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Adelaide Lightning

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Adelaide Lightning
LeaguesWNBL
Founded1993
HistoryAdelaide Lightning
1993–2005 & 2006–Present
Adelaide Fellas
2005–2006
ArenaTitanium Security Arena
Findon, South Australia
Australia
Capacity7,800
Team colors  Dark blue
  Red
  Yellow
Head coachNat Hurst
Championships5 (1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2008)
WebsiteOfficial website

The Adelaide Lightning is an Australian professional women's basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL).[1] The club is based in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. The club was formed in 1993 and they play in the 8,000-seat Titanium Security Arena.

History

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The Adelaide Lightning were formed in 1993 and started playing out of the Clipsal Powerhouse. Since the early 2000s the team has tended to alternate between their current home at the Adelaide Arena (formerly the Powerhouse) and the Wayville Sports Centre located within the Adelaide Showgrounds.

The Lightning have won the WNBL Championship five times (1994, 1995, 1996, 1998 and 2008). The club's captain during its glory years of the 1990s was three time Olympian, twice WNBL MVP and club games record holder (304) Rachael Sporn. Sporn is also the only Lightning player to have her number (14) retired by the club. Other Opals to have played with the Lightning include Jenny Whittle, Carla Boyd, Jo Hill, Kristi Harrower, Erin Phillips, Jae Kingi-Cross, Marina Moffa, Tracey Beatty and Suzy Batkovic-Brown.

As of the 2013–14 WNBL season, the Lightning and Adelaide's men's NBL team the Adelaide 36ers entered into a merger which saw the two teams share the same management team. This also saw the Lightning move their home games exclusively played at the Adelaide Arena where they would play a number of double headers with the 36ers, ensuring larger home attendances for the Lightning and raising the profile of the team. The return to the 8,000 seat Adelaide Arena gives the Lightning easily the largest current venue in the WNBL (the Arena seats some 2,800 more than the AIS Arena in Canberra, while most other WNBL venues can seat around 2,000 – 2,500).

On 5 March 2019, Mr Bruce Spangler, Chairman of Arena Stadium Management announced that he and another business person had negotiated with the WNBL to take over the licence from Adelaide Basketball who were going to hand in the WNBL Club licence at the end of the 2018–19 season. A new sustainable model has now been released for the public to be involved in.

In September 2023, the Lightning and Rachael Sporn agreed to un-retired her number 14 jersey, which was originally retired in 2007.[2]

Season-by-season records

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Season Standings Regular season Finals Head coach
W L PCT
Adelaide Lightning
1993 2nd 16 2 88.8 Lost Semi Final (Sydney, 59–64)
Lost Preliminary Final (Perth, 66–68) 		Jan Stirling
1994 1st 16 2 88.8 Won Semi Final (Melbourne, 84–82)
Won Grand Final (Melbourne, 84–77) 		Jan Stirling
1995 1st 16 2 88.8 Won Semi Final (Sydney, 73–63)
Won Grand Final (Melbourne, 50–43) 		Jan Stirling
1996 2nd 16 2 88.8 Lost Semi Final (Sydney, 54–57)
Won Preliminary Final (Perth, 87–55)
Won Grand Final (Sydney, 80–65) 		Jan Stirling
1997 2nd 14 4 77.7 Won Semi Final (Sydney, 58–54)
Lost Grand Final (Sydney, 56–61) 		Jan Stirling
1998 2st 9 3 75.0 Lost Semi Final (Sydney, 42–61)
Won Preliminary Final (AIS, 81–54)
Won Grand Final (Sydney, 67–57) 		Jan Stirling
1998–99 3rd 12 9 57.1 Won Semi Final (Melbourne, 63–54)
Lost Preliminary Final (Perth, 46–67) 		Jan Stirling
1999–00 2nd 13 8 61.9 Won Semi Final (Canberra, 91–84)
Lost Grand Final (Canberra, 50–67) 		Jan Stirling
2000–01 3rd 15 6 71.4 Lost Semi Final (Dandenong, 71–83) Jan Stirling
2001–02 1st 17 4 80.9 Lost Semi Final (Canberra, 62–66)
Lost Preliminary Final (Sydney, 64–66) 		Jan Stirling
2002–03 4th 12 9 57.1 Lost Semi Final (Sydney, 70–72) Jan Stirling
2003–04 3rd 13 8 61.9 Won Semi Final (Canberra, 72–63)
Lost Preliminary Final (Sydney, 61–65) 		Jan Stirling
2004–05 4th 13 8 61.9 Lost Semi Final (Sydney, 93–94) Chris Lucas
Adelaide Fellas
2005–06 2nd 14 7 66.6 Lost Semi Final (Dandenong, 70–75)
Lost Preliminary Final (Canberra, 81–83) 		Chris Lucas
Adelaide Lightning
2006–07 3rd 15 6 71.4 Won Semi Final (Dandenong, 66–61)
Lost Preliminary Final (Canberra, 74–82) 		Chris Lucas
2007–08 1st 21 3 87.5 Lost Semi Final (Sydney, 71–90)
Won Preliminary Final (Dandenong, 74–64)
Won Grand Final (Sydney, 92–82) 		Vicki Valk
2008–09 4th 15 7 68.1 Won Elimination Final (Bendigo, 81–73)
Lost Semi Final (Townsville, 78–91) 		Vicki Valk
2009–10 6th 13 9 59.0 Did not qualify Vicki Valk
2010–11 9th 3 19 13.6 Did not qualify Stephen Breheny
2011–12 1st 18 4 81.8 Lost Semi Final (Bulleen, 70–73)
Lost Preliminary Final (Dandenong, 78–91) 		Peter Buckle
2012–13 3rd 18 6 75.0 Lost Semi Final (Townsville, 53–60) Peter Buckle
2013–14 5th 12 12 50.0 Did not qualify Peter Buckle
Richard Dickel
2014–15 7th 7 15 31.8 Did not qualify Jeremi Moule
2015–16 7th 10 14 41.6 Did not qualify Tracy York
2016–17 8th 3 21 12.5 Did not qualify Chris Lucas
2017–18 5th 11 10 52.3 Did not qualify Chris Lucas
2018–19 3rd 13 8 61.9 Won Semi Final (Melbourne, 2–0)
Lost Grand Final (Canberra, 1–2) 		Chris Lucas
2019–20 4th 12 9 57.1 Lost Semi Final (Southside, 0–2) Chris Lucas
2020 6th 5 8 38.5 Did not qualify Guy Molloy
2021–22 4th 10 7 58.8 Lost Semi Final (Melbourne Boomers, 0–2) Guy Molloy
2022–23 7th 5 16 23.8 Did not qualify Natalie Hurst
2023–24 7th 8 13 38.0 Did not qualify Natalie Hurst
Regular season 376 229 62.2 5 Minor Premierships
Finals 19 25 43.2 5 WNBL Championships

Source: Adelaide Lightning Archived 22 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine

Statistics

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Adelaide Lightning statistics
2010s
Season PPG RPG APG SPG BPG
2010–11 A. Marino (15.2) D. Walker (6.5) A. Marino (4.2) D. Walker (1.9) D. Walker (1.9)
2011–12 S. Batkovic (24.6) S. Batkovic (10.2) A. Marino (3.5) S. Batkovic (2.6) S. Batkovic (1.6)
2012–13 S. Batkovic (21.0) S. Batkovic (9.7) J. Screen (4.3) S. Batkovic (1.5) S. Batkovic (2.6)
2013–14 L. Hodges (17.8) L. Hodges (7.7) A. Marino (3.4) J. Foley (1.0) C. Shegog (1.1)
2014–15 L. Hodges (16.5) J. Screen (6.9) J. Screen (3.7) J. Foley (1.3) K. Scheer (0.7)
2015–16 L. Mitchell (16.8) M. Ruef (9.9) L. Mitchell (4.5) L. Mitchell (2.1) K. Standish (0.8)
2016–17 L. Hodges (17.5) L. Hodges (7.1) S. Logic (5.4) S. Logic (1.8) C. Planeta (1.5)
2017–18 A. Bishop (15.7) A. Bishop (9.2) N. Seekamp (5.0) N. Novosel (2.4) R. Hamblin (1.0)
2018–19 N. Coffey (17.5) K. Alexander (8.9) N. Seekamp (6.0) N. Seekamp (2.2) N. Coffey (1.3)

Players

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Current roster

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2024-25 Adelaide Lightning roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht.
G 3 Australia Basham, Brooke 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) 26 – (1997-12-16)16 December 1997
F 5 Australia Pineau, Georgia 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 27 – (1997-01-12)12 January 1997
G/F 7 Australia Talbot, Stephanie (C) 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 30 – (1994-06-15)15 June 1994
G 9 Australia Simons, Jess 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) 20 – (2004-04-11)11 April 2004
F 10 Australia Freer, Maddy 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) 21 – (2003-09-15)15 September 2003
G 14 Australia Borlase, Isobel 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 20 – (2004-09-12)12 September 2004
F 18 Australia Gordon, Ella 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) 19 – (2004-12-09)9 December 2004
F 19 Australia Andrews, Haylee 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) 20 – (2004-04-11)11 April 2004
F 21 United States Turner, Brianna (I) 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 28 – (1996-07-05)5 July 1996
F 22 Australia Graham, Grace 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) 20 – (2003-12-04)4 December 2003
G 24 United States Dean, Japreece 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) 28 – (1996-06-04)4 June 1996
F 34 Australia Bourne, Isabelle 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 23 – (2000-11-21)21 November 2000
G/F 41 Australia Brazel, Tayla 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) 20 – (2004-03-09)9 March 2004
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • Australia Mel Downer
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Development player
  • (I) Import player
  • Injured Injured
Updated: 24 September 2024

Honour roll

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WNBL Championships: 5 (1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2007/08)
WNBL Finals Appearances: 19 (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2001/02, 2002/03, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2011/12, 2012/13)
WNBL Grand Final appearances: 7 (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999/2000, 2007/08)
WNBL Most Valuable Players: Rachael Sporn (1996, 1997), Suzy Batkovic (2012, 2013)
WNBL Grand Final MVPs: Rachael Sporn (1994, 1995), Michelle Brogan (1996), Jo Hill (1998), Renae Camino (2008)
WNBL Coach of the Year: Jan Stirling (1993), Peter Buckle (2012)
WNBL Rookie of the Year: Kamala Lamshed (2002)

References

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  1. ^ "WNBL Media Guide 2016–17" (PDF). wnbl.com.au. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  2. ^ Minh (11 September 2023). "RACHAEL SPORN'S NO. 14 JERSEY RETURNS WITH ISOBEL BORLASE". wnbl.basketball/adelaide. Archived from the original on 8 January 2024.
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