By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE Dandenong Rangers WNBL team is leaving no stone untuned in a relentless quest to reclaim its spot at the top of the league.
The side was forced to watch on as the Bendigo Spirit triumphed over the Townsville Fire to claim last season’s championship.
But a host of new inclusions to the Dandenong side for 2013-14 has it looking to eclipse them both.
The Rangers have fired a warning shot across the competition’s bow, this week announcing the occupants of nine of its roster spots.
Current Los Angeles Spark, and 2012 Olympian, Jenna O’Hea is the headline act – returning to the Rangers for a fifth season.
The 185cm guard has been instrumental to Dandenong in its last two campaigns, averaging 15 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists per game.
Head Coach Mark Wright, obviously thrilled with O’Hea’s return, didn’t mince his words when describing her importance to the team.
“Jenna brings great talent, experience, leadership and stability to a new look team, and her ability to play and defend any position from 1 to 5 makes her arguably the most valuable player in the WNBL,” he said.
O’Hea will be joined by experienced WNBA players Kayla Pedersen and Natalie Novosel.
Pedersen, a 24-year-old current member of the Connecticut Sun, was selected seventh overall in the 2011 WNBA Draft.
The 193cm forward-centre adds great size to the Rangers and averages 5.5 points and 4 rebounds per game over her WNBA career to date.
Pedersen, a product of Stanford University, comes to Australia having previously represented the USA at the Junior World Championships.
Novosel, 23, most recently played for the Washington Mystics who selected her eighth overall in the
2012 WNBA Draft. A 180cm shooting guard, who has also played in Romania, Novosel will be called upon to put scoreboard pressure on WNBL opponents in 13-14.
In a further recruiting coup, Dandenong have also added star forwards, Alice Kunek and Brigitte
Ardossi. Kunek arrives at Dandenong from cross town rivals, the Bulleen Boomers, following a career best season in which she averaged 13 points and 5 rebounds.
That form saw her named to the recent Opals and Emerging Opals Camp at Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence.
Kunek was a member of the Rangers 2007-08, before heading to the Australian Institute of
Sport.
Ardossi comes to the Jayco Rangers after two seasons with the Canberra Capitals, where she
averaged 13 points and 9 rebounds in 2012-13.
The 188cm power forward provides Mark Wright and
his team another gritty front line player who will bring a blue collar work ethic to the group. Prior to
beginning her WNBL career, Ardossi, now 25 spent four years at Georgia Tech University.
Returning stars Alison Downie, Aimie Clydesdale, Clare Papavs and Lauren Scherf will be
welcomed back by Rangers fans this season.
Downie, a fan favourite and three-time WNBL Championship player, returns for a 14th
season in a Rangers uniform.
Dandenong Basketball CEO David Graham is excited with the Rangers 2013-14 team that is taking shape.
“When you have tasted the ultimate success in a sport, you crave it again and again,” he said.
“For those who have done it, you’ll know that to win a national title in any
sport is extremely difficult to achieve.
“This 2013-14 team has been carefully selected to give Dandenong Rangers sponsors and fans the very best chance of tasting this success again.”
