Jo Hill’s final match for North Adelaide ends in a championship and a tribute for her father
AS the grand final buzzer sounded on Saturday night, North Adelaide’s players lifted up retiring SA basketball great Jo Hill, who pointed to the Titanium Security Arena rafters with one thought on her mind.
AS the grand final buzzer sounded on Saturday night, North Adelaide’s players lifted up retiring SA basketball great Jo Hill, who pointed to the Titanium Security Arena rafters with one thought on her mind.
Hill, the oldest Premier League basketballer at 45 years old, had just produced one last ageless performance, scoring a match-high 29 points and grabbing 11 rebounds to claim the game’s MVP and help the Rockets complete an unbeaten season with a 79-61 win over Forestville.
But her father, Ian, was not in the stands to watch it.
Ian died last month, aged 84, after enduring kidney cancer and complications from a broken femur.
“He’d be here tonight and that was in the back of my head,” Hill said after the game while battling to hold back tears.
“He’d want to be here but I knew he was watching.
“I pointed to him to say ‘that’s for you’.
“I did it for my Dad.”
It was a fairytale finish for Hill, whose remarkable career began when she joined the Rockets a gangly 15-year-old in 1989 and later featured a 2000 Olympic silver medal, 10 club MVPs and 351 WNBL games.
But several times on Saturday night, it looked like the evergreen star might not end on a high.
Her emotions were there for everyone to see during an up-and-down first three periods, as she yelled instructions or support at teammates and challenged the odd refereeing decision, all while questioning internally if her swan song would be a third grand final loss in four years.
After making a lay-up to push the lead out to 14 points with a minute left, Hill struggled to contain her feelings and pulled her No. 7 jersey over her head as she ran down the court.
“It was like ‘yep, it’s over. We’ve sealed it, we’ve gone 20-zip’,” she said.
“I knew my Dad would be looking down proud.”
Twelve months ago, Hill walked off the floor after the grand final unsure if she would play again.
North lost by four points to Southern that night, Hill had been jeered throughout the game by Tigers fans and she was going to have a crack at playing football.
She was convinvced to return to the Rockets for this year but was now retiring because she was sick of constant sideline heckling – not due to her body breaking down or a lack of enjoyment.
“I showed tonight at 45, I can still play,” she said.
“I’ve got nothing more to prove.”
Hill will now turn her attention to winning a SA Women’s Football League premiership with Adelaide University this Sunday.
“Hopefully I can come home with two championships in a week.”
Hill, who works at Salisbury High with special education children, plans to continue her involvement at North via individual coaching of youngsters.
“The club is a family and it’s part of me,” said Hill, who North named its Hillcrest Stadium court after in 2014.
“Hopefully I can give back what I’ve learned in my time and teach the kids.”