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Lauren Jackson basketball comeback: Opals selection from Albury … – Code

Lauren Jackson’s Opals comeback as a 41-year-old mother of two is incredible. SHANNON GILL visited the basketball legend’s home town to discover how she did it – and to see her dominate.
On Saturday night, 41-year-old mother of two Lauren Jackson walked on to the same court where she first played basketball as a four-year-old.
The old Albury Sports Centre is now named the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre and just days ago, her fairytale comeback from six years of basketball retirement was almost completed.
Jackson was selected in the Australian team for a home FIBA World Cup in Sydney in September. But her return is only ‘almost’ complete because first she has duties for her hometown.
“Towards the end of my career, I just wanted to move back home because I’ve always felt the safest and the happiest here,” Jackson tells CODE Sports.
“When I was playing overseas, I wished I could play here at home.”
The Albury Wodonga Bandits sit atop the NBL1 East ladder. They’re a level below the national WNBL, playing more than 500km from Sydney and 300km from Melbourne, yet tonight are the focus of Australian basketball.
With finals being played in Sydney, Saturday’s final regular season game may have been the last chance for hometown fans to see the legend do her thing in the flesh.
Eleven-year-old Gypsy is a budding basketballer, decked out in Jackson’s No.15 jersey. She’s new to watching the Bandits.
“We were hoping to watch her last time but she was in America but we’re seeing her tonight,” Gypsy says excitedly.
*****
The border city crowd arrives early, with the Lauren Jackson Centre close to capacity before the 5pm tip-off. The arena may be humble compared to others she has graced around the world but when introduced by the Bandits court announcer, the noise for Jackson thunders.
The Bandits are expected to account for the Hills Hornets comfortably and with Opals selection now assured, Jackson could be forgiven for taking it a little easier.
But if you think that, you don’t know ‘LJ’.
So far this season, she’s averaged more than 30 points and 10 rebounds per game, and as the players gather midcourt, it’s Jackson who is revving-up the team before she easily wins the tip.
The Hornets jump out to an early lead but then Jackson gets into the groove.
When the Bandits go inside, she overpowers the Hornets defence. When her teammates miss outside shots, she cleans up with offensive boards and putbacks.
This is not a nursed or managed comeback. She’s playing big minutes and looks athletically similar to her pomp.
And the competitive streak? She admonishes herself when a loose ball evades her grasp. And she’s not shy when it comes to enquiring to the referees about a foul.
It’s not just the Jackson show though. She’s constantly encouraging her younger teammates to shoot.
There’s also a moment for the Hornets, with Taryn Mahoney stepping Jackson on the baseline and scoring with a fall-away jumper.
Mahoney looks equal parts shocked and elated. One day, she’ll tell her grandkids of the fleeting moment when she owned the greatest.
At the half, Jackson has 13 points and the Bandits a 20-point lead.
*****
Albury Wodonga Bandits president Luke Smith sits courtside, still a little dazed by the whirlwind that has been the past 10 months.
“We scratch our heads sometimes. ‘Is that really Lauren out there playing?!’” Smith says.
In October last year, Bandits coach and friend of Jackson, Matt Paps, called Smith to say he had an idea about a player they should be looking at.
When Paps said it was Jackson, who had coached the club in 2019, Smith laughed.
“I said, ‘Lauren’s not going to do that!’” Smith recalls.
Jackson has been living in Albury since retirement and had called Paps a few months earlier, with a vague request to do some basketball workouts.
“She wanted to just start getting back into shape,” Smith says. “Then after a couple of months, she started thinking, ‘Maybe I can play’.
“Week by week, we just kept seeing what she could do. As long as her body held up, we were going to keep going.”
At that early point, was there an inkling that Opals selection could be the endgame?
“No way!” Jackson says.
“How could I have ever thought that? Even now I just think, ‘Damn how did I get to this point?’”
After a few months, Jackson let Paps know that she was in if the Bandits wanted her.
“I said we’ll make it happen,” Paps laughs, as if anyone would turn down the greatest.
Paps then brought Smith into the picture.
“We sat down with Lauren, and it finally clicked with me,” Smith says. “I could see it in her eyes that she wanted it. We were over the moon.”
The fact that Jackson’s comeback assault was being launched from Albury was something special for the city and the club.
“Lauren told us she wanted to play in front of a home crowd in Albury,” Smith says. “Even when she was playing in Seattle, there were stages where she thought, ‘I’d love to do this at home in Albury’.
“She’s Albury through and through.”
*****
The Lauren Jackson effect was swift.
“We lost our first game, and then she played the second game and we won,” Paps says.
The Bandits rocketed into title contention overnight and each week, as Jackson played more minutes, a golden season unfolded.
“To see what elite looks like has been great for our young players,” Paps says.
One of those young players is Amelia Hassett from Adelong, a small town with a population of just 936.
In her second year with the Bandits, the 18-year-old started alongside the FIBA and WNBA Hall of Famer on Saturday.
Jackson was playing for Australia before Hassett was born, yet the generation gap did not stop jaws dropping when the comeback materialised.
“It was a little bit secret at first but then she walked into training. I was sitting with a couple of the girls and we just stared at her and said, ‘Oh my goodness it’s actually her!’” Hassett says.
“Playing against her and seeing how competitive she is has been so helpful. She never gives in even at training.”
Training and playing with Jackson has given Hassett, a once-reticent shooter, a new level of confidence.
“Her just saying, ‘Shoot it’, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, OK … that’s Lauren Jackson telling me to shoot it, so I better do it!’”
When Hassett hits a three in the second quarter, Jackson gives a nod of approval. A few minutes later, she hits another three.
That’s the LJ effect.
While Saturday could be Jackson’s last game in Albury, it’s also Hassett’s last for a while, too.
After a season of playing with Jackson, the rising star picked up a college scholarship to Eastern Florida State. She leaves for the US on Thursday.
“She’s been playing so well,” Jackson says. “Maybe I’ve been able to show her the mentality it’s going to take over there.”
The Jackson exposure certainly hasn’t hurt the pursuit of Hassett’s dreams, nor the buzz for the sport around town.
“She’s brought so many people into town wanting to watch us,” Hassett says. “And we’re winning, so everyone around Albury is talking about playing finals and maybe winning the title.”
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For Smith, the Jackson effect has been remarkable on the entire club. In particular, the legend’s impact has challenged the notion that women’s teams should play curtain-raisers to men’s games.
“The women have only played finals once ever,” Jackson says. “Most of the crowd would get there in the last quarter of the women’s game just to watch the men next.
“Now, the crowd is packed before the women’s game and many leave by the time the men’s game is on.”
Smith says: “This year, the first four home games we had this year were sellouts. We took more money on the gate in four weeks than we did for an entire year before.
“For women’s basketball, it’s a massive shot in the arm. We’ll reap the rewards in participation and other areas over the coming years.”
Fox Sports News in Seattle even played a hastily-convened press conference put together by the Bandits
“NBL1 basketball and Albury-Wodonga was on TV over there!” Smith says incredulously.
*****
Australia’s greatest basketball export has done it all but that doesn’t stop her hustling all night on Saturday.
In the second half, she completely takes over. Full of energy, she rebounds, blocks and scores at will. The Bandits keep getting and she keeps delivering.
By three-quarter time, it’s announced that the No.15 jersey had sold out.
Jackson laughs with her team when Bella Fielder banks a lucky three. Everything is going right as they crush the hapless Hornets on a night of celebration.
She laughs again as she air balls a Steph Curry-length heave on the buzzer.
If it’s the last time Jackson takes the court in her hometown, it’s a fitting farewell. A 115-50 win and the Bandits finish on top of the ladder for the first time in their history.
LJ finishes with the dazzling stat line of 40 points and 25 rebounds in front of her whole family, including her two young boys. It’s enough to make her the league’s leading scorer for the regular season, pouring in 33 points per game.
The crowd is rapturous as the coach farewells the departing Hassett, with tears in many eyes.
The microphone is then handed to Jackson who pays tribute to her hometown.
“I just want to say thank you to the Albury-Wodonga community for getting behind women’s sport,” Jackson says.
“Every game you’ve come out in droves to support our team. I’ve never seen crowds like this at the Bandits before.”
Jackson tells CODE that while the World Cup is exciting, the next few weeks are all about the Bandits.
“I’ve just got to get my body right in the next couple of weeks and hopefully we can bring that championship home,” she says.
After each match, an extra court is set aside for autographs and selfies with Jackson for young fans. Saturday night is packed.
Gypsy gets a photo with her new hero and a lifelong basketball fan is confirmed.
“People just gravitate towards her,” Smith says. “She was loved 20 years ago when she started and she’s still loved now.
“For Albury-Wodonga, she’s ours. For the town and the club, we can walk the street and puff our chests out because Lauren is playing for us.
“We don’t know what she’ll do next year, we’d love to have her back but this could be it. So it’s a special night.”
No matter what happens at the World Cup, given how much Jackson has enjoyed the past few months at home, you could never count out another Bandits stint.
“To get this opportunity so late in my basketball life to play at home, it’s been remarkable,” Jackson says.
“I’ve had the time of my life.”
Shannon Gill is a Melbourne sportswriter with a focus on AFL,cricket and basketball. Previously working inside some of Australia’s biggest sporting organisations, he has been a freelance writer for a decade and is co-host of the cult sports history podcast ‘The Greatest Season That Was’. Pixies and TISM fan.
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