Rebecca "Spida" Allen (born 6 November 1992) is an Australian

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 basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established as the Orlando Miracle in ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA). Allen was a member of the Australian Women's basketball team (Opals) at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...

. The Opals were eliminated after losing to the USA in the quarterfinals.

Early years

Allen was born and bred in Melbourne, Australia. She played in the junior competition for the suburb Nunawading. Allen has twin brother, Christopher. Allen was given the nickname "Spida" because of her long limbs. She was sought out by the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) at the age of 16.

Career

WNBL

In the domestic Women's National Basketball League (WNBL), Allen has played for the

Dandenong Rangers The Dandenong Rangers were an Australian professional women's basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League ( WNBL). The club is based in Dandenong, Melbourne, Victoria. The team was founded as the Dandenong Rangers, howeve ...

(2009–2010), Australian Institute of Sport (2010–2012),

Melbourne Boomers The Melbourne Boomers are an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Boomers compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play the majority of their home games at Melbourne Sports Centre – Pa ...

(2012–2015) and South East Queensland Stars (2015–2016). In 2014, Allen was awarded the WNBL

Robyn Maher Robyn Maher (born 6 October 1959) is a retired female basketball player from Australia, who played for the Sydney Uni Flames. A three-time Olympian she was a member of the national women's team that won the bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Ol ...

Defensive Player of the Year.Ward, Roy (3 March 2014)
''Rebecca Allen re-signs with Melbourne Boomers''
The Age. Retrieved 26 July 2014. Alongside the WNBL, in Australia Allen played with the Knox Raiders for the 2013

SEABL The South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) was an Australian semi-professional basketball league. The league comprised both a men's and women's competition and was run by the country's governing body, Basketball Australia. The league wa ...

Season where the team took home the Championship. Allen starred and was awarded the Barbara Barton (Grand Final MVP) medal. She was previously awarded the 2011 SEABL Youth Player of the Year.South East Australian Basketball League (19 December 2013)
''WNBL star Rebecca Allen returns to the Spectres''
SEABL. Retrieved 25 August 2014.

WNBA

After her success at the World Championship, where she won a bronze medal, Allen signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the New York Liberty for the 2015 WNBA season. She made her WNBA debut in the Liberty’s 2015 season opener against Atlanta, scoring six points. Shortly into the 2015 season, Allen suffered a season-ending right knee cartilage injury and decided to return home to Australia to undergo surgery. Allen was traded to the

in January 2023, as part of a three-team deal.

LIGA FEMENINA ENDESA

In 2020, after the pandemic, she signed with the Spanish team, Valencia Basket.

National Team

Youth Level

Allen made her debut for the

Gems Gems, or gemstones, are polished, cut stones or minerals. Gems or GEMS may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Gems'' (Aerosmith album), 1988 * ''Gems'' (Patti LaBelle album), 1994 * ''Gems'' (Michael Bolton album), 2011 * Gems TV, ...

at the

2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women The 2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women was hosted by Chile from July 21 to July 31, 2011. The draw for the Championship took place on March 18, 2011 in Puerto Montt. Teams played a round robin tournament, round robin schedule, with t ...

held in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Her long arms and legs earned her the nickname "Spida".

Senior Level

Allen is a current member of the Australian Women's basketball squad.Basketball Australia. Opals Players
Rebecca Allen
Retrieved 26 July 2014. Following good form in preliminary lead-up games, Allen was selected to represent the Opals at the 2014 World Championship held in Turkey where she would make her national team debut. In 2019, Allen was named to the final roster for the 2019 FIBA Asia Cup. After strong showings throughout this tournament, Allen was named to the tournament All-Star Five. Allen, like all the other members of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Opals women's basketball team, had a difficult tournament. The Opals lost their first two group stage matches. They looked flat against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and then lost to China in heartbreaking circumstances. In their last group match the Opals needed to beat

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

by 25 or more in their final match to progress. This they did by 27 in a very exciting match. However, they lost to the United States in their quarterfinal 79 to 55.

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 2015 , align="left" , New York , 2 , , 0 , , 17.0 , , .300 , , .000 , , .000 , , 4.5 , , 0.0 , , 1.5 , , 1.0 , , 1.5 , , 3.0 , - , align="left" ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, align="left" , New York , 21 , , 6 , , 13.3 , , .459 , , .567 , , .867 , , 1.7 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 0.6 , , 5.7 , - , align="left" ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, align="left" , New York , 33 , , 0 , , 9.2 , , .376 , , .341 , , .333 , , 2.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 2.8 , - , align="left" ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

, align="left" , New York , 28 , , 0 , , 10.4 , , .376 , , .263 , , .840 , , 1.7 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 3.8 , - , align="left" ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, align="left" , New York , 24 , , 2 , , 17.2 , , .417 , , .426 , , .813 , , 2.5 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 7.2 , - , align="left" ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, align="left" , New York , 25 , , 13 , , 24.6 , , .343 , , .381 , , .892 , , 3.7 , , 1.1 , , 1.6 , , 1.2 , , 0.8 , , 9.2 , - , align="left" ,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

, align="left" , New York , 25 , , 19 , , 20.9 , , .379 , , .313 , , .833 , , 3.4 , , 1.2 , , 0.8 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 7.0 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 7 years, 1 team , 158 , , 40 , , 15.6 , , .384 , , .369 , , .829 , , 2.5 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 5.7

Playoffs

, - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , New York , 1 , , 0 , , 6.7 , , 1.000 , , 1.000 , , .000 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.0 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , New York , 1 , , 1 , , 29.0 , , .500 , , .600 , , .000 , , 4.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 3.0 , , 0.0 , , 11.0 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , New York , 3 , , 0 , , 16.3 , , .286 , , .167 , , 1.000 , , 3.0 , , 1.3 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 1.0 , , 4.3 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 3 years, 1 team , 5 , , 1 , , 17.0 , , .391 , , .417 , , 1.000 , , 2.6 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 5.4

References

External links

Rebecca Allen Inteview at Nostresport.com
Retrieved 6 February 2023 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Rebecca 1992 births Living people Australian expatriate basketball people in France Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian Institute of Sport basketball (WNBL) players Australian women's basketball players Basketball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Dandenong Rangers players Forwards (basketball) Melbourne Boomers players New York Liberty players Olympic basketball players of Australia People educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School People from Wangaratta South East Queensland Stars players Sportswomen from Victoria (Australia) Undrafted Women's National Basketball Association players

Early years

Career

WNBL

WNBA

LIGA FEMENINA ENDESA

National Team

Youth Level

Senior Level

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

Playoffs

See also

References

External links