Spirit stars relive Bendigo's "special" WNBL championship

The Bendigo Spirit's stunning rise to the top of the Women's National Basketball League tree sits comfortably on the top shelf of Bendigo's all-time sporting achievements.

Just six years after formation, the Spirit won the 2013 WNBL championship when it defeated Townsville 71-57 in front of a packed Bendigo Stadium.

Ten years on from the club's first of two WNBL titles, the Spirit will honour its championship team at next Wednesday night's final home game of the season against Townsville.

In part two of a special two-part series, we look back at how the Bendigo Spirit won the 2013 championship.

Three key players to the club's success - Kelsey Griffin, Kelly Wilson and Gabe Richards - share their recollections of the championship campaign.

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The Bendigo Spirit's first WNBL championship season was a life-changer for Kelsey Griffin - literally.

Despite being a US college basketball star with Nebraska and a WNBA draftee, Griffin could see her basketball career slowly and painfully drifting away.

Her passion for the game she loved was waning and she felt lost.

A phone call out of the blue from her former college team-mate Chelsea Aubry changed her life.

A knee injury to Kathleen Scheer meant the Bendigo Spirit were without an import for the 2012-13 WNBL season and Aubry had been asked by coach Bernie Harrower if she knew of anyone who might be interested in making the trip to Australia.

Despite some initial doubts, Griffin agreed and the rest is history.

Four months later she was celebrating Bendigo's first WNBL title and she'd found a new home.

"I didn't know what to expect because my experience playing professional basketball at the time hadn't been enjoyable,'' Griffin said.

"I was struggling. I wasn't enjoying playing basketball and I'd lost my confidence.

"Anytime you can come into a team and slot right in speaks more about the team's chemistry and what the team was about more so than my ability.

"It made my life so much easier. I felt as though I could breathe again.

"What makes basketball fun is when you can rely on each other and everyone is working towards the same goal.

"Basketball was fun again because of the people that were around me. There were no egos... it was special."

Griffin was an instant star in the WNBL.

She averaged 16.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, one assist, one block and two steals per game in her first season.

In the grand final win over Townsville she scored 20 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and earned the game MVP award.

"It was a really fun team to play on,'' she said.

"It's rare that you get on a team where everyone fully embraces their role. Everyone just got it and everyone knew how important each other were.

"Kristi (Harrower) was coming off the (London) Olympics and she could have been like 'this is my team and I get this and I get that'.

"Gabe (Richards) was in the All-Star Five that season, Chelsea (Aubry) had played in the Olympics with Canada, I could have said 'I'm a WNBA import and I should be getting 20 (points) and 10 (rebounds) a game', but it was never about individuals.

"It was all about the system we played, which was a credit to the coaching staff and the players.

"We had some epic battles at training. We had a deep team and we had some young talent and our preparation was super intense. I think that's what helped us become so good."

The system implemented by coach Harrower and executed by the playing group was a key factor in Griffin deciding to stay in Bendigo.

"The most important thing to me was not just that we won the championship, but it was how we did it,'' Griffin said.

"That first season was a turning point for my career. The way we played is why I wanted to stay in Bendigo.

"I had offers to go and play in Turkey and Europe for three or four times the amount I was going to get paid to stay in Bendigo.

"I felt a part of the Bendigo community and the way I felt playing basketball in Bendigo was something I hadn't felt anywhere else.

"It's rare that you can have that team chemistry and community support and win a championship - it's a surreal thing.

"The longer I've been playing the more I can appreciate how special that season was."

Griffin's parents flew out from the United States to attend the 2013 grand final.

Griffin said the packed Bendigo Stadium and the emotional post-match celebrations with family, team-mates and fans were some of the best moments of her life.

"In that first year I probably didn't understand what it (the championship) meant to Bernie and Kristi, or the likes of Gabe and Kelly who had played at the club for a long time,'' Griffin admitted.

"As time has worn on I've gained more perspective. My first three years in the WNBL we played in grand finals and you start to think they come around all the time. Then the next three years we didn't make the play-offs.

"That first season I remember how electric the atmosphere was for our two play-off games. It was the place to be.

"The support we received from the Bendigo community was amazing."

Ten years on, Griffin is hoping to lead the Spirit into another WNBL play-off series.

She often looks back with amazement at how one unfortunate knee injury to Kathleen Scheer changed her life so dramatically.

"(Kelsey's wife) Erin has become great friends with Kathleen Scheer,'' Griffin said with a chuckle.

"She thanks her a lot for the sacrifices she's made.

"I was at a big crossroads in my life when I came to Bendigo.

"Looking back, if I hadn't come to Bendigo I don't think I'd be still playing basketball.

"Once I felt such a part of the community I felt as though I was playing more than just a sport and that gave me purpose.

"Prior to then I didn't have purpose in my life and just playing basketball is not enough purpose for me.

"When you felt part of something bigger, like I did in that first season, it made my decision making easier."

As the WNBL games record holder, Kelly Wilson has had more career highlights than most.

The moment that brings the broadest smile to her face - the 2013 championship success with the Bendigo Spirit.

"Whenever I'm asked about my career highlights I always go back to that first title the Spirit won,'' she said.

"I will never forget the community spirit we had. It was phenomenal.

"Going into that season we weren't tipped as one of the championship contenders.

"We built momentum early and gained a lot of confidence. We had a solid core that had been together for a long time.

"Having been at the club since pretty much its inception, and having been through some struggles early on, to get the ultimate success was the best part about it.

"We weren't the most talented group of individuals, but our ability to play as a team was the difference.

"It was always team first and for each player it was about what can I do to make this team better?"

The fact Wilson achieved the ultimate success alongside her sister, Andrea, and best friend, Gabe Richards, made it all the more sweeter.

Andrea and Gabe played major roles in Kelly making the move to Bendigo from Townsville where she had started her WNBL career.

"I moved home to country Victoria because my sister and my best friend were in Bendigo,'' Wilson, who grew up in Gippsland, said.

"Gabe and I left the AIS at about the same time. I went to Townsville and Gabe went to college in the US.

"By the time she came back from college it was the inaugural season of the Spirit and she moved to Bendigo.

"At the same time my sister had moved to Bendigo for university.

"The fact I got to play several years in the WNBL with my sister and my best friend, and win titles, is something I'll always cherish."

Team success aside, Wilson's move to Bendigo allowed her to develop under the experienced eyes of coach Bernie Harrower and one of the world's best point guards at the time - Kristi Harrower.

"The seven years I played alongside Kristi Harrower were instrumental in my basketball development,'' Wilson, who went on to represent the Opals, said.

"In terms of basketball IQ, she's one of the smartest people you will ever meet.

"There's no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have become the player I did without her influence.

"Bernie was one of my biggest supporters. I always knew he had confidence in me as a player and I knew he was in my corner."

Wilson said Kelsey Griffin's impact on the Spirit's fortunes, not just in 2013, but across the best part of a decade shouldn't be underestimated.

"She's a champion and she's a match-winner,' Wilson said.

"We're privileged to have had a player and person of her calibre play in the WNBL for this long and call not only Bendigo, but Australia home."

By the time the 2012-13 WNBL season rolled around, Bendigo had claimed Gabe Richards as one of its own.

The fan favourite had lived in Bendigo for six years and she'd quickly become one of the faces of the franchise.

Winning a WNBL championship with Bendigo felt like a hometown win for the star centre.

"To win a WNBL title on our home court in front of Bendigo fans was huge,'' Richards said this week.

"To share it with Kelly (Wilson) was really special.

"We first met in under-12s and then we were living together at the time. It was really exciting.

"In the early days of the Spirit it didn't feel as though it (winning a title) was achievable.

"To have such a great season and win the grand final was unbelievable."

One of Richards' fondest memories of that period was the reaction the Spirit received from the Bendigo community.

"There was such a buzz around the town,'' she said.

"Everyone that you ran into wanted to talk about it. It was so exciting. It just proved to me what a basketball town Bendigo was. The whole play-offs were two weeks of excitement."

Richards said the close-knit environment and unselfish attitude the Spirit squad created was the envy of the competition.

"The ability for us to be all on the one page was our strength,'' Richards said.

"There was complete trust and buy-in from everyone and that can be quite foreign. I haven't felt like that in teams prior to that and I didn't experience it much after that either.

"Most of the games that year it felt like we were down at half-time, but we always seemed to have big third quarters. I think a fair bit of that had to do with the trust we had in each other.

"Defence was how we won. Our aim was to keep teams to 60-65 points, which is unheard of when you look at the scores these days.

"(Offensively) we had a really balanced team and we didn't rely on one person.

"Having three players average more than 15 points per game makes you a really tough team to stop."

READ MORE: Bernie and Kristi Harrower open up on the Spirit's success in 2013

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