Women's National Basketball League Information & Women's National Basketball League Links at HealthHaven.com

Women's National Basketball League
Sport	Basketball
Founded	1981
No. of teams	10
Country(ies)	Australia
Most recent champion(s)	Canberra Capitals
Official website	WNBL.com

The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the premier women's basketball league in Australia.

The league was established in 1986, following 5 years of the sport's development through the Women’s Basketball League and the Women’s Basketball Conference. WNBL games are televised live on Fridays on ABC2 and replayed on Saturdays on ABC1.

There are currently 10 teams in the WNBL with all Australian states represented, with the exceptions of Tasmania and the Northern Territory:

The 2007/08 season saw the addition of two new teams: the Bendigo Spirit, and the Christchurch Sirens, which is the first franchise from outside of Australia.

The 2008/09 season saw the addition of a team from Logan, Queensland, the first team from South-East Queensland in over 10 years. They replaced the Christchurch Sirens.

The league has been successful in developing players, the national team (the Opals), and has led to many Australian women receiving contracts to play basketball in European leagues and the WNBA. Michele Timms was the first Australian woman and the first international player drafted in the WNBA. Among the other notable players to make the transition from the WNBL to the WNBA are Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor-Gil, Tully Bevilaqua, Suzy Batkovic-Brown, Belinda Snell and Kristi Harrower. Those who have gone the other direction include American star Alana Beard. In fact, as the seasons do not overlap, players can participate in both leagues in the same year.

[edit] 2009/10 Ladder

edit ladder

#	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Logan Thunder	1	1	0	79	42	37sm=n	2
2	Bendigo Spirit	1	1	0	77	55	22sm=n	2
3	Bulleen Melbourne Boomers	1	1	0	88	73	15sm=n	2
4	Sydney Uni Flames	1	1	0	73	61	12sm=n	2
5	Adelaide Lightning	0	0	0	0	0	0sm=n	0
6	Townsville Fire	0	0	0	0	0	0sm=n	0
7	AIS	1	0	1	42	79	-37sm=n	0
8	Dandenong Rangers	1	0	1	55	77	-22sm=n	0
9	Canberra Capitals	1	0	1	73	88	-15sm=n	0
10	Perth Lynx	1	0	1	61	73	-12sm=n	0

# = Position; Pld = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; PF = Points for; PA = Points against; PD = Points difference; Pts = Points earned.

[edit] League Grand Finals

2009 (13 March) : Canberra Capitals 61 def Bulleen Melbourne Boomers 58.
2008 (8 March): Adelaide Lightning 92 def Sydney Uni Flames 82.
2007 (17 February): Canberra Capitals 73 def Sydney Uni Flames 59.
2006 (18 February): Canberra Capitals 68 def Dandenong Rangers 55 - Lauren Jackson (Capitals) was game high scorer with 24pt

Complete list of WNBL Grand Final winners

Season	WNBL Champion	Coach
1981	St Kilda Saints
1982	St Kilda Saints
1983	Nunawading Spectres
1984	Nunawading Spectres
1985	Coburg Cougars
1986	Nunawading Spectres
1987	Nunawading Spectres	Tom Maher
1988	Nunawading Spectres
1989	Nunawading Spectres
1990	North Adelaide
1991	Hobart Islanders
1992	Perth Breakers	Tom Maher
1993	Sydney Flames	Carrie Graf
1994	Adelaide Lightning
1995	Adelaide Lightning
1996	Adelaide Lightning
1997	Sydney Flames	Bill Tomlinson
1998	Adelaide Lightning
1998-99	Australian Institute of Sport	Phil Brown
1999-2000	Canberra Capitals	Carrie Graf
2000-01	Sydney Panthers	Karen Dalton/Tom Maher
2001-02	Canberra Capitals	Carrie Graf
2002-03	Canberra Capitals	Tom Maher
2003-04	Dandenong Rangers	Gary Fox
2004-05	Dandenong Rangers	Gary Fox
2005-06	Canberra Capitals	Carrie Graf
2006-07	Canberra Capitals	Carrie Graf
2007-08	Adelaide Lightning	Vicki Valk
2008-09	Canberra Capitals	Carrie Graf

[edit] External links