Elyse Penaluna (born 23 April 1988) is an Australian basketball forward. She has played in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) for the Australian Institute of Sport and the Bulleen Boomers, winning a WNBL Championship with that team in 2011/2012. She has been a member of Australia women's national basketball team (the Opals), representing the country in its 2012 Olympic qualifying campaign. Playing for Australia's Australian U21 Sapphires, she won a silver medal at the FIBA Under-21 World Championship for Women in 2007.

Elyse Penaluna
Bulleen Boomers
PositionForward
LeagueWNBL
Personal information
Born (1988-04-23) 23 April 1988 (age 36)
NationalityAustralian
Listed height1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)

Personal

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Penaluna was born on 23 April 1988.[1] She is 193 centimetres (76 in) tall,[1][2][3] and in 2007, she lived in Craigieburn, Victoria.[3] She was attending the Swinburne University of Technology in 2011.[4]

Basketball

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Penaluna plays forward.[1] She is a "tall".[5] In 2007, she averaged 13.6 points per game for the Hume City Broncos in the Big V league despite missing a number of games because of junior national team commitments.[3] In 2011, she played for the Dandenong Rangers in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL).[6] That season, she played as a center.[6] In a match against the Hobart Chargers, she scored 29 points and had 6 rebounds in 17 minutes.[6] She injured her knee in the grand final against the Knox Raiders with five minutes left in the game, which her team went on to win.[7] Penaluna was part of the silver medal-winning Sapphire team at the FIBA Under 21 World Championships in Moscow, Russia, in her debut with the team in 2007[3][4] She signed a contract to play basketball in Europe during the 2011/2012 season.[7]

WNBL

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Penaluna had a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 2004, and played with the AIS team in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL).[8][9] She played for the Bulleen Boomers for the first time in the 2007/2008 season.[3] She was with the team for the 2008/2009 season, in which the team appearing in the league's Grand Final,[10] in which she had 15 points and 11 rebounds.[11] She played for Bulleen again in 2009/2010, when the again team made it to the Grand Final.[10] In an October 2009 game, she had 20 points in a 109–63 victory over the Perth Lynx.[12] In 2010/2011, she played as a forward for the team in every game of the regular season, and averaged 7.4 rebounds per game and had a shooting percentage of 50% from the field.[10] She played for the Bulleen Boomers again in 2011/2012,[1][2][13] Her team won the championship that season.[2] and by May, she had re-signed with the team for 2012/2013.[14][15]

National team

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Penaluna made her debut with national team (the Opals) in a three-game test series against China in 2009.[16][17] On 2 September 2009, she played in the return game against New Zealand women's national basketball team in the Oceania Championship in Canberra.[18] In 2010, she played in the World Challenge Series against Japan women's national basketball team. The series was three games long, and one of the games was played in Geelong.[16] She played in September 2011 three game Olympic qualification series against the New Zealand women's national basketball team.[2][7][19] Her team won the first game. She was a major factor in the Australian's second game win where she scored 17 points.[19] She played in a game against New Zealand in Brisbane that was part of the Oceania qualifying tournament for the Olympics.[2] She did not start, but scored 19 points coming off the bench,[2] 11 of which came in the third quarter.[2] She also represented Australia at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China, where Australia took home a bronze medal, beating their opposition 66–56 in the bronze medal match.[4] She was named to the 2012 Australia women's national basketball team,[20] but was later "ruled out through injury".[21]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "London 2012 - 2012 Australian Opals squad named". Australian Olympic Committee. 16 February 2012. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Penaluna chasing London dream". Wwos.ninemsn.com.au. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Elyse shines for Sapphires | Star Whittlesea, Mernda, Doreen". Star News Group. 24 July 2007. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  4. ^ a b c "Madgen makes her mark — Local News — Sport — Basketball". Bendigo Advertiser. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  5. ^ "Opals missing WNBA stars for China — ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  6. ^ a b c "Dandenong Rangers' Penaluna on target — Local News — Sport — Basketball". The Greater Dandenong Weekly. 18 July 2011. Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  7. ^ a b c Ward, Roy (19 September 2011). "SEABL: After heartache, Dandenong Rangers rejoice — Local News — Sport — Basketball". The Greater Dandenong Weekly. Retrieved 11 May 2012.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ Australian Institute of Sport; Basketball Australia (2011). AIS Basketball 2011. Canberra: Australian Sports Commission. p. 60. This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page.
  9. ^ "Past Athletes : Australian Institute of Sport : Australian Sports Commission". Australian Sports Commission. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  10. ^ a b c Basketball Australia; Smith-Gander, Diane, eds. (2011). "Bulleen Boomers". IiNet WNBL Finals Series (2010/2011 ed.). WNBL: 4–5. Official Programme
  11. ^ "Opals limp to decider with China". Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  12. ^ "Rangers push Lightning to the limit — ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 30 October 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  13. ^ Travis King (17 February 2012). "Kristi eyes fourth Games — Local News — Sport — Basketball". Bendigo Advertiser. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  14. ^ Ward, Roy (7 May 2012). "WNBL: O'Hea to stay with Rangers — Local News — Sport — Basketball". The Greater Dandenong Weekly. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  15. ^ "Rangers star O'Hea in form for London". The Age. 5 May 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  16. ^ a b "Australian basketball Opal set to shine at Arena — Local News — Geelong, VIC, Australia". Geelongadvertiser.com.au. 2 June 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  17. ^ "Opals look to shine against China". Nine MSN. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  18. ^ "Opals side selected to take on Kiwis". Nine MSN. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  19. ^ a b Geoff Longley (9 September 2011). "Tall Ferns lose series against Australia Opals". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  20. ^ "Basketball Australia : 2012 Squad". Basketball Australia. 2012. Archived from the original on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  21. ^ "Basketball Australia : Jayco Opals May 2012 Training Camp dates announced". Basketball Australia. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012.