Guard’s surgery success
likes of WNBA players Leilani Mitchell and Mercedes Russell as well as Opals captain Jenna O’hea.
Fire coach Shannon Seebohm said it was an impressive starting line-up, but he believed cohesion would still be the key factor for both teams given they’ve had players missing on national duties during the pre-season.
“There’s no doubt that they’re talented. The challenge for them is going to be, like us, how quickly they can come together and get on the same page and play the basketball that they want to,” he said.
“Our job is to try and disrupt that – take away their key players and make their players do things that they’re not comfortable with or not used to.
“I think we’re going to have advantages in certain positions as well so it’s going to be which team can maximise that to the best of their ability on the day that will get the win.” THEY didn’t get a chance to share the court this season, but Townsville Fire guard Kate Gaze is confident rising star Zitina Aokuso will come back even bigger and better from a serious knee injury.
The Fire have rallied around Aokuso after she had successful surgery on her ruptured anterior cruciate ligament this week, which will rule her out for up to 12 months.
It was a tough blow for the 20-year-old, who was set to play an important role for the side following the retirement of WNBL and Fire legend Suzy Batkovic.
Gaze knows exactly how tough the recovery is from a ruptured ACL as she prepares to play her first WNBL game in almost two years when the Fire take on the Southside Flyers in Dandenong tonight.
Gaze felt her own knee injury last year had actually given her a fresh perspective on her life both on and off the court and she hoped Aokuso would have the same experience.
“Zee’s my housemate so my heart broke for her when that all happened, but it’s just a bit of a speed bump in the road,” she said.
“Looking back on doing my knee, it was a great opportunity for me to reflect on the basketballer I am, how to attack rehab, how to address the speed bumps that do happen in my career.
“She’s young and she’s got such a bright future ahead of her. I think I’m just trying to be there to support her and help her understand that her career is long after this.
“This is just a minor setback and hopefully it helps her grow in other areas of her life, which it did for me.”
Aokuso is off-contract at season’s end, but coach Shannon Seebohm said the club would give her their full support as they hope to see the athletic 193cm centre in Fire colours again next season.
“She’s doing really well. Surgery was successful so now the challenge for her is just to wait until she’s healing up and then get on the rehab track,” Seebohm said.
“We’re going to help her with that every step of the way and make sure we give her as much support as she needs.
“We just want her to be as comfortable as possible with this and I think she is comfortable here (in Townsville) so she’ll probably stick around and we’ll support her with it.”