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BENDIGO Spirit have added the final piece of their puzzle, with the signing of American import Barbara Turner.
The 34-year-old former WNBA first round draft pick touched down in Bendigo on Thursday, following a long flight from the US, and immediately declared she was here to help win a championship.
Turner is a late replacement for Canadian Jamie Scott, who is undergoing the first stage of rehabilitation, after she suffered a metatarsal stress fracture at the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.
The internationally-experienced shooting guard wasted no time getting down to business, joining her new team-mates on court for a noon practice session.
That included a reunion with her former Turkish league team-mate Natalie Hurst, who helped coax the American to Bendigo.
Turner, the seventh import to join the Spirit in head-coach Simon Pritchard’s four years, said she hoped to replicate the success the guard pairing had in Turkey.
“We made the Turkish league finals, we won the President’s Cup in Turkey, we finished second in the league, we pushed the team to Euro-league the next year,” she said.
“The next year we went to the Europe Cup final four and the semi-finals of the Turkish league, so we had a lot of success in our two years together.
“We’ve retained a close friendship and she told me there was an opportunity here and I wanted to get back playing, so here I am.
“Anytime I join any basketball team, or club, my first thought process is to be a champion.
“I don’t know what the expectations are here, but that’s just the way I am.”
Turner, a college standout at Connecticut, who averaged 22.8 points and 10.5 rebounds in the NCAA Tournament in her final year, joins the Spirit after 12 seasons in the Turkish national league and a three-year WNBA career with Seattle Storm, Houston Comets and Connecticut Sun.
Anytime I join any basketball team, or club, my first thought process is to be a champion.
- Barbara Turner
In her own words, Turner said the Spirit were gaining a ‘real competitor’.
“I play outside the white lines … just being hard-nosed, tough, and being a good leader on the floor,” she said.
“This is my 13th season now, so I have a lot of experience.
“I’ve been training hard this off-season and I am looking forward to implementing that within the team – I’m not so much focused on myself, but the things that I can add to the team and make us better.”
She professed a ‘healthy respect’ for Australian basketball, having played alongside and against some of the nation’s all-time best players, including Lauren Jackson, Erin Phillips and Penny Taylor.
A true outside shooting threat, Turner hopes to quickly shake off the rust from not having played since May.
But with the Spirit still waiting on visa clearance, coach Pritchard did not expect Turner to be available for this weekend’s clash against Dandenong Rangers, but instead would be a likely starter the following weekend against Perth.
He is counting on Turner providing the Spirit with plenty of scoring potency and veteran leadership.
“There’ some synergy with Nat already, which means we are going to be able to cut through some stuff early and go to her strengths early,” he said.
“She’s probably not match fit, but she is in good shape and will get up to speed early.
“She has so much experience and will help lead the other girls by example; also what her arrival means is she pushed one of our other players to the bench and gives us greater bench depth.”
An Ohio native, who now lives in Houston, Turner boasts a long-standing friendship with NBA legend LeBron James, stretching back to their high-school days.