosphere," said Maher.
"The players are good and competitive. The WCBA (China's premier women's basketball league) is a very good league. And there are tight and good matches to watch."
Source: People’s Daily
China Basketball
China Women’s Team (pictured)

A place in the sun for Phillips (Mar 29)
Young South Australian basketball player Erin Phillips will soon be leaving her post at the Adelaide Lightning and national Opals teams for a tour with the Connecticut Suns in the USA.
From the Suns web: “We’re excited to finally have Erin with us,” Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault said. “I think she is one of the best young point guards in the world. This signing will give us the opportunity to play both her and Lindsay together. While young, I expect she will have a learning adjustment period, but I expect her to be able to adjust at a fairly rapid pace.”
The 170cm guard was selected by the Sun in the second round (21st overall) of the 2005 WNBA Draft. She opted not to play last season due to her commitment with the Australian National Team.
This winter, Phillips averaged 15.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.9 assists for Adelaide of the Australian Women’s National Basketball League. She finished in the top 10 for the league in scoring, assists, field goal percentage, rebounds per game and steals and was named Adelaide’s team MVP.
Phillips recently won gold with the Australian National Team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. She averaged eight points and 4.5 assists while stepping in for injured starter Tully Bevilaqua.
The Connecticut Sun regular season tips off on May 20th at Mohegan Sun Arena against the New York Liberty.
Team website

Opals turn gold (Mar 24)
Australia are the Women's Basketball gold medallists after yesterday’s convincing win over New Zealand recording a resounding final score of 77-39. England won the bronze after defeating Nigeria 78-75, in a close fought contest. In the gold medal play-off, the Australians outscored New Zealand in every quarter and were rarely troubled in what was, at times, a physical contest. Australian Lauren Jackson scored 23 and Belinda Snell shot 10. Top scorer for New Zealand was Donna Loffhagen with 8 points. "This is so awesome. To play in front of this crowd is something I will never forget," exclaimed Jackson. "I never thought I would get the chance to play for my country again in Australia." In the game for the bronze medal, England outscored Nigeria for the first three quarters, but had to withstand a late fightback when Nigeria shot 29 points to England's 23 in the last quarter. Top scorer for England was Andrea Congreaves with 21 points, Shelly Boston scored 14 and Rosalee Mason shot 12. "I'm absolutely ecstatic and delighted," said a jubilant Congreaves. "We knew Nigeria would be tough but our girls were fabulous - it was a bit of a nail-biter. We are absolutely stoked to get the medal."
Funmi Ojelabi top scored for Nigeria with 18 points. Other contributors included Ezinne James with 12 and 11 points from Mobolaji Akiode.

Netball vs Basketball in Sydney (Jan 27)
Sydney Swift netballers are taking on the Sydney Uni Flames Women's National Basketball League team in a never-before-seen battle of the codes at 5:45pm in the Sydney SuperDome tonight.
The school holiday promotion match precedes the men's basketball West Sydney Razorbacks versus Sydney Kings main event starting at 7:45pm.
The first half of the ladies match will be netball, followed by basketball in the second half.
“The girls and I are really excited about the match,” said Swifts coach Julie Fitzgerald.
“A lot of our girls have played basketball at a pretty high level, so we are quietly confident of coming out on top.”
International and Swifts vice captain, Megan Anderson, is looking forward to the contest and says she can't wait to match up against Opals captain, Trish Fallon.
“I follow the Flames throughout the year and know a lot of the girls, so I think the match should be fun,” she said.
“But I think it's going to be interesting to see two of the most popular women's sports up against each other.”
By Katrina Putker

SA Govt steps in for basketball (Jan 18)
The South Australian Government has appointed an administrator to straighten out the dire circumstances of that state's basketball league, BASA, which is heavily in debt and showing no sign of recovering.
One of the more dubious decisions appears to be that of naming the comparatively well-known Lightning women's team “Fellas” (?!) after sponsor Fellas Gifts. We can only guess at the bizarre thought processes behind that one.
BASA has struggled to pay off bills and an audit suggested it would suffer a $1.2 million operating loss in 2005-2006.
The BASA website says: Basketball SA and the SA Government have jointly agreed to engage Mr Bruce Carter of Ferrier Hodgson as Interim Controller of Basketball SA and related associations, whilst Mr Peter Macks of PPB undertakes a detailed assessment of the financial and operational performance of the state's peak basketball body.
The result of these appointments will provide control over the organisation whilst a raft of financial and operational restructuring strategies designed to improve the performance of Basketball SA are considered. Mr Carter and Mr Macks, together with the assistance of new CEO, Mr Mike Daws, will oversee the review and implementation of the above strategies.
BASA

Travel unravels Victorian dominance in WNBL (Nov 28)
The WNBL's top two teams, the Dandenong Rangers and Bulleen Boomers, both lost on the road on Friday night, briefly allowing Adelaide and Canberra to move with a single game of second spot.
Despite both having a strong record on the road this season, Dandenong lost just their second of 11 games and Bulleen lost their third of 12. Dandenong succumbed to the fifth-placed Townsville 78-65, and fourth-placed Adelaide won their fifth match in a row by defeating Bulleen 73-63.
Canberra held onto third spot with a thumping win over the AIS 95-37, leaving the AIS still winless after 10 games.
But Dandenong and Bulleen restored their two game lead from Canberra and Adelaide, both winning the second leg of their round 9 road-trips. Dandenong defeated Sydney Uni 68-53 to keep top spot, and Bulleen kept Perth winless at home with a 94-75 win.
Adelaide and Canberra will get their chance to close in on the Victorians again this weekend however, with both scheduled to play two games. But as they play each other on Saturday night in what should be a thrilling contest, only one of them has the chance to come out of the weekend with two wins, and possibly equal first spot on the ladder.
By Sam Ryan
WNBL website

Jackson's season ends (Oct 19)
Canberra Capitol's star player, Lauren Jackson is out for the 2005/2006 season, following a confirmed stress fracture in her left shin. Jackson announced her injury at a press conference last night. The injury is so severe; it is unsure whether Jackson will be able to play for Australia at the Commonwealth Games in March. Jackson told the Canberra Times that the injury was a shock “When I got back (from the WNBA) I was told to get precautionary X-Rays on my leg, but they were only precautionary. This was pretty much spur of the moment and very upsetting.”
The news has devastated her Capitols team-mates and their coach, Carrie Graf, likened the news as like the death of a family member. Although this may seem exaggerated, it shows how important Jackson is to the Capitols line up. Canberra is the early favourites for the WNBL championships, which is only a couple of weeks into the season. Canberra remains undefeated thus far with Jackson scoring 29 points in the last game against the Bulleen Boomers.
The is the second season running that Jackson has been unavailable due to injury for her beloved Canberra team. She was forced to quit the 2004/2005 season due to ankle surgery. It seems that Jackson may have been playing with fire, she has admitted she was aware of the injury prior to last week's round of matches and wanted to help out her team mates. Unfortunately she will now be unavailable for the remainder of their games.
By Antonia Magee

Another great round of basketball action (Oct 17)
Round three of the WNBL Price Attack season brought plenty of action. The Bulleen Boomers travelled north to the nation's capitol and took on the league championship favourites, the Canberra Capitols. Although the result was close, they could not get past the strong offensive Capitols line up of Lauren Jackson and Jenny Whittle. They scored 29 and 18 points respectively. This was the first loss this season for Bulleen who convincingly beat the AIS on Friday night by 48 points before yesterday's loss.
In the game of the week between the Sydney Flames and the Adelaide Fellas, the Fellas did not let Sydney's home court advantage hinder their tenacity and they won the tough match by five points, 73-68. Adelaide had not beaten Sydney at home in the club's history. The win was also bittersweet for the Fellas as the last time the two teams met, Sydney won the match by a point and dashed any championship glory for Adelaide. The Fellas then travelled north to take on Townsville but could not follow up their Sydney win with another victory. The final score saw Townsville the winner by nine, 99-90.
Next week in the WNBL, Dandenong return to play after finishing fifth in the World League championships in Russia. They play Townsville in Dandenong on Saturday night. Townsville also play Bulleen whilst they are in Victoria. Canberra battle it out with Perth on Friday night and Sydney on Saturday. Adelaide plays Perth to cap off another great round of basketball.
By Antonia Magee
WNBL

World basketball in Russia (Oct 13)
The third annual women's World League Basketball championships have commenced in Samara, Russia this week. The championships are promoted as determining the greatest club team on the planet, according to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). The Dandenong Jayco Rangers represent Australia; the Rangers were premiers in the WNBL last season.   Other countries being represented include Cuba, China, Korea, USA, Russia and Brazil.
Australia is one win, two losses, after being defeated by Brazilian Club Unimed de Ourinhos last night, 66-75. Dandenong forward, Emma Lee Randall, has started strongly in the preliminary round. Randall has made the top ten players for overall points, 2 points and free throws for the championships.
Dandenong play VBM-SGAU from Samara, Russia, this evening to take the team through to the semi-finals on the weekend.   VBM-SGAU are the favourites for the competition having already won the last two World League championships.
By Antonia Magee
FIBA

Features

Links

Basketball Australia http://www.basketball.net.au/
National league http://www.wnbl.com.au/
Institute of Sport http://www.ais.org.au/basketball/index.asp
Commonwealth Games http://www.melbourne2006.com.au/?s=basketball
Fox Sports http://foxsports.news.com.au/basketball
ABC http://www.abc.net.au/wnbl/default.htm
US league http://www.wnba.com/
International Federation http://www.fiba.com