Elyse Penaluna

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

Elyse Mary Penaluna[1] (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.

Personal

Penaluna was born on 23 April 1988.[2] She is 193 centimetres (76 in) tall,[2][3][4] and in 2007, she lived in Craigieburn, Victoria.[4] She was attending the Swinburne University of Technology in 2011.[5]

Basketball

Penaluna plays forward.[2] She is a "tall".[6] 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.[4] In 2011, she played for the Dandenong Rangers in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL).[7] That season, she played as a center.[7] In a match against the Hobart Chargers, she scored 29 points and had 6 rebounds in 17 minutes.[7] 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.[8] 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[4][5] She signed a contract to play basketball in Europe during the 2011/2012 season.[8]

WNBL

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).[9][10] She played for the Bulleen Boomers for the first time in the 2007/2008 season.[4] She was with the team for the 2008/2009 season, in which the team appearing in the league's Grand Final,[11] in which she had 15 points and 11 rebounds.[12] She played for Bulleen again in 2009/2010, when the again team made it to the Grand Final.[11] In an October 2009 game, she had 20 points in a 109–63 victory over the Perth Lynx.[13] 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.[11] She played for the Bulleen Boomers again in 2011/2012,[2][3][14] Her team won the championship that season.[3] and by May, she had re-signed with the team for 2012/2013.[15][16]

National team

Penaluna made her debut with national team (the Opals) in a three-game test series against China in 2009.[17][18] On 2 September 2009, she played in the return game against New Zealand women's national basketball team in the Oceania Championship in Canberra.[19] 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.[17] She played in September 2011 three game Olympic qualification series against the New Zealand women's national basketball team.[3][8][20] Her team won the first game. She was a major factor in the Australian's second game win where she scored 17 points.[20] She played in a game against New Zealand in Brisbane that was part of the Oceania qualifying tournament for the Olympics.[3] She did not start, but scored 19 points coming off the bench,[3] 11 of which came in the third quarter.[3] 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.[5] She was named to the 2012 Australia women's national basketball team,[21] but was later "ruled out through injury".[22]

References

  1. ^ "Elyse Mary Penaluna (Australia) - Basketball Stats, Height, Age". FIBA Basketball. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ a b c "Madgen makes her mark — Local News — Sport — Basketball". Bendigo Advertiser. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Opals missing WNBA stars for China — ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ "Past Athletes : Australian Institute of Sport : Australian Sports Commission". Australian Sports Commission. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  11. ^ a b c Basketball Australia; Smith-Gander, Diane, eds. (2011). "Bulleen Boomers". IiNet WNBL Finals Series (2010/2011 ed.). WNBL: 4–5. Official Programme
  12. ^ "Opals limp to decider with China". Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  13. ^ "Rangers push Lightning to the limit — ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 30 October 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  14. ^ Travis King (17 February 2012). "Kristi eyes fourth Games — Local News — Sport — Basketball". Bendigo Advertiser. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ "Rangers star O'Hea in form for London". The Age. 5 May 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ "Opals look to shine against China". Nine MSN. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  19. ^ "Opals side selected to take on Kiwis". Nine MSN. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  20. ^ a b Geoff Longley (9 September 2011). "Tall Ferns lose series against Australia Opals". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  21. ^ "Basketball Australia : 2012 Squad". Basketball Australia. 2012. Archived from the original on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  22. ^ "Basketball Australia : Jayco Opals May 2012 Training Camp dates announced". Basketball Australia. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012.