Fabbro rekindles flame
TOWNSVILLE Flames young gun Aliza Fabbro credits a refreshed mindset after coming back from an extended injury lay-off for her breakout season in the QBL.
Fabbro will be one of the Townsville’s bench weapons when they take on the Gold Coast Rollers in Saturday night’s semi-final at Townsville Basketball Stadium.
The versatile guard is playing just her second season at QBL level after an ankle reconstruction forced her to miss most of last year as the Flames made their first grand final series since 2008.
Fabbro, who will turn 18 on Monday, has shown she belongs in the state league, averaging 7.65 points per game including a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds against Logan.
The Burdekin product felt her time on the sidelines last season had helped her to refocus after getting the opportunity to play big minutes for the Flames under new coach Luke Brennan.
“I didn’t really know how I was going to come back and with new coaching staff I wasn’t sure how everything would pan out, but it’s been great, everything that I could ask for,” Fabbro said.
“I guess not being able to play for a few months just changed a lot of things for me and I came back with a different mentality and I trained a lot harder and got more shots up during the week.
“I go into games with more confidence and I back myself a little more, but when you’re playing with great players it’s not that hard really.”
The Flames have a stacked starting five this season with the WNBL experience of Rachael Mccully, Micaela Cocks, Abby Bishop, Alicia Froling, and Lisa Brennan.
Fabbro has had to step into a bigger role at times with Cocks away on New Zealand duties and she said playing alongside such talented players had improved her own game.
“Their experience and their outlook on everything is something you can just really grab on to and really learn from. This season’s been so much fun and I’ve really enjoyed it,” she said.
“In trainings they’re so good. They’ll just come up to you and they’ll give you advice.
“They’ve just got so much experience and so much knowledge of the game. It’s great even just to watch them play because you can learn from just watching them.”
The Flames beat the Rollers 73-58 in Townsville earlier this season as Fabbro dropped 10 points and six rebounds and she expected that home court advantage to play a big part in Saturday night’s semi-final.
“It was so loud last Saturday (in their quarterfinal win over Mackay),” she said.
“I feel like a lot of people will turn up and having the crowd behind you going into a semi with everything at stake is so good. Every shot that’s made is a big roar.
“We’ve just got to play together and stay focused on what we do right and what works for us as a team. If we just get the little things done then the big picture will come.”
Saturday’s women’s QBL semi-final tips off at Townsville Basketball Stadium on Saturday from 7pm.