Lara Gweneth McSpadden (born 2 April 1999) is an Australian professional basketball player for the

Sydney Flames The Sydney Flames are an Australian professional basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a b ...

of the

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).

Early life

McSpadden was born in

Penrith, New South Wales Penrith is a city in New South Wales, Australia, located in Greater Western Sydney, 55 kilometres (31 mi) west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Nepean River, on the outskirts of the Cumberland Plain. Its elevati ...

Professional career

WNBL

McSpadden began her professional career with the Sydney Uni Flames in the

2016–17 WNBL season The 2016–17 WNBL season is the 37th season of competition since its establishment in 1981. The regular season begins on October 7, 2016 when the Sydney Uni Flames host the Perth Lynx and is scheduled to conclude on February 19, 2017. Townsville ...

. She played four seasons for the Flames, leaving following the

2019–20 WNBL season The 2019–20 WNBL season is the 40th season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The Canberra Capitals were the defending champions and they successfully defended their title with a 2–0 win over Southside. The 2019–20 title was ...

. McSpadden joined the

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 ...

for the 2020 WNBL Hub season in Queensland. She continued on with the Fire in 2021–22 and

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

. For the

2023–24 WNBL season The 2023–24 WNBL season is the 44th season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The Townsville Fire were the defending champions, but were defeated in the Semi-Finals by Perth. The Southside Flyers won their fifth championship ti ...

, McSpadden returned to the Sydney Flames.

State Leagues

In 2015, McSpadden played for the Newcastle Hunters in the

Waratah League The NBL1 East, formerly the Waratah League, is a semi-professional basketball league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2021, Basketball New South Wales and the National B ...

. In 2016, she played for the BA Centre of Excellence in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL). In 2017 and 2018, she played for the Sydney Sparks in the SEABL. She returned to the Hunters for the 2019 Waratah League season and continued with Newcastle in 2020. In 2021, McSpadden joined the Rockhampton Cyclones of the

NBL1 North NBL1 North, formerly the Queensland Basketball League (QBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Queensland partnered wit ...

. She continued with the Cyclones in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

National team career

McSpadden made her international debut at the 2015 FIBA Oceania Under-16 Championship for Women in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

with the U17 Sapphires, where she helped them qualify for the world championship the following year. At the world championship, the Sapphires won their inaugural title in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. After snapping team USA's 28-game win streak at U17 level, Australia went on to take home Gold. McSpadden went on to represent Australia at the

2017 FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup The 2017 FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup ( it, Campionato mondiale di basket femminile Under 19 FIBA 2017) was hosted by Italy from 22 to 30 July 2017. Russia won their first title (or third if the Soviet Union is included) by defeat ...

and the 2019 World University Games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McSpadden, Lara 1999 births Living people Australian women's basketball players Centers (basketball) Basketball players from Sydney Sydney Uni Flames players Townsville Fire players FISU World University Games gold medalists for Australia Summer World University Games medalists in basketball Medalists at the 2019 Summer Universiade Sportswomen from New South Wales