BLICAVS IS BACK
GEELONG Supercats have landed a major coup, luring Australian Opals forward Sara Blicavs back to the club.
Blicavs, 25, missed last season with an ACL injury, but was an integral part of the Lady Supercats’ SEABL championship in 2017, playing the entire 40 minutes of the final to amass 13 rebounds and 25 points.
The Dandenong Rangers star joins Townsville Fire young gun Zitina Aokuso at Geelong, in a squad coach Dave Herbert describes as “the best that we’ve possibly had here in my time”.
“The whole team is buzzing,” Herbert said.
“It’s a major coup for us, having Zitina and her (Blicavs) really makes us competitive up with the top teams in the competition.
“We played without them last year and I think we did a serviceable job getting to where we got to. Sara takes us to another level, and Zitina.
“I think Zitina is certainly an absolute rising star in the Australian basketball scene. The second half of her WNBL season was extremely impressive. Sara compliments that.
“We’re getting a nice ath- letic running group together that’s going to be hard to play against.”
Herbert said Blicavs would have knocked back other offers to play at Geelong, but said there was never any doubt in his mind that she wouldn’t return.
“I think she has some loyalty towards Dandenong in many respects, because she’s played WNBL there, but her heart is in Geelong,” he said.
“I think she was always going to play here.
“She’s the face of the program — she has been previously and she is again so it’s very exciting for us.
“She was part of the championship team. She missed trying to go back-to-back due to her ACL, so there’s definitely unfinished business.”
Herbert said another season at the Supercats would have Blicavs right to take on the world.
“She’s coming back from an ACL injury, that’s why she wasn’t with us last year,” he said. “Last year I would have said, ‘Go to the WNBA’, but I think she needs the SEABL season to get herself ready for Opals commitments and the WNBA in the future.
“I think the whole world is in front of her. She’s basically had the 12 months off and she’s ready to go.”