Lightning coach Jason Ivinson plays down favouritism tag of his three-time reigning Darwin Basketball championship team going into Round 1 v Tracy Village
HIS team might be the three-time reigning Darwin Basketball Association women’s champions, but there was no bluffing when Lightning coach Jason Ivinson strongly played down the favouritism tag for this year.
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HIS team might be the three-time reigning Darwin Basketball Association women’s champions, but there was no bluffing when Lightning coach Jason Ivinson strongly played down the favouritism tag for this year.
Lightning goes into the 2021 League competition minus three of its superstars – Claire Maree O’Bryan, Dom Carbone and April Rummery-Lamb.
Tall inside presence Rummery-Lamb is now at Central Districts in the NBL1 Central before – depending on the COVID-19 situation – she will set off to the US to play for Newberry College in South Carolina from July.
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“We’re happy not to have the favourites tag going into this season,” Ivinson told the NT News, Lightning to open their 2021 campaign with a grand-final rematch against Tracy Village tomorrow night.
“So we’re not overconfident, but we still want to compete.
“It’s only a five-team competition, so we only have to finish fourth and then it’s a new competition in the finals.
“Jets are the team to beat, especially with (last year’s playing-coach) Tania Dhu focusing on playing again.
“Then you’ve got Kylie Duggan, Michelle Ellis and Tikesa Docherty-Cole due to come back at some stage.
“I still like looking at last year’s trophy though, so we still want to be competitive.”
Ivinson said he was confident Kirra Hill-Carter could step up this year.
Jets captain Duggan said her team lacked no motivation going into tomorrow night’s blockbuster Round 1 clash.
Lightning has beaten the Jets in the past three competition deciders.
“It’s been a tough past few seasons, and the hunger is definitely there to turn things around this year,” she said.
Duggan said the return of star guard Docherty-Cole was not far away after she missed last season.
“She had a baby a couple of weeks ago, but she’s back shooting the ball around and she’s very keen to get back into it,” she said.
Duggan was also excited about the fact that talented club juniors Jayla Thorne and Kaylani Duggan-Cole were set to make their top-grade debuts. Kaylani is Duggan’s daughter.
“They’ve both been a part of the (Basketball NT) High Performance Program and learnt a lot through that,” Duggan said.
“I’ve dreamt about playing (top-league basketball) with my daughter, so I’m really happy about it. It’s very exciting that they’ll suit up for us.
“They’ll be nervous but I’ll guide them through it.
“And they both made the NT girls’ rep team from the Indigenous Community Basketball League, as well as being selected for the NBA junior camp.”
Sam Rioli is the only notable loss for the Jets this year as she has moved back to Melbourne.
Meanwhile, Ansett coach Frances Fatnowna believes her team can also be competitive in 2021.
“We should be competitive as we were beaten preliminary finalists last year,” she said recently.
“I’m looking forward to seeing Amy List develop as a post player. She’s turning 16 and played a game in the League last year. She’s six-foot-two and improving.”
Those thoughts were echoed by Uni Rebels captain Chantelle Lee.
“We’ll all have all three of the Friel girls playing for us this year. They approached me, and that’s really exciting,” Lee said.
And Jo Guthridge and Lailani Triffitt are expected to make Razzle a competitive outfit.
Ansett also takes on Rebels tomorrow night.
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