NADEEN PAYNE NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR QBL
Nadeen Payne has taken out this round’s women’s Player of the Week title, for her effort of 28 points and 13 rebounds for Ipswich in their narrow 85-80 defeat of Gold Coast at the weekend. Payne top-scored for the match, shooting at 47.4% in the field and 90.9% at the foul line, also racking up seven assists, one steal and 10 defensive rebounds. Payne hit nine points in the first quarter to help see the Force scale back a five-point deficit to go into the first quarter ahead by two points. The second quarter saw her shoot eight points to assist Ipswich maintain and increase their lead, heading into halftime with a 10-point advantage. Following a quiet third quarter putting up four points on the board, Payne shot a further seven points as the Force battled the Gold Coast for the lead, coming from seven points behind to take the match by five points.
In her second season with Ipswich, Payne currently sits on an average of 25.6 points per game and 10.3 rebounds per game, ranking fourth in the league for average points, fourth for average steals with an average three per game, second for free-throw percentage with 90.0% and leads the league on total free-throws with 80 made so far this season. It’s the second time this season the forward/centre swing has been named Player of the Week, after taking out the title in Round 5 for shooting 33 points and taking 12 rebounds in the Force’s win over Bundaberg, and was Player of the Week in Round 8 of last season for hitting 35 points for Ipswich over Northside. The Townsville product re-joined the Force following a promising first season with WNBL club Adelaide Lightning - her averages of 8.5 points and 3.6 assists per game earning her a renewal with the team for the 2013/14 WNBL season. Payne’s professional career launched when she was awarded a scholarship to the AIS in 2009, playing two seasons with the AIS WNBL team, averaging 6.1 points per game in her first season in 2009/2010. 2009 also saw her selected for the Australian Under 18 team, and won gold for Australia at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival. Payne also represented Australia at the FIBA Under 17 World Championship in France in 2010. She began the 2010/2011 WNBL season with the AIS for two matches, before being signed to the Townsville Fire, where she averaged 8.5 points and 4.4 rebounds per game in the 11 matches for her home team. In 2011, Payne made it through to the semifinals of the FIBA Under 19 World Championship in Chile with the Australian Gems, and also won bronze with Queensland at the Australian Under 20 National Championships in the same year. Payne returned to the Townsville Fire for the 2011/2012 WNBL season, to play 22 games and average 8.1 points per game for the Fire, with the team making it through to the semifinals.
Other contenders for this week’s title included Northside Wizards’ Aja Parham, who put up 26 points and took nine rebounds in her team’s win over Toowoomba, backing up from their win the previous night over Suncoast where she contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds. Yvonne Turner was strong for Bundaberg in their loss at the hands of Brisbane, the import shooting 32 points at 57.1% in the field, while opponent Sarah Davis shot 22 points for Brisbane. Jess Bibby was again instrumental for Gladstone with 24 points including six three-pointers in their win over Mackay, while Rachel Allison shot 23 points and took 11 rebounds for the Meteorettes.
