The Women's Interstate Basketball Conference (WIBC) was the inaugural season of what would become the Australian Women's National Basketball League (WNBL).

1981 WIBC season
LeagueWomen's National Basketball League
SportBasketball
Duration19 June 1981 –
Number of teams9
TV partner(s)ABC
Regular season
Top seedNorth Adelaide Rockets
Top scorerJulie Nykiel (Noarlunga Tigers)
Finals
ChampionsSt. Kilda Saints
  Runners-upNorth Adelaide Rockets
WNBL seasons
← None

History

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On 4 October 1980, during the Australian Women’s Club Championship in Sydney, a meeting of delegates from six of the leading clubs in Australian women’s basketball was held. The clubs were North Adelaide Rockets, West Adelaide Bearcats and Glenelg from South Australia and CYMS (Catholic Young Men's Society), Melbourne Telstars and St. Kilda Saints from Victoria.[1]

The meeting resolved to form a two-round competition between these teams to be held in July and August in 1981. The basis for the idea was that many of the top sides in both states wanted a varied competition from their standard state leagues as well as a suitable preparation for the Australian Club Championship, which was held on an annual basis for the top 24 teams in the country. With the formation of the men's National Basketball League in 1979, the women felt that one of the best ways to develop the game was to provide more opportunities for the best players and clubs to play against each other more regularly.[1]

A major consideration was finance and with this in mind the competition was formed with the six teams with a full home and away series between all teams with three games on one weekend to save costs. The New South Welsh teams of Bankstown Bruins and Sutherland Sharks were not happy due to costs and offered to pay their own way to Melbourne and Adelaide where they would play each team once for double points.[1]

In 1981, the Australian Institute of Sport was also opened and the men's head coach Dr. Adrian Hurley contacted the clubs and asked whether the AIS could also participate in the competition to commence later that year.[1]

The competition commenced on 19 June 1981 with the first game to be played in Adelaide between the AIS and West Adelaide Bearcats.[1]

The competition was named the Women’s Interstate Basketball Conference with each the teams paying the sum of $25 to be a part of the WIBC – giving a central fund of $200 to conduct the competition.[1]

Ladder

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The ladder at the end of the regular season.[2]

Team Played Won Lost For Against Won % %
1 North Adelaide Rockets 13 10 3 832 713 77 116.69
2 St. Kilda Saints 13 11 2 892 751 85 118.77
3 West Adelaide Bearcats 13 6 7 803 848 46 94.69
4 Melbourne Telstars 13 8 5 880 786 62 111.96
5 Bankstown Bruins 10 6 4 599 571 60 104.9
6 Catholic Young Men's Society 13 5 8 807 840 38 96.07
7 Noarlunga Tigers 13 4 9 828 957 31 86.52
8 Australian Institute of Sport 10 2 8 581 656 20 88.57
9 Sutherland Sharks 10 2 8 523 623 20 83.95

Finals

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Semi-finals Grand Final
      
2 St Kilda Saints 80
3 West Adelaide Bearcats 53
2 St Kilda Saints 77
1 North Adelaide Rockets 58
1 North Adelaide Rockets 66
4 Melbourne Telstars 63

The inaugural winner was St. Kilda Saints defeating North Adelaide Rockets 77 points to 58. St. Kilda Saints also went on to win the Victorian State Championship and the Australian Club Championship in Melbourne defeating Bankstown Bruins in the final. St. Kilda Saints had three Australian representatives in Tracy Morris, Karen Ogden and Patricia Cockrem.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "History of the WNBL". Women's National Basketball League. Archived from the original on 1 December 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  2. ^ "Media Guide 2011/12: Records & Statistics" (PDF). Women's National Basketball League: 142. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2012. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20120318214857/http://www.wnbl.com.au/fileadmin/user_upload/Media_Guide/2011_12/Team_Profiles/10041_BASKAUST_MEDIA_GUIDE_2011-12_WNBL_BACK.pdf