Jenna O'Hea

Jenna O'Hea

O'Hea at the Opals camp in May 2012
WNBA's Seattle Storm  – No. 4
Guard/Forward
Born 6 June 1987
Traralgon, Victoria, Australia
Nationality Australian
Listed height 186 cm (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Listed weight 174 lb (79 kg)
College Caulfield Grammar, Melbourne
WNBA career 2011–present
Profile WNBA player profile
WNBA teams
Los Angeles Sparks (2011-2013)
Seattle Storm (2014-present)
Non-WNBA teams
Australian Institute of Sport (2003-2005)
Dandenong Rangers (2005-2007)
Bendigo Spirit (2007-2008)
Arras (2008-2009)
Bulleen Boomers (2009-2011)
Dandenong Rangers (2011-present)
Awards and honors
2× WNBL All-Star (2010, 2011)
2× WNBL Champion (2011, 2012)

Jenna O'Hea (born 6 June 1987) is an Australian professional basketball player who currently plays for the Seattle Storm in the Women's National Basketball Association, and for the Dandenong Rangers in the Women's National Basketball League. She is also a member of the Australia women's national basketball team.

Personal

Jenna O'Hea was born in Traralgon, Victoria on 6 June 1987,[2][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.[5] She is 185 centimetres (73 in) tall and weighs 79 kilograms (12 st 6 lb).[2] Her best friend is Opals teammate Kathleen MacLeod.[6]

Basketball

O'Hea plays Guard and Forward.[2]

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),[7][7][8][8] 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.[9] but missed the World Championship through injury.[10] 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][11]

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,[5] but had to deal with a foot injury.[5] 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.[5] 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.[12]

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][13][14] The Boomers were runner ups in the WNBL Grand Finals.[3] She was described as a rising star in the WNBL in August 2010 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.[13][14][14] 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.[13] 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.[15] She played for the Dandengong Rangers again in 2012, and re-signed with the team in May 2012 for the 2012/2013 season.[16][17]

Overseas

She played in France in 2008/2009 with Arras Pays d'Artois Basket Féminin in the Fédération Française de Basket-Ball,[18] and in the American Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for the Los Angeles Sparks in the 2011-2013 seasons,[19][20] before being traded to the Seattle Storm for the 2014 season.[21]

National team

Lauren Jackson, Jenna O'Hea and Carrie Graf at a 14 May 2012 press conference at the Australian Institute of Sport

In March 2007, she was named to the national team what would prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[22] She participated in a week-long training camp with the national team in Canberra in late March and early April 2008,[23] but did not make her Opals debut until 2009. She was named in the 2010 Opals World Championship Squad.[3][10] In mid-2010, she participated in a tour of China, USA and Hungary,[24] and in 2010, was a member of the senior women's national team that competed at the World Championships in the Czech Republic.[3][25] She missed the Olympic qualification series in July 2011 because of WNBA commitments,[19] but was named to the 2012 team.[26] In February 2012, she was named to a short list of 24 eligible players to represent Australia at the 2012 London Olympics.[2] 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.[27]

She participated in the national team training camp held from 14 to 18 May 2012 at the Australian Institute of Sport.[15] The local paper expected that she would be an Olympic starter in the 2012 Games.[16] Opal players who make the team wear Dunlop Volleys shoes, which are highly coveted by O'Hea.[17] 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.[16]

See also

References

Wikinews has related news: Australian media focuses on Olympic prospects against US for women's basketball
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jenna O'Hea.
  1. ↑ "Jenna O'Hea". london2012.olympics.com.au. Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "London 2012 - 2012 Australian Opals squad named". London2012.olympics.com.au. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 "Basketball Australia : Jenna O'Hea". Basketball.net.au. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Round 10 Preview". SportsAustralia.com. 8 December 2006. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "O'Hea Puts Best Foot Forward". Herald Sun. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  6. ↑ O'Hea, Jenna (12 May 2012). "Jenna O'Hea's Olympic diary". Herald-Sun. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 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.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Past Athletes : Australian Institute of Sport : Australian Sports Commission". Ausport.gov.au. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  9. ↑ Australian Institute of Sport; Basketball Australia (2011). AIS Basketball 2011. Canberra: Australian Sports Commission. 49.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Dandenong Rangers: Jenna O'Hea". WNBL.com.au. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  11. ↑ Australian Institute of Sport; Basketball Australia (2011). AIS Basketball 2011. Canberra: Australian Sports Commission. 47.
  12. ↑ "Lightning strikes out Rangers | Star Dandenong | Star News Group Local News, Sport, Entertainment". Starnewsgroup.com.au. 8 February 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Basketball Australia; Smith-Gander, Diane, eds. (2011). "Bulleen Boomers". IiNet WNBL Finals Series (2010/2011 ed.) (WNBL): 4–5. Official Programme
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Jackson, Taylor to lead Opals into worlds - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 19 August 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "AUS - Opals announce training camp squad". FIBA. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Ward, Roy (7 May 2012). "WNBL: O'Hea to stay with Rangers - Local News - Sport - Basketball". The Greater Dandenong Weekly. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Rangers star O'Hea in form for London". Theage.com.au. 5 May 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  18. ↑ "O'Hea, Jenna" (in French). Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Opals count down to Olympics". Wwos.ninemsn.com.au. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  20. ↑ "Sparks Sign Australian National Team Member Jenna O'Hea". WNBA. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  21. ↑ "Seattle Storm Completes Trade with Los Angeles". WNBA. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  22. ↑ 12 March 2007 11:30PM (12 March 2007). "Phillips keeps Opals place". Adelaide Now. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  23. ↑ "Opals twelve for Beijing test selected". SportsAustralia.com. 8 April 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  24. ↑ "Opals hit road for world title lead-up". Wwos.ninemsn.com.au. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  25. ↑ Australian Institute of Sport; Basketball Australia (2011). AIS Basketball 2011. Canberra: Australian Sports Commission. 45.
  26. ↑ "Basketball Australia : 2012 Squad". Basketball Australia. 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  27. ↑ "Lauren Jackson says others must fill void left by injured Penny Taylor". Daily Telegraph. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.

External links