No rest till Bears take top spot
Doug Gillett | 27th August 2011| NewsMail
The ascent of the Bundaberg Bears in the 2011 Queensland Basketball League (QBL) Women’s premiership took many supporters by surprise.
The Bears shot up the ranks of the competition to achieve their first finals berth in five years and their first grand final appearance in the 28-year history of the team.
The team fell agonisingly short of achieving its first Queensland Basketball League Women’s premiership in a tough battle against Port City Power, losing by 13 points.
Coach Dean Page, who has announced his intention to return next year, said his team now had a solid foundation to build upon in the 2012 QBL competition.
“It’s disappointing to reach the grand final and go down like that, but Rockhampton were always going to be tough,” he said.
“The girls played hard all season and achieved some pretty remarkable things.”
Page said Bundaberg’s hard-working local contingent and the efforts of the team’s American college basketball imports had made for a successful season.
The Bears leading point scorer, American import Vonnie Turner, returned for her second term and was complemented by fellow American college basketballer Keisha Lee.
Late arrivals, Australian-born college basketballers Alice Honnery and Stacey Howard added considerable muscle to the Bears and helped increase the attacking options of the team.
Long-term Bulls campaigner Lucinda Doughty, who played for the Bears for nine years and retired at the end of the season, said the team’s grand final berth had been a dream end to her basketball career.
Ms Doughty said after some difficult years in the state competition, the stars seemed to have finally aligned for the Bears.
“We had a really good bunch of girls this year who all got stuck in to get the job done,” she said.
“You can’t ask for much more than playing in the grand final in your last game.”
Page said the Queensland Basketball League premiership would be squarely in the sights of his team next year.
“We’ve set ourselves a standard now and we need to continue on with that,” he said. “Anything else will be a step backwards.”
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