THE Bendigo Spirit’s bid for a hat-trick of WNBL championships has been boosted by the return of Elyse Penaluna.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The former Opals centre has been cleared to resume full training, just 10 months after undergoing a second knee reconstruction.
All things going well, Penaluna could make a return to the Australian Pork Spirit’s roster in mid-January.
“We have to be careful that we don’t overload her, but Elyse will be able to do most training that we do,’’ Spirit coach Bernie Harrower said.
“The doctors want her to do a full month of training before she starts playing.
“Considering we didn’t think we’d get Elyse back at all this season, she’s done an amazing job.
“She’s been chomping at the bit for the past six weeks to get back into full training.
“She looks extremely good and we’re hopeful we’ll have her back on the court in January, which would be a huge bonus for us.”
Harrower said Penaluna's return would level the playing field for the Spirit as far as height was concerned.
“The league is so much bigger this season,’’ he said.
“We have to give up height to most teams this year. Townsville, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney are all bigger.
“When we had Elyse in our team last year our rebounding stats were so much better than what they are this year.
“The other big bonus is that Elyse is a shot blocker.”
Penaluna's return would also give Harrower the option of loading up his starting five with four players taller than six feet - Penaluna, Gabe Richards, Sara Blicavs and Kelsey Griffin.
"We'll have plenty of options because Sara has the flexibility of guarding smalls and talls,'' he said.
"On Friday night she started on (point guard) Leilani Mitchell and then Saturday night she was on Adelaide's centre at times.
"It's going to make us even harder to contain."
Fresh from two impressive wins last weekend, the Spirit travel to Melbourne this Saturday to tackle the Melbourne Boomers.
The Boomers defeated the Spirit in Bendigo on November 29.