Rebecca Joy Cole (born 19 March 1992)[1] is an Australian professional basketball player for the Waverley Falcons of the NBL1 South. She is a two-time champion with the Southside Flyers of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and has been a member of the Australian Opals.

Early life

Cole was born in Melbourne, Victoria, in the suburb of Mount Waverley.[2]

Professional career

WNBL

Cole made her debut in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in the 2009–10 season at 16 years old.[3] After three seasons with the AIS, she joined the Bulleen Boomers. She played for the Bulleen/Melbourne Boomers every year between 2012 and 2018.[4] She was a member of the Boomers' grand final team in 2017–18.[5]

For the 2018–19 season, Cole joined the Dandenong Rangers.[4] She was named to the 2018–19 WNBL All-Star Five and was named the Rangers Club MVP.[3][6][7] For the 2019–20 season, the Rangers rebranded as the Southside Flyers. Cole continued with the Flyers in 2019–20 and the 2020 WNBL Hub season in Queensland,[8] helping the team win the Hub championship. They finished runners-up in 2022–23[9] and won the WNBL championship in 2023–24.[10] She returned to Southside for the 2024–25 WNBL season.[11]

State Leagues

In 2015 and 2016, Cole played for the Nunawading Spectres in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL). She played for the Eltham Wildcats in the Big V in 2017 and the Melbourne Tigers in the SEABL in 2018.[4]

In 2019, Cole joined the Dandenong Rangers for the inaugural NBL1 season.[4] In 2021, she played for the Bulleen Boomers in the Big V. She joined the Waverley Falcons of the NBL1 South in 2022[4] and in 2024 helped the team win the NBL1 South championship.[12][13] She went on to lead the Falcons to the NBL1 National championship at the 2024 NBL1 National Finals while earning MVP of the championship game.[14][15][16] She was also named to the NBL1 National Finals All-Star Five.[17]

She is set to re-join the Waverley Falcons for the 2025 NBL1 South season.[18]

National team career

5x5

Cole made her international debut with the Under-19 program in 2011. Cole was chosen as captain for the Australian Gems (Australia's Under 19 Women's Team) at the FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Chile, where Australia narrowly missed out on bronze, placing fourth. Cole played all eight games.[3]

In January 2019 it was announced that Cole was part of the 2019 Opals squad.[19][20][21] FIBA named Cole one of the "10 Women Who Defined 3x3 in 2019".[22]

3x3

Cole was a member of both the 2018 and 2019 Australian teams in the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup.[23] In 2018, Australia won bronze and in 2019 Australia went undefeated winning the gold medal, with Cole being named the MVP of the 2019 tournament.[24]

Personal life

Cole is the daughter of Gary and Ros Cole and has two older sisters, Jessica and Emma.[25]

As of 2022, Cole is the Ambassador for Lymphoma Australia.[26]

References

  1. ^ "Rebecca Joy Cole". FIBA. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Rebecca Cole". FIBA. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Bec Cole's meteoric rise to be named in the 2018/19 WNBL All-Star Five in her first season with the Jayco Rangers". 28 March 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Rebecca Cole". australiabasket.com. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  5. ^ Johnpapadimitriou (10 November 2020). "WBNL Basketball: Southside Flyers: Know Your Flyers: Bec Cole". wnbl.basketball/southside.
  6. ^ "2018/19 Chemist Warehouse WNBL award winners announced". WNBL. 18 February 2019.
  7. ^ "WNBL MVP 2018/19 votes and awards: Kelsey Griffin named MVP". 18 February 2019.
  8. ^ Katelentini (5 November 2020). "The WNBL season is an opportunity for Rebecca Cole". wnbl.basketball.
  9. ^ "2023–24 Media Guide" (PDF). wnbl.basketball. p. 62. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  10. ^ "WNBL24 SOUTHSIDE FLYERS CYGNETT WNBL CHAMPIONS". wnbl.basketball. 17 March 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  11. ^ Badkin, Liam (28 October 2024). "Cole's Flyers looking for consecutive championships". Basketball Rookie Me Central. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  12. ^ Pike, Chris (10 August 2024). "Recap NBL1 South | Women's Grand Final". NBL1.com.au. Archived from the original on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  13. ^ "Waverley Falcons win the 2024 NBL1 South women's championship". NBL1.com.au. 10 August 2024. Archived from the original on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  14. ^ "Recap NBL1 National Finals | Women's Championship Game". NBL1.com.au. 18 August 2024. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024.
  15. ^ "Bec Cole is the Mitsubishi Motors NBL1 Finals MVP". facebook.com/NBL1. 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  16. ^ Badkin, Liam (20 August 2024). "Cole shows class as Falcons crush Braves in title game". central.rookieme.com. Archived from the original on 20 August 2024.
  17. ^ "Our Mitsubishi Motors NBL1 National Finals women's All-Star Five". facebook.com/NBL1. 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  18. ^ "National Finals MVP re-signs for 2025". nbl1.com.au. 14 February 2025. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  19. ^ "Press Release: 2019 Chemist Warehouse Australian Opals Squad Announced". Basketball Australia. 10 January 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  20. ^ Roy Ward (10 January 2019). "Opals Name Squad For Crucial Olympic Qualifiers". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  21. ^ "Australian Women's Squad announced for FIBA's 3x3 Olympic qualifying tournament".
  22. ^ "FIBA names Bec Cole as one of '10 women who defined 3x3 in 2019'".
  23. ^ "Fiba 3x3 Bec Cole".
  24. ^ "Fiba 3x3 Aisa Cup 2018".
  25. ^ "'Life isn't fair': The beautiful bond – and remarkable resilience – between Bec and Gary Cole". foxsports.com.au. 23 November 2019.
  26. ^ "Ambassador Rebecca Cole". Lymphoma Australia. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Cole_(basketball)
No tags for this post.