Basketball: Loffhagen takes talents to Aussie national league

By JULIE ASH

Double international Donna Loffhagen will add another string to an already impressive bow this weekend when she debuts in the Australian women's national basketball league.

Loffhagen, 26, has joined the Canberra Capitals for the rest of the season and will play in their seventh match of the competition against the Townsville Fire on Saturday night.

Loffhagen, who was the top rebounder at the Athens Olympics, was approached by Canberra coach Tom Maher four months ago. But she turned him down because she wanted to concentrate on her Bachelor of Sport and Recreation degree.

But Maher, who coached the Tall Ferns at the Athens Olympics, contacted Loffhagen again recently after several of his players, including star Lauren Jackson, were injured.

With the WNBL season ending in early February, Loffhagen was able to take up the offer without the worry of it clashing with her netball commitments to the Silver Ferns and Southern Sting.

"Since I first starting playing basketball when I was 15 for the New Zealand under-20s, I have had opportunities over the years to further my basketball overseas and I have never taken up that opportunity. I guess I don't want to look back in 10 years' time and think I haven't given it a go."

The Australian league is still regarded as semi-professional and it is understood Loffhagen's salary would struggle to make the five-figure mark.

However, it could open the door for opportunities further afield.

"Because Canberra are a well-known team it makes it a higher possibility of being accepted into a European professional league.

"It is an opportunity for that in the future, but I don't even know if that is what I want to do or where I want to go. It depends on whether I enjoy it and all my other commitments back here in New Zealand."

The Canberra side, which includes Loffhagen's Tall Fern team-mate Angela Marino, are second-to-last in the competition, with one win from six games.

Loffhagen, who usually fills a guard position, is not exactly sure how she will fit into the Canberra team.

She will travel to Australia after her exams finish in two weeks, but will return to New Zealand for several engagements during the 2 1/2-month period.

"I guess they were just looking at someone that plays my style of basketball ... basically concentrating on a defensive aspect and I guess gaining possession through rebounding and steals. That is my focus."

After a two-year absence, Loffhagen made herself available for the New Zealand netball team in September and was immediately named in the Silver Ferns squad.

But due to her study commitments, she ruled herself out of this month's tour to Australia.

Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken asked Loffhagen to reconsider following Belinda Colling's withdrawal, but the timing of the series clashed with her exams.

"My mind didn't change at all with the withdrawal of Belinda.

"There is no way I would have passed this year's work if I was to go and play netball against Australia," said Loffhagen.

"This [basketball] fits in nicely because I can go after exams."