A Salute to the National Champions
THE WOMEN OF 1990
1990 will be a year remembered by all North Adelaide Basketball Club players, coaching staff and supporters, with the Rockets Women finally tasting the long sought after championship glory in national company, in its 10th year of Women’s National Basketball League history. The team’s on-court brilliance culminated with four championship crowns and an incredible 56 win, 5 loss record!!!
As the 1990 year started, the Rockets had lost four potential starters, for just about any team in the country, in Jan Stirling, Pat Mickan, Leeanne Grantham and Laura Giaretto, to retirement. With Coach Mark Molitor returning and Jan Stirling as his assistant, they recruited Australian centre Rachael Sporn, Linda Smith (ex Canberra), promising forward/centre Melissa Day (Eastern Hills) and US Guard Myra Williams. But before the season even started Linda Smith returned to Canberra to take up a new job and Myra Williams returned to the US.
Undaunted the ladies swept the City of Adelaide (Summer Season) Championship with 10 wins and 0 losses and the Australian Women’s Club Championships with 5 wins 0 losses. American guard Jenny Brown joined the Club at Easter and added some off-the-bench scoring power and composure to the already talent laden line up, for the State League and the Women’s NBL season.
So the squad settled with Marina Pearce becoming Co-Captain with Australian squad point guard Vicki Daldy, Olympian Donna Brown, National centre Rachael Sporn, versatile defensive guard Michelle Weir, ebullient US off-guard Jenny Brown, talented forward/centre Melissa Day, exciting rookie forward Jo Hill and team oriented back-up guards Jacqui Pearce and Vanessa Porritt. Former star players Leeanne Grantham and Benita Molitor helped out in National League games when Marina Pearce and Rachael Sporn were overseas with the Australian Team.
The Rockets Women worked hard, had fun and were rewarded with the ultimate successes.
Introducing the Players
# 4 Jenny Brown, 171cm off Guard. From Eugene, Oregon, USA.
# 5 Michelle Weir, 171cm Guard. State Junior representative. U21 Australian squad 1987.
# 7 Jacqui Pearce, 167cm Guard. State Junior representative. U21 Australian squad 1988.
# 8 Donna Brown, 180cm Forward/Guard. Australian representative since 1983.
# 9 Melissa Day, 184cm Forward/Centre. State Junior representative (country).
# 10 Benita Molitor, 178cm Forward. Canberra (NWBL 1986). South Adelaide (WBC 1987).
# 11 Rachel Sporn, 186cm Centre. Australian representative since 1988. Halls Medalist 1989 State League.
# 12 Marina Pearce, 185cm, Forward/Centre. Dual Olympian (1984 & 1988). Australian representative since 1983. Co-Captain.
# 13 Joanne Hill, 179cm Forward. U18 State representative 1990.
# 14 Vicky Daldy, 170cm Point Guard. Australian Senior squad member since 1987. Australian U21 team (1987 tour of USA).
# 15 Vanessa Porritt, 166cm Guard. State Junior representative.
# Leanne Grantham, 178cm, Forward/Centre. Former State and Australian Representative.
Coach Mark Molitor. Coach of the Year 1989 NWBL and 1989 State League.
A/Coach Jan Stirling. Halls Medallist (Best and Fairest) 1981/82 State League. Former State and Australian representative.
Reserves Anna-Lisa Stabile, Toni Bowden, Toni-Anne Carey, Stacey Lewis, Colleen Hewitt, Leanne Perkins, Belinda Godden and Karen Riches.
The Record
With a record of 56 wins and 5 losses for 1990 the North Adelaide senior Women’s team won every possible championship title –
- City of Adelaide Champions with 10 wins and 0 losses.
- The Australian Women’s Club Champions with 5 wins and 0 losses.
- “State Bank” State League Champions with 17 wins and 2 losses.
- Women’s National Basketball League Champions with 24 wins and 3 losses.
The 1990 Rockets Senior Women’s Team had the clubs most successful year ever by winning every possible championship title.
City of Adelaide Conference Championship
The Rocket Ladies swept through the “silly” season without a single defeat (8 wins 0 losses). They then beat Woodville (80-54) in the Semi-Final and West Adelaide (63-56) in the Grand Final.
Australian Women’s Club Championship
The Australian Women’s Club Championship saw the team defeat Hobart by 1 point (64-63) in a sensational Grand Final performance. Co-Captain and point guard Vicki Daldy had an incredible tournament with 5 MVP performances in 5 straight Rockets victories to win a spot in the tournament “All Star Five”, and coach Mark Molitor was named “Coach of the Tournament”.
State League Championship
The 1990 State Bank, State League Championship was the 12th consecutive State League Grand Final appearance since 1979 with the team achieving a triple–triple !! Winning in 1969/70/71; 1975/76/77 and 1988/89/90. Since the Club’s first Premiership in 1957 the Women’s team appeared in 29 Grand Finals for a 15-14 record in 34 years of recorded Women’s Basketball in South Australia.
The Rockets defeated West Adelaide by 18 points (59-41) in the Grand Final and Rachael Sporn was game MVP. Dual Olympian (1984 & 88), Donna Brown won the Halls Medal as the League’s Fairest & Most Brilliant Player, with Vicki Daldy winning the Foundation SA MVP Award. Donna Brown, Vicki Daldy and Rachael Sporn all gained selection in the State League “All Star Five” and Coach Mark Molitor won The “Coach of the Year” award.
Women’s National Basketball League
The 1990 Women’s National Basketball League Championship was a first in the clubs 10 year history of national competition and the team became the first to take the title out of Victoria!!
Their path to glory was a long awaited achievement, having lost the inaugural Grand Final in 1981 to St. Kilda, the 1984 semi-final to West Adelaide, the 1985 semi-final to Coburg, the 1987 semi-final to Coburg again, the 1988 Grand Final to Nunawading and the 1989 semi-final to Hobart.
The team finished Minor Premiers with a 22 win and 2 loss season. In the final series the Rockets ladies lost the first semi-final to Hobart (65-68), but won the Preliminary Final against Nunawading (79-70) to set up a rematch against Hobart in the final. The game was a cracker with the Rockets winning comfortably 72-57.
The team also won the McAvaney Award as the “Best Club Team” at the 25th SA Women’s Sports Association Awards, capping off a truly remarkable year.
The North Adelaide Rockets Women’s Team of 1990 fulfilled the unquestioned potential of a South Australia Club program, in an unbelievable 12 months!!!!
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