Townsville Fire

Townsville Fire

Leagues	WNBL
Founded	2001
History	Townsville Fire 2001–present
Arena	Townsville RSL Stadium
Arena Capacity	2,200
Location	Townsville, Queensland
Main sponsor	James Cook University
Head coach	Claudia Brassard
Team captain	Suzy Batkovic
Championships	2 (2015, 2016)

The Townsville Fire are a professional female basketball team competing in the Australian Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). They are the only female professional sporting team of any discipline in the northern half of Australia. The team was established for the 2001–02 WNBL season by Townsville Basketball Inc.

The team folded at the end of the 2010–11 season, however a steering committee was established to re-form the team.^[1] By the 2011/12 season the Fire had been reformed as a not-for-profit, community owned entity and successfully returned to the league, achieving finals contention. The Fire reached the Grand Finals in 2012/13 and 2013/14. The Fire won the Wattle Valley WNBL premiership in the 2014/2015 season, beating the Bendigo Spirit 75-65 at the Townsville RSL Stadium. This represented the first national premiership for a Townsville-based sporting team.^[2]

Off field, the Fire is focused on providing strong and healthy role models for girls and women.^[3]

In 2014 the Townsville Fire announced that James Cook University would be a principal partner for three years, and that the team will be known as the JCU Townsville Fire for this period.^[4]

Season-by-season records

Season	Standings	Regular season			Finals	Head coach
Season	Standings	W	L	PCT	Finals	Head coach
Townsville Fire
2001–02	8th	3	18	14.29	Did not qualify	David Herbert
2002–03	2nd	15	6	71.00	Lost Semi Final (Canberra, 68–67) Lost Preliminary Final (Sydney, 83–78)	David Herbert
2003–04	5th	12	9	57.00	Did not qualify	David Herbert
2004–05	6th	7	14	33.00	Did not qualify	David Herbert
2005–06	6th	12	9	57.00	Did not qualify	David Herbert
2006–07	6th	10	11	48.00	Did not qualify	David Herbert
2007–08	6th	10	14	41.67	Did not qualify	Peter Buckle
2008–09	3rd	16	6	72.73	Won Semi Final (Adelaide, 91–78) Lost Preliminary Final (Bulleen, 79–68)	Peter Buckle
2009–10	4th	14	8	63.64	Won Elimination Final (Bendigo, 84–73) Lost Preliminary Final (Canberra, 60–39)	Peter Buckle
Townsville Fire
2010–11	7th	10	12	45.45	Did not qualify	Peter Buckle
2011–12	4th	13	9	59.09	Won Elimination Final (Sydney, 85–78) Lost Preliminary Final (Dandenong, 77–66)	Chris Lucas
2012–13	4th	13	11	54.17	Won Semi Final (Adelaide, 60–53) Won Preliminary Final (Dandenong, 78–64) Lost Grand Final (Bendigo, 71–57)	Chris Lucas
2013–14	3rd	16	8	66.67	Won Semi Final (Melbourne, 78–73) Won Preliminary Final (Dandenong, 74–71) Lost Grand Final (Bendigo, 83–94)	Chris Lucas
2014–15	1st	17	5	77.73	Won Semi Final (Bendigo, 82–63) Won Grand Final (Bendigo, 75–65)	Chris Lucas
2015–16	1st	17	7	70.83	Lost Semi Final (Perth, 91–72) Won Preliminary Final (South East Queensland, 91–71) Won Grand Final (Perth, 2–0)	Chris Lucas
Regular season		185	147	55.72	2 Minor Premierships
Finals		9	8	52.94	2 WNBL Championships

Roster

Townsville Fire roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Nat.	Name	Ht.
5.0 !C	7000800000000000000♠8	AUS !	Batkovic, Suzy	7000192000000000000♠1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
1.5 !G	7001100000000000000♠10	AUS !	Newley, Mia	7000184000000000000♠1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
3.5 !F	7001140000000000000♠14	AUS !	Garbin, Darcee	7000185000000000000♠1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
3.5 !F	7001200000000000000♠20	USA !	Standish, Kayla	7000188000000000000♠1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
1.5 !G	7001220000000000000♠22	AUS !	Wilson, Kelly	7000192000000000000♠1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
1.5 !G	7001320000000000000♠32	NZL !	Cocks, Micaela	7000178000000000000♠1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)

Head coach

Claudia Brassard

Assistant coach(es)

Mark Wrobel

Legend

(C) Team captain
(DP) Development player
(I) Import player
Injured

Roster
Updated: 16/10/2014

Former players

Gina Stevens, (2002–2004)
Natalie Porter, (2004–2006)
Rachael McCully, (2004–2007, 2008–2015)
Rohanee Cox, (2005–2010)
Jennifer Crouse, (2005–2009)
Kelly Wilson, (2005–2008)
Aneka Kerr, (2008–2010)
Jo Hill, (2009–2011)
Nadeen Payne, (2010–2012)
Shanavia Dowdell, (2011–2012)
Jessica Foley, (2011–2013)

Team officials

Owners

Townsville Fire Limited (2011–present)

Head coaches

Townsville Fire head coaches

Name	Start	End	Seasons	Regular season				Finals
Name	Start	End	Seasons	W	L	PCT	G	W	L	PCT	G
David Herbert	2001	2007	6	59	69	46.09	128	0	2	0.00	2
Peter Buckle	2007	2011	4	50	40	55.55	90	2	2	50.00	4
Chris Lucas	2011	2016	5	76	40	65.51	116	9	4	69.23	13

Board of Directors

Position	Name
Chair	Michelle Morton
Deputy Chair	Glenys Schuntner
Director	Warwick Cann
Director	Cath Rule
Director	Stephen Motti
Director	George Milford
Director	Suzy Wilson

References

External links

Townsville Fire official website

Townsville Fire

Est. 2001 in Townsville, Queensland

Franchise	History

Arenas	Townsville RSL Stadium

League	WNBL

WNBL championship (1)	2014–15

Townsville Fire current roster

4 Cloud 6 Walsh 7 Andrews 8 Batkovic (C) 10 Murray 12 Zelenka 14 Garbin 15 Kame 20 Paalvast 22 Wilson 32 Cocks 35 Standish Head coach Brassard Assistant coach Wrobel

Women's National Basketball League (2016–17)

Current Teams	Adelaide Lightning Bendigo Spirit Dandenong Rangers Melbourne Boomers Perth Lynx Sydney Uni Flames Townsville Fire University of Canberra Capitals

Defunct Teams	Australian Institute of Sport Bankstown Bruins Brisbane Blazers Christchurch Sirens Coburg Cougars Geelong Supercats Hobart Islanders Logan Thunder Melbourne Tigers Noarlunga Tigers North Adelaide Rockets Nunawading Spectres St Kilda Saints South East Queensland Stars Sutherland Sharks West Adelaide Bearcats

Associated	Australian Basketball Association National Basketball League New Zealand National Basketball League State Basketball League

Other	Awards Seasons Finals Grand Final MVP Player current rosters

Related	Basketball Australia

Professional sports teams based in Townsville

Basketball	WNBL Townsville Fire

Rugby league	NRL North Queensland Cowboys

Rugby union	NRC Queensland Country

Main article: Sport in Queensland

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.