Joanne Kay Hill (born 19 June 1973) is a former Australian women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player.

Biography

Hill played for the

Australia women's national basketball team The Australian women's national basketball team is nicknamed the Opals, after the brightly coloured gemstone common to the country. From 1994 onwards, the Opals have been consistently competitive and successful having won nine medals at offic ...

during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and competed at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

in Sydney, where she won a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

. She attended the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

in 1992-1993. Hill also represented Australia at the 1998 World Championship in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where she won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

. In 1993, Hill was a member of Australia's first ever basketball

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

winning team at the World Championships for Junior Women held in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. While playing for the Opals, Hill was known as a talented and versatile player, who provided spark off the bench. In the domestic

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...

(WNBL) Hill played over 300 games for North Adelaide (1989 - 1991), the

(1992 - 1993),

Adelaide Lightning The Adelaide Lightning is an Australian professional women's basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League ( WNBL). The club is based in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. The club was formed in 1993 and they play i ...

(1994 - 1999/00 and 2011/12),

Canberra Capitals The University of Canberra Capitals are an Australian professional women's basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). The team is based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. In 2014 the University of Canberr ...

(2003/04) and

Townsville Fire The Townsville Fire are an Australian professional female basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). They are the only female professional sporting team of any discipline in the northern half of Australia. The t ...

(2009/10 - 2010/11). Along with Hill, only 8 other players have played 300 or more games in the WNBL.Bernard, Grantley (25 November 2011)
''Jo Hill up for long climb''
Herald Sun. Retrieved 19 January 2013. Had Hill not played several seasons in France and Spain during the mid to late 2000s, it was likely that she would have broken the 377 games record held by her former teammate

Rachael Sporn Rachael Pamela Sporn (born 26 May 1968, in Murrayville) is an Australian former basketball player and three time Olympian. Sporn was Development Executive for the Australian Melanoma Research Foundation but has since left the organisation. C ...

and Lucille Baillie. At 37, Hill announced her retirement from professional basketball at the conclusion of the 2010/11 WNBL season. However, she was enticed out of retirement to return to play for Adelaide Lightning for the 2011-12 season, where she was appointed

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Awards

In 1993, Hill won the Halls Medal for the

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

player in the South Australian Women's competition. In season 1999/00, Hill was named into the

WNBL All-Star Five The All-WNBL Team is an annual Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) honour bestowed on the best performing players in the league following every WNBL season. From 1988 to 2018–19, the honour was known as the All-Star Five. As of 2020, it is ...

. In 2003/04, Hill was awarded WNBL Life Membership.Basketball Australia
WNBL Life Members
Retrieved 19 January 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Jo 1973 births Living people Australian Institute of Sport basketball (WNBL) players Australian women's basketball players Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players from South Australia Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball players of Australia Olympic medalists in basketball Olympic silver medalists for Australia Australian expatriate basketball people in France