Jenna O'Hea

Jenna O'Hea (born 6 June 1987) is an Australian professional basketball player who currently plays for the Southside Flyers in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). O'Hea is also currently the captain of Australia's national team, the Opals.

Jenna O'Hea

O'Hea at Madison Square Garden in 2015
No. 4 – Southside Flyers
Position	Guard / Forward[1]
League	WNBL
Personal information
Born	(1987-06-06) 6 June 1987 Traralgon, Victoria, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Listed height	186 cm (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Listed weight	174 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High school	Caulfield Grammar, Melbourne
Playing career	2003–present
Career history
2003–2005	Australian Institute of Sport
2005–2007	Dandenong Rangers
2007–2008	Bendigo Spirit
2008–2009	Arras
2009–2011	Bulleen Boomers
2011–2013	Los Angeles Sparks
2011–2014	Dandenong Rangers
2014–2016	Seattle Storm
2017–2019	Melbourne Boomers
2019–present	Southside Flyers
Career highlights and awards
2× WNBL All-Star (2010, 2011) 2× WNBL champion (2011, 2012)
Stats at WNBA.com
Medals Basketball Representing  Australia Olympic Games 2012 London Team FIBA World Cup 2018 Spain Team FIBA Asia Cup 2019 Bangalore Team Commonwealth Games 2018 Gold Coast Team

Career

Junior Basketball

O'Hea played for the Nunawading Spectres at junior level, and represented her home state of Victoria at the U16, U18 and U20 levels. She played for Victoria Metro in the Australian under-16 championships in 2001 and 2002, and at the Australian under-18 Championships in 2003.[3] She also represented Victoria in netball at the U16 Championships in New Zealand.[3][4] In 2003, O'Hea was awarded a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS),[5][5][6][6] earning the Betty Watson Rookie of the Year Award. She had 19 caps with the Australian U19 Gems team in 2003, 2004 and 2005,[3] and was a member of the team that won a gold medal in the Oceania World Qualification Series in 2004.[7] but missed the World Championship through injury.[8] She had 17 caps with the Australian U21 Sapphires, which she led in scoring at the 2007 World Championships in Russia, netting 132 points in eight games to average 16.5 per game which was also fourth best in the tournament. She averaged 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. The team won the silver medal.[3][9]

WNBL

O'Hea played part of the 2005 season with the Australian Institute of Sport team in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL), before joining the Dandenong Rangers for the 2005/2006 season, in which her team were runners up.[3] She averaged 5.1 points per game and 2.8 rebounds per game this season,[10] but had to deal with a foot injury.[10] In the 2006/2007 season she played in the forward position for the Rangers. She avoided training during the early part of so as not to aggravate a foot injury. Nonetheless, in the first seven games of the season, she averaged 21.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. In one game against Bulleen, she scored 28 points. In those seven games, she only shot under 20 points only two times. Her team lost only in the two games she did not play. That season, she was coached by Gary Fox.[10] In the team's 66–61 preliminary loss to the Adelaide Lightning, O'Hea scored 28 points and had a field goal percentage of 55%. She led the game in scoring.[11]

She was with the Bendigo Spirit for the 2007/2008 season,[3] and then played her first season with the Bulleen Boomers in 2009/2010.[3][12][13] The Boomers were runners-up in the WNBL Grand Finals.[3] She was described as a rising star in the WNBL in August 2010 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.[12][13][13] For most of the 2010/2011 season, she dealt with two injuries, the first of which left her on the bench for four weeks. Her second was a knee injury. She finished the season with an average of 12 points per game, 4 rebounds and 5 assists per game.[12] The Boomers won the championship that season and she was named to the WNBL All-Star Five.[3] She played for the Dandenong Rangers in 2011/2012, again helping her team to win the WNBL's championship.[14] She played for the Dandengong Rangers again in 2012, and re-signed with the team in May 2012 for the 2012/2013 season.[15][16]

Overseas

She played in France in 2008/2009 with Arras Pays d'Artois Basket Féminin in the Fédération Française de Basket-Ball,[17] and in the American Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for the Los Angeles Sparks in the 2011–2013 seasons,[18][19] before being traded to the Seattle Storm for the 2014 season.[20]

National Team

In March 2007, she was named to the national team what would prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[21] She participated in a week-long training camp with the national team in Canberra in late March and early April 2008,[22] but did not make her Opals debut until 2009. She was named in the 2010 Opals World Championship Squad.[3][8] In mid-2010, she participated in a tour of China, USA and Hungary,[23] and in 2010, was a member of the senior women's national team that competed at the World Championships in the Czech Republic.[3][24] She missed the Olympic qualification series in July 2011 because of WNBA commitments,[18] but was named to the 2012 team.[25] In February 2012, she was named to a short list of 24 eligible players to represent Australia at the 2012 London Olympics.[1] Opals teammate Lauren Jackson named O'Hea and Belinda Snell as players who would step up after Penny Taylor was injured and ruled out for London.[26]

She participated in the national team training camp held from 14 to 18 May 2012 at the Australian Institute of Sport.[14] The local paper expected that she would be an Olympic starter in the 2012 Games.[15] Opal players who make the team wear Dunlop Volleys shoes, which are highly coveted by O'Hea.[16] In early May 2012, O'Hea and several of her national team teammates did a strength conditioning effort in the lead up to the mid-May training camp.[15]

Career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
TO	Turnovers per game	FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
Bold	Career high	°	League leader

WNBA

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2011	Los Angeles	31	5	16.4	.434	.444	.786	1.5	1.3	0.3	0.1	0.8	4.8
2012	Los Angeles	8	0	18.0	.520	.500	.714	2.5	2.0	0.3	0.1	0.7	4.8
2013	Los Angeles	29	0	13.7	.438	.500	.667	1.3	1.0	0.4	0.3	0.8	3.0
2014	Seattle	29	0	13.4	.436	.403	.900	1.3	1.0	0.4	0.3	0.8	4.8
2015	Seattle	34	14	20.9	.381	.383	.923	1.9	2.4	0.5	0.2	1.1	5.9
2016	Seattle	22	2	11.5	.348	.316	.900	1.3	0.9	0.3	0.1	0.6	3.0
Career	6 years, 2 teams	153	21	15.7	.412	.411	.835	1.6	1.4	0.4	0.2	0.8	4.4

Postseason

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2012	Los Angeles	4	0	17.8	.250	.200	1.000	1.8	1.3	0.2	0.0	1.2	2.3
2013	Los Angeles	2	0	11.9	.333	.250	.870	1.0	1.0	0.5	0.0	1.0	3.0
Career	2 years, 1 team	6	0	15.8	.286	.222	.833	1.5	1.2	0.3	0.0	1.2	2.5

Personal life

Jenna O'Hea was born in Traralgon, Victoria on 6 June 1987,[1][3] and was educated at Caulfield Grammar School in Melbourne, from which she graduated in 2006.[3][4] She has two brothers, Matthew and Luke.[3][4] Both have played basketball; Matt for the Melbourne Tigers, and her other and older brother Luke in Ireland.[10] She is 185 centimetres (73 in) tall and weighs 79 kilograms (12 st 6 lb).[1] Her best friend is Opals teammate Kathleen MacLeod.[27]

See also

• List of Australian WNBA players
• List of Caulfield Grammar School people

References

1. "London 2012 – 2012 Australian Opals squad named". London2012.olympics.com.au. 16 February 2012. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
2. "Jenna O'Hea". london2012.olympics.com.au. Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
3. "Basketball Australia : Jenna O'Hea". Basketball.net.au. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
4. "Round 10 Preview". SportsAustralia.com. 8 December 2006. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
5. Australian Institute of Sport; Basketball Australia (2011). AIS Basketball 2011. Canberra: Australian Sports Commission. p. 60. This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page.
6. "Past Athletes : Australian Institute of Sport : Australian Sports Commission". Ausport.gov.au. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
7. Australian Institute of Sport; Basketball Australia (2011). AIS Basketball 2011. Canberra: Australian Sports Commission. p. 49. This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page.
8. "Dandenong Rangers: Jenna O'Hea". WNBL.com.au. Archived from the original on 26 February 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
9. Australian Institute of Sport; Basketball Australia (2011). AIS Basketball 2011. Canberra: Australian Sports Commission. p. 47. This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page.
10. "O'Hea Puts Best Foot Forward". Herald Sun. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
11. "Lightning strikes out Rangers | Star Dandenong | Star News Group Local News, Sport, Entertainment". Starnewsgroup.com.au. 8 February 2007. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
12. Basketball Australia; Smith-Gander, Diane, eds. (2011). "Bulleen Boomers". IiNet WNBL Finals Series (2010/2011 ed.). WNBL: 4–5. Official Programme
13. "Jackson, Taylor to lead Opals into worlds – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 19 August 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
14. "AUS – Opals announce training camp squad". FIBA. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
15. Ward, Roy (7 May 2012). "WNBL: O'Hea to stay with Rangers – Local News – Sport – Basketball". The Greater Dandenong Weekly. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
16. "Rangers star O'Hea in form for London". Theage.com.au. 5 May 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
17. "O'Hea, Jenna" (in French). Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
18. "Opals count down to Olympics". Wwos.ninemsn.com.au. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
19. "Sparks Sign Australian National Team Member Jenna O'Hea". WNBA. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
20. "Seattle Storm Completes Trade with Los Angeles". WNBA. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
21. "Phillips keeps Opals place". Adelaide Now. 12 March 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
22. "Opals twelve for Beijing test selected". SportsAustralia.com. 8 April 2008. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
23. "Opals hit road for world title lead-up". Wwos.ninemsn.com.au. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
24. Australian Institute of Sport; Basketball Australia (2011). AIS Basketball 2011. Canberra: Australian Sports Commission. p. 45. This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page.
25. "Basketball Australia : 2012 Squad". Basketball Australia. 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
26. "Lauren Jackson says others must fill void left by injured Penny Taylor". Daily Telegraph. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
27. O'Hea, Jenna (12 May 2012). "Jenna O'Hea's Olympic diary". Herald-Sun. Retrieved 16 May 2012.

External links

• Jenna O'Hea at FIBA
• Jenna O'Hea at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• WNBL profile
• WNBA profile
• Basketball Australia profile
• Jenna O'Hea's Olympic diary (2012 London Olympics blog in News Limited newspapers)