Adelaide Lightning in pursuit of unlikely WNBL hat-trick and seeing Stars

SOUTH East Queensland’s WNBL Stars should feel right at home on Sunday at the Lighthouse. What might surprise them will be how much the Lightning has changed since they first met.

Tara Robinson of the Lightning during the WNBL match between the SEQ Stars and the Adelaide Lightning. Pic Darren England.

SOUTH East Queensland’s WNBL Stars should feel right at home on Sunday when they run into Adelaide Lightning at the Lighthouse.

North Adelaide Rockets guard and SEQ playmaker Lauren Mansfield spent two years playing in the big league with Lightning before signing for the new Queensland club.

Centre Nadeen Payne played locally with Norwood Flames and also wore Lightning colours for three seasons, after starting with Townsville Fire.

Stars captain Amy Lewis also started at the Fire, playing three seasons there before moving to Adelaide and being a Lightning mainstay for four years.

In the process, Lewis also won a Halls Medal as the state’s fairest and most brilliant woman basketballer last year with Norwood, before crossing to Central District Lions for the 2015 Premier League.

With her WNBL career seemingly on the wane, Lewis reinvented herself and has not only become a quality defender but an integral player on Shane Heal’s league debutante.

Completing the locally-connected quartet is guard Bree Farley from Kadina, who has played college basketball at Fresno State and was pounced on by the Stars after a terrific QBL season with Ipswich.

On top of their local knowledge, SEQ boasts star imports in 180cm Ify Ibekwe and new face Jordan Hooper.

Ibekwe last week scored 31 points on 12-of-13 shooting in the Stars’ road loss to Bendigo while Hooper debuted with 19 points.

Roll in Aussie Opals’ duo Rachel Jarry and Rebecca Allen, and Heal has a quality team at his disposal in his WNBL coaching debut.

It smacked Adelaide by 30 at Logan in October but both line-ups have changed since then, the Lightning on a two-game winning “streak” and aiming for the hat-trick.

When it caught Bendigo on the back-end of its “doomsday double” trip to Perth and Adelaide, it laid waste to the Spirit, and that was before Kayla Standish joined Lightning.

Now with a starting quintet the equal of most and hardy back-ups, Adelaide has the potential to move up the ladder, local knowledge notwithstanding.

LIGHTNING v STARS

Sunday: 3pm, The Lighthouse, Wayville

Head-to-head: Stars 1-0

Last time: Stars 104 d Lightning 74 at Logan on Oct.25

Records: Lightning 4-8, Stars *6-6

LIKELY STARTERS

LIGHTNING: Leilani Mitchell

Mikaela Dombkins

Kelly Bowen

Kayla Standish

Mikaela Ruef

STARS: Lauren Mansfield

Amy Lewis

Rachel Jarry

Rebecca Allen

Ify Ibekwe

(*Prior to game in Perth last night)

Originally published as Adelaide Lightning in pursuit of unlikely WNBL hat-trick and seeing Stars