Touring Australians All-Round Sportswomen

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31082, 10 June 1966, Page 13

Touring Australians All-Round Sportswomen

Crisp passing, accurate shooting and full court coverage are features of the play of the Australian women’s basketball team, which arrives at Christchurch Airport on Sunday afternoon to begin the last leg of its New Zealand tour.

The Australians, who are touring the Dominion at the invitation of the New Zealand Basketball Association, have displayed a bright, attractive style in their games in the North Island. Only the strong Rotorua side, holder of the national title, has lowered the visitors’ colours.

The team will play matches in Dunedin and Invercargill next week before returning to Christchurch to end the tour with a game against Canterbury, at Canterbury Court, next Saturday night.

Almost all the Australians are interested in sports other than basketball, and many have excellent records in other fields.

The captain, L. Morony, who has played representative basketball for her State and for Australia either as goalkeeper or defence, plays A grade competitive tennis In the summer. A member of the New

South Wales State team, N. Green plays goal attack or shoot and is interested in athletics. She was at one time the New South Wales Country discus and shot put champion. T. Leiumaa, who plays in centre third, is a physical education teacher and has been a member of the Victoria State team at the All-Austra-lian tournaments in 1963, ’64 and ’65. Her other sporting interest is volleyball, and she was selected in the Australian team at the recent Australian championships played in South Australia.

After representing her State and South Australia in school teams, in 1961, C. White joined a State team for the All Australian tournament in 1963. Her other main sporting interest is tennis, at which

she achieved considerable success this year before deciding to concentrate on basketball. The other members of the team, E. O’Shannassy (centre), C. Burton (goal keep, defence) S. Gollan (goal keep, defence), H. McLean (goal shoot, attack), G. Suiter (wing defence), and G. Switch (wing attack, centre), all have interests in a variety of sports. Miss L. McConchie, a lecturer in physical education at the University of Melbourne, Victoria, is the team’s coach and Mrs G. Benzie is the

The Australians retained their fine tour record will victories in their latest matches. They beat Manawatu, 48-46, at Palmerston North, and Hawke’s Bay, 56-14, at Napier.