Shyla Heal set to make Geelong Venom debut, WNBL return against Adelaide
Shyla Heal’s Geelong Venom debut has been set, with the star point guard overcoming a knee injury which had sidelined her for more than four months.
Shyla Heal is set to make her debut for Geelong Venom in Friday night’s road clash against Adelaide Lightning.
The club announced Tuesday the point guard would line up for her first game of the season in the round 6 clash at SA State Basketball Centre, after a multifaceted knee injury sustained in July in the NBL1 delayed the 24-year-old’s start to the WNBL season by seven games.
It marked Heal’s longest injury lay-off in a decade of playing professional basketball.
“This is my first big injury and for someone that’s such a hard worker and loves the game it’s been pretty hard for me, definitely had some down days,” Heal told this masthead last month.
Heal’s return to the floor also marks her first appearance back in the WNBL since 2023, when she won a championship with Townsville Fire before jetting off to play in Europe in recent seasons.
However home fans will have to wait to see Heal in action with the Venom setting off on a three-game road trip against the Lightning, followed by Sydney and Bendigo, though the latter close by in Ballarat.
They’ll return to Geelong Arena next on December 7 to host UC Capitals.
Heal and the 3-4 Venom will be eyeing their second win over the 2-3 Lightning on Friday, having accounted for them 110-76 at Geelong Arena back in round 2.
Heal, who joined the second-year franchise in hopes of carrying on her father Shane’s legacy in the city – the Australian basketball legend having played for the Geelong Supercats in the 1990s – had knocked back lucrative contract offers to return to Europe to instead sign with Geelong, saying the time felt right now to return to the WNBL.
She said coach Chris Lucas and United’s ownership group helped sway her decision.
“Their vision, they really sold me on what they’re doing,” Heal said earlier this year.
The Venom had turned to rookie Lilly Rotunno and fellow guard Jaz Shelley to run the point during Heal’s early absence, with Rotunno averaging 7.57 points and 4.29 assists a game, and Shelley with 12.86 and 4.43.
US import Alissa Pili remains sidelined with an ankle injury, Lucas revealing in his most recent post-game press conference the 24-year-old was still some weeks away, with the forward only just out of her moon boot.
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Originally published as Shyla Heal set to make Geelong Venom debut, WNBL return against Adelaide
