Second-year Launceston coach Sarah Veale has named her top seven Tornadoes players of all time, with three 1995 championship winning teammates topping the list.
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DEBBIE BLACK
The Debbie Black Award is named after her just for how intense she is - offence, defence - she never gave up. I remember seeing her horizontal to the court going after a loose ball and she led by example, she was unbelievable. If she could shoot it she would, if not it didn't matter who it was - someone that just came in on sub - she'd give them the ball, she was a great teammate. She was an ultimate basketballer and obviously went on to play in the WNBA, got a contract there and was defensive player of the year a couple of years in a row so think that just shows how lucky we were.
KAUI WAKITA
From when she started in '95 to when she finished - scoring 40 points in game to help us win a game we thought we would lose - she was a big game player. Just again a really good IQ, super athletic, could rebound and pass. In fact she probably had one of the best passes I've ever seen - half of the time you didn't even know it was coming.
MANDY BONNEY
Mandy Bonney was probably one of the hardest players that I've ever seen play. Blood, sweat and tears, she would leave nothing on the court and she was very intelligent and had a very good basketball IQ.
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DESIREE GLAUBITZ
Desi was an incredible teammate - she came to us early, straight out of the AIS. She also was a captain of the Australian junior side at world championships. An unbelievable leader, just made all the difference with her players on the court. Again good IQ, good shooter, great defender and she had a big impact on basketball within the Tornadoes.
LAUREN NICHOLSON
Nicho played a bit like Bonney - just hard. She never stopped, gave everything to her team, had a good IQ, could shoot, could defend.
LAUREN MANSFIELD
A dynamic point guard, great leader, great scorer, good defender and played like Debbie Black in my view.
MIKAELA RUEF
From what I saw of her she was unguardable. She came out of college, had an incredible IQ and I suppose that's a bit of a common theme isn't it. They actually understood the game, but they were all great teammates - it wasn't about them at all, the team always came first.
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Hamish Geale
Hamish Geale is a senior reporter at The Examiner. Got good news? Email: hgeale@examiner.com.au
Hamish Geale is a senior reporter at The Examiner. Got good news? Email: hgeale@examiner.com.au
