Lakeside Lightning

Lakeside Lightning
Leagues	State Basketball League
Founded	2000
History	Men: Lakeside Lightning 2000–present Women: Lakeside Lightning 2001–present
Arena	Lakeside Recreation Centre
Location	North Lake, Western Australia
Team colors	Purple & white
Main sponsor	Lakeside Baptist Church
President	Steve Bezant
Head coach	M: Sam Oatman W: Craig Mansfield
Team captain	M: Daniel Alexander W: Courtney Byrnes
Ownership	Lakeside Baptist Church
Championships	4 (2005, 2006, 2009, 2013) (M) 1 (2006) (W)
Website	Lakeside.asn.au

The Lakeside Lightning is a basketball club from Perth, Western Australia competing in the semi-professional State Basketball League (SBL). Located at the Lakeside Recreation Centre, the club is owned and managed by Lakeside Baptist Church.

History

Basketball in the Perth suburb of North Lake began in 1993 with Lakeside entering junior representative teams into the Basketball WA Championships and the Western Australian Basketball League (WABL). In 1995, Lakeside coaching legend Andy Stewart took on the role of Director of Coaching WABL, a position he held until 2013. In 2000, a Lakeside Lightning men's team was entered into the State Basketball League for the first time. In their inaugural season, the Lightning made it through to the Grand Final where they lost to the Geraldton Buccaneers. The following year, in 2001, a women's team was established and introduced into the Women's State Basketball League, and success soon followed for both teams. In 2005, the men's team won their first championship with help from Grand Final MVP Andy Gilbert. The following year, in 2006, both teams won the championship as the men were led by import Ben Earle and rebounding leader Jarrad Prue, while the women were led by Kristi Channing.^[1]

The club's next championship came in 2009 with the men's team that featured All-Star Five members Luke Payne and Jarrad Prue.^[2] The men's team began a successful run of seasons between 2009 and 2012 with help from import Luke Payne, a three-time All-Star Five honouree and 2009 Grand Final MVP. They were crowned minor premiers for three years in a row between 2009 and 2011, and finished second on the ladder in 2012, but after 2009, they were unable to win again despite also making the Grand Final in 2010. With Luke Payne's departure following the 2012 season, the Lightning picked up two new imports in Ben Beran and Justin Cecil. The pair helped the Lightning re-claim the championship in 2013.^[3] During the 2013 season, club legend Jarrad Prue became the all-time leading rebounder in SBL history.^[4] Prue went on to play his 300th SBL game during the 2014 season.^[5]

On 1 June 2015, Jarrad Prue, men's import Jordan Swing and women's forward/centre Ashleigh Grant represented the Lightning for the South Team in the men's and women's SBL All-Star Games held at the WA Basketball Centre.^[6][7] The 2015 season turned out to be the worst campaign for both the men's and women's teams in club history. The men finished in 12th place with a 9–17 win/loss record, thus missing the playoffs for the first time since 2001 when they finished in ninth place with an 11–15 record. To make matters worse, the women finished their season with just one win out of their 22 contests, finishing last on the ladder for the first time in club history.^[8][9]

Honours

Current roster

Lakeside Lightning men's roster Players Coaches Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. 1.5 !G 4 AUS ! Chan, Seva 7000187000000000000♠1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 1.5 !G 5 AUS ! Palleschi, Nick 7000180000000000000♠1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 2.5 !G/F 6 AUS ! Makuei, Duk 7000196000000000000♠1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 1.5 !G 7 AUS ! Vinci, Matt 7000186000000000000♠1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 1.5 !G 8 AUS ! Bell, Hayden 7000190000000000000♠1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 2.5 !G/F 9 AUS ! Martin, Corey 7000200000000000000♠2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 1.5 !G 10 AUS ! el-Batanouny, Tareq 7000180000000000000♠1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 1.5 !G 11 AUS ! Johnson, Frank 7000192000000000000♠1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 2.5 !G/F 12 AUS ! Shervill, Corey 7000197000000000000♠1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 3.5 !F 13 AUS ! Fleming, Taj 7000198000000000000♠1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 2.5 !G/F 14 AUS ! Grida, Daniel 7000195000000000000♠1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 1.5 !G 15 AUS ! Spatcher, Jermayne 7000192000000000000♠1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 4.5 !F/C 20 AUS ! Parkinson, Tom 7000200000000000000♠2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 4.5 !F/C 21 USA ! Alexander, Daniel (I & C) 7000204999999999999♠2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 4.5 !F/C 25 USA ! Hallice, T. J. (I) 7000206000000000000♠2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 4.5 !F/C 50 AUS ! Wilson, Alex 7000208000000000000♠2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Head coach Sam Oatman Assistant coach(es) Lennon Smartt Steve Bezant Team manager Chris Spatcher Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Development player (I) Import player Injured Roster Updated: 23 March 2016

Lakeside Lightning women's roster Players Coaches Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. 1.5 !G 4 AUS ! Byrnes, Courtney (C) 7000180000000000000♠1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 1.5 !G 5 AUS ! Beavis, Courtney 7000162000000000000♠1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) 1.5 !G 6 AUS ! Davids, Paige 7000164000000000000♠1.64 m (5 ft 5 in) 1.5 !G 7 AUS ! Ucich, Tia 7000160000000000000♠1.60 m (5 ft 3 in) 1.5 !G 8 AUS ! Waight, Olivia 7000173000000000000♠1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) 2.5 !G/F 9 AUS ! Knowles, Alecia 7000182000000000000♠1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) 1.5 !G 10 AUS ! Bell, Alex 7000173000000000000♠1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) 1.5 !G 11 AUS ! Flynn, Tiahrn 7000163000000000000♠1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) 3.5 !F 12 USA ! Schwagmeyer, Alison (I) 7000180000000000000♠1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 2.5 !G/F 13 AUS ! Atwell, Amy 7000183000000000000♠1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 4.5 !F/C 15 AUS ! Grant, Ashleigh 7000188000000000000♠1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 5.0 !C 25 USA ! King, Devanny (I) 7000185000000000000♠1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 1.5 !G AUS ! Hitomi, Anna 7000165000000000000♠1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) 3.5 !F AUS ! Lambert, Pip 7000183000000000000♠1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) Head coach Craig Mansfield Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Development player (I) Import player Injured Roster Updated: 23 March 2016

References

External links

• Lightning's official website
• Lakeside Lightning on Twitter