Writing and photographs by Dean Andrews

On Thursday evening 15 January Perth Lynx guard/forward Alex Ciabattoni reached 150 WNBL games in the opening game of HoopsFest between Perth and Bendigo Spirit at RAC Arena. Fittingly Perth starter Ciabattoni recorded the last score of the game, receiving a hand-off from Han Xu at the top off the three-point line and then drove, displaying composure and skill to make a lay up with 17 seconds left in the fourth quarter to extend the Lynx lead over Bendigo to four points. All five Perth starters reached double figures in scoring against Bendigo with Ciabattoni scoring 11 points and making a team-high four assists. Perth’s 85-81 victory over Bendigo was their 14th regular season win of 2025/26 and the Lynx have qualified for their fifth consecutive finals series.

180 centimetre tall Ciabattoni has the versatility to play any basketball position from one through to three and if playing as a point guard she often has a size advantage over her opponent and utilises this effectively. Throughout Ciabattoni’s basketball career her strengths have been her reading of the play, basketball IQ, decision making and the ability to execute the right play for that situation proficiently.

Whilst growing up in the suburbs of Adelaide Alex watched her mum play social basketball on Tuesday night’s. Alex’s parents encouraged her to play a variety of sports and ‘to do her thing’ not just follow in her mum’s footsteps. After trying a variety of sports Alex and her family realised that the sport she was most passionate about was basketball. When Alex started playing basketball for her school team her mother was the coach. Three coaches that had a massive influence on Ciabattoni’s development as a  junior basketball player were her mum along with Boti and Ilze Nagy. In top age under 16’s things clicked for Alex and her basketball play progressed rapidly. Ciabattoni played for her state, South Australia as a junior and made her debut as a teenager at senior level for Southern Tigers in the Central ABL in South Australia in 2010.

At 18 years of age Ciabattoni moved to the United States of America and played College basketball for Newman University in the United States of America. Ciabattoni excelled in both her seasons for Newman University to be named to the All-Heartland Conference First Team in 2012/13 and 2013/14 . In her sophomore 2013/14 season with Newman University Ciabattoni averaged 20.2 points per game, had a field goal accuracy of 59.3% and was named the Heartland Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Year.

South Australian Ciabattoni played the first 38 games of her WNBL career for her home state team, Adelaide Lightning in 2015/16 and 2016/17 whilst living with her parents. In her debut 2015/16 season with Adelaide Ciabattoni averaged 4.7 points per game and won the league’s Betty Watson Rookie of the Year Award.

Ciabattoni moved to Perth to join WNBL club Perth Lynx for the 2017/18 season. In her first weekend out in Perth Chibba met the man who later became her husband, James Goodlad. Ciabattoni’s last six WNBL seasons from 2017/18 onwards have all been for Perth Lynx comprised of three seasons before having son Elijah in January 2023 and three seasons after becoming a mother. Between her first season playing for Perth Lynx in 2017/18 and her second season playing for the club in 2020 Ciabattoni spent the 2018/19 and 2019/20 Australian summers playing basketball in Italy.

Ciabattoni shooting a jump shot for Perth Lynx against the Melbourne Boomers on 22 January 2024 at Melbourne Sport Centres – Parkville

Although Ciabattoni has played each of her last six WNBL seasons with Perth Lynx it is only the bookends in this sequence, her debut season with Perth in 2017/18 and the current 2025/26 season that would be considered typical WNBL seasons for a player. Due to factors impacting the league as whole (2020), her club Perth (2021/22) or herself individually (2023/24 and 2024/25) the four seasons in between the two bookends had components for Chibba that were different to a typical WNBL season for a player. Due to COVID-19 restrictions all eight WNBL clubs were based in hubs in North Queensland for the shortened 2020 season. Due to COVID-19 restrictions in Western Australia Perth Lynx were based outside their home state of WA in Victorian country town Ballarat for the majority of the 2021/22 season and only played four home games in Perth during the regular season. Whilst pregnant during the 2022/23 WNBL season Ciabattoni booked her wedding for two years time and didn’t expect to be playing in the WNBL after becoming a mum. In her first WNBL season after having son Elijah in January 2023 it was several months before Ciabattoni felt that that her body was back to normal in January / February 2024. Ciabattoni’s wedding on 7 December 2024 in Adelaide was in Round 6 of the 2024/25 WNBL season, the same day that Perth played a road game against Sydney. Ciabattoni missed three games for Perth Lynx due to her wedding. In the last game of the 2024/25 WNBL regular season Ciabattoni made a game-winning three pointer with five seconds left in overtime of a road game against Townsville to ensure that Perth finished second on the ladder.

The mutual respect Petrik and Ciabattoni have for one another was a critical factor in Ciabattoni returning to the WNBL after becoming a mum. In an article ‘Chibba thankful of teammates, coach in successful return’ published on wnbl.basketball on 19 December 2023 Ciabattoni commented “Honestly I don’t even think I would have been able to transition as well without Ryan. A few years ago it might have been different, but he has a young daughter now and might have been more prepared than I was for what it would be like. His wife, Chelsea, played with me at NBL1 and came back after a baby, and he saw how much work went into that and how frustrated she got with her body and everything. He knew somewhat what to expect, but I just thought I’d be fine and would come back no problem. But just having his support and having him even when I’m down, he is great at understanding I’ve got a lot going on and it’s been huge. Without his support, I don’t even think I would have been able to come back.”1

Alex Ciabattoni playing for Perth Lynx against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 1 December 2024

During the press conference after Perth’s Round 12 victory against Adelaide Lightning on 2 January 2026 Lynx Head Coach Ryan Petrik commented on Ciabattoni’s leadership and versatility, saying “Obviously coaches talk about the point guard relationship with the coach. Obviously she is a funky point guard in this league because she is really a combo-guard who can play one through three.” In Ciabattoni’s six seasons playing for Perth Lynx Ryan Petrik has been a coach, initially an Assistant Coach in 2017/18 and then a Head Coach from 2020 onwards. In the press conference Petrik commented on Ciabattoni “She understands what I want and how I wanna play and I think it suits her style of play and therefore she does become an extension of the coach on the court, maybe not on defense but on the offensive end she certainly does.”

Ciabattoni wears jersey number 8 for the Lynx and season number 8 in the league has been a big one for milestones, reaching 100 club games for Perth Lynx, 1,000 career points in the WNBL and 150 career games in the league. In an article ‘Chibba “grateful” to bring up 150 -game milestone’ published by the WNBL on 14 January 2026 Ciabattoni commented “It [the milestone] means the world to me. As a kid, my goal was always to make the WNBL, so to be able to do that and play 150 games is very cool. I didn’t even think I’d get to 100 games, because after I had Eli, I thought that would be it. The past 50-odd since coming back with Eli to play have been so special and I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to come back and play by the club and Ryan [Petrik]. Anyone that knows me knows that my career has been a bit up and down, so just to get here is just such a privilege.”2

Just before tip off during the ESPN / Kayo coverage of Perth’s Round 14 HoopsFest game against Bendigo Spirit on 15 January commentator Liam Ellison said ”She is having a career season Lori, Alex Ciabattoni is averaging 15 points per outing, she has been superb in WNBL 26.” Lori Chizik commented on Ciabattoni “Those 15 points are at 53%, it is not only the things to me that are statable, to me she brings versatility, composure, IQ, great decision making, she really is the barometer for this team.”  

In each of her first five seasons with Perth Lynx Ciabattoni averaged more than 17.0 minutes and 4.0 points her game. Chibba was a member of the Perth Lynx teams that made the WNBL Grand Final in 2021/22 and 2023/24. During the 2025/26 WNBL season 31 year old Ciabattoni has thrived as a starter for Perth to rank 15th in the league with 14.9 points per game, a 49% improvement on her previous career-high of 10.0 points per game in 2020. Up until 19 January 2026 Ciabattoni played 17 of Perth’s 18 games, ranked 16th in the league with 3.18 assists per game and ranked 11th with a field goal accuracy of 51.8%. Playing for Perth Lynx Ciabatonni has a very good record playing against former team Adelaide Lightning however she has taken it to a new extreme in 2025/26, amassing a tally of 96 points in four games against Adelaide this season at an incredible average of 24 points per game. On the road for Perth against Adelaide in front of family on 21 December 2025 Ciabattoni scored a game-high and career-high 32 points at 81.8% from the field and made three of five three-pointers to be named the WNBL’s Player of the Round for Round 10.

Alex Ciabattoni’s amazing journey both on and off the basketball court to reach 150 WNBL games in career-best form is comprehensively covered below.

Early life, juniors and playing in the Central ABL at senior level

Alexanda Ciabattoni was born on 1 June 1994 in Adelaide, South Australia. During the Brad & Boti basketball podcast episode 85 Perth Lynx : Alex Ciabattoni published in February 2022 Boti Nagy asked “How did you get into basketball, how did you come in, was there some family member involved or how did it happen?” Ciabattoni responded “I used to watch my mum play social basketball. I remember going out on like a Tuesday night for her team. She started coaching our school team when I was in year 2 and I was like all-right, let’s try this sport and then from there I kind of stuck with it. I was fortunate enough to have some good coaching. Boti got me into Forestville (Eagles) in under 12’s, I went over to be coached by him and then followed him across to Southern (Tigers).”

Early in the 2025/26 WNBL season Chibba was a guest on Hey Pal Radio Episode 37 Ciabattoni hosted by Eric McFarland and published on 19 November 2025. In the episode Ciabattoni spoke about playing a variety of sports as a junior, commenting “My mum and dad were huge (with saying) you have to try every sport. We don’t care what you do, but you have to do something. For a while there my mum was like anything but basketball, ‘like that is my thing, you need to do your thing. Not that she played at a high level at all but just because ‘I don’t want you playing just because you see me playing so try everything’. Eventually she worked out that all we wanted to play was basketball so she started coaching our school team.” Had some pretty influential coaches come into my life that ended up taking me over to a different club with them, Boti and Ilze Nagy, did a lot of writing for Basketball Australia and stuff and the Advertiser. They were the ones that really took me under their wing and were like ‘Hey, I know you have been playing centre but your parents are short (by basketball standards) you are a point guard now. You are going to learn. What can we do for your development, we are going to teach you this awkward kind of jump shot that no-one else is doing but is going to work for you. They guided me, mentored me, made me into the player I am today. Between my mum and them they put so much time and effort into my development and it was just huge for me. It wasn’t until top age under 16’s that things started clicking and the rest is kind of history.”

McFarland asked “Do you think that maybe the fact that your mum didn’t want you to play basketball sort of worked in basketball’s favour because you were like, ‘look I have given the other sports a go and I still want to go back and play basketball’. Did you sort of have that sense that it is always going to end up on a basketball court even though you were pushed in different directions?” Chibba responded “I think so, you then work out that you actually enjoy it. I feel like there is a fine line between parents wanting kids to play sport and forcing them to do it vs kids that love it and want to be there. Not that either is wrong but when you have a kid that wants to do it off their own back it is obviously easier, you don’t have to motivate them, you don’t have to beg them to go out and do there own thing. A lot of times when the parents want it more than the kids it doesn’t always work.”      

As juniors Ciabattoni and current Perth Lynx teammate Wilson started playing basketball against each other when they were about eight years old. During Perth Wildcast S2E4 – Ally Wilson, Ally spoke about her experience playing basketball with and against Ciabattoni, commenting “I don’t know if I have amazing stories but we obviously go back a long way, we played with and against each other over time. We had a really good run at state one year and unfortunately came second to Victoria which was probably for the fifth time. I am proud to be her teammate here at Perth again.”

Ciabattoni started playing club basketball for Norwood Flames and played for several clubs in her junior career including for Forestville Eagles and Southern Tigers with Boti Nagy being her coach at the latter two clubs. At Forestville Eagles Ciabattoni was teammates with current Adelaide Lightning player and Australian Opal Steph Talbot.

From 2010 to 2012 Ciabattoni played at senior level as a teenager for Southern Tigers in the Central ABL in South Australia. In 2012 Ciabattoni scored at least 20 points in seven of her 11 games with a season-high 31 points against the Sabres on 29 April. Ciabattoni played for South Adelaide Panthers in the Central ABL in 2013.

In Hey Pal Radio Episode 37 Ciabattoni, published on 19 November 2025 host Eric McFarland asked “You started to play for the Southern Tigers in South Australia at around 16, as a teen. What did you gain from playing at such a high level at such a young age?” Ciabattoni replied “Honestly, just so much confidence in my own ability. At the time I was there the league was actually pretty strong. Being so young and getting the chance to train with women, play against women every week. You learn a lot because all of a sudden you are not more athletic than people, you are not stronger than them. You have to learn how to read the game more, things like that. That is something that is so overlooked, that skill.”

College basketball career from 2012/13 to 2014/15

At 18 years of ageCiabattoni moved to the United States of America to play college basketball for Newman University in the Heartland Conference during the 2012/13 season. At Newman University Ciabattoni majored in history. In her freshman season Ciabattoni was a starter in one of her first three games. From the fourth game of the 2012/13 season onwards Ciabattoni started every game for the Newman Jets. Ciabattoni reached double figures in scoring in 22 of her 26 games including her last 15 games of the season. In a road game against Kansas on 9 December Ciabattoni scored a game-high and season-high 27 points, took an equal team-high six rebounds, made four assists and had an equal game-high three steals in a 64-97 loss. Chibba made 11 of 20 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 55% and two of three three-pointers at 66.7%.

Ciabattoni played 26 games for Newman University in 2012/13 including 24 as a starter and averaged 13.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 29.2 minutes per game. Ciabattoni led Newman University for points and rebounds per game, was named in the All-Heartland Conference First Team and received the Heartland Conference Freshman of the Year award.

During her sophomore season for Newman University in 2013/14 Ciabattoni reached double figures in scoring in 26 of her 27 games including scoring at least 23 points in a game 10 times. Ciabattoni recorded five double-doubles, reaching double figures for points and rebounds in each of these games. In a home game against UA Fort Smith on 11 January Ciabattoni scored a game-high 23 points at 50% from the field, took a game-high and season-high 16 rebounds and blocked a game-high three shots in a 57-51 victory.

In a road game against Women’s Oklahoma Panhandle State on 15 February 2014 Ciabattoni scored a game-high and season-high 39 points, took six rebounds and made an equal team-high two steals in an 80-75 victory. Alex shot the ball proficiently to make 13 of 17 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 76.5%, made her only three-pointer and made all 12 free throws. 

During her 2013/14 sophomore season Ciabattoni played 27 games for Newman University, all as a starter and with exceptional play “led the Heartland in scoring at 20.2 points per game and her 59.3 percent field goal shooting was second in the conference. She was top 10 in rebounds (6.9), steals (1.8) and blocked shots (1.2).”3 Ciabattoni was named the Heartland Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Year and was selected in the All-Heartland Conference First Team.

In June 2014 Ciabattoni transferred from Newman University to Stetson University. Due to transfer rules at the time Ciabattoni attended Stetson in 2014/15 but had a red-shirt season and was unable to play for the Stetson women’s basketball team. Ciabattoni had two years of eligibility to play for Stetson commencing in 2015/16.  

Whilst back in Australia in 2015 Ciabattoni opted to join her home state WNBL club Adelaide Lightning rather than return to Stetson for the 2015/16 college season. On her decision to finish college basketball and return to Australia Ciabattoni commented in episode 85 of The Brad and Boti Basketball Podcast published in February 2023 “For me it was just that I felt like I couldn’t go any further with my basketball where I was and I also felt like I had already missed and sacrificed so much to be there and I saw coming home as an opportunity to continue my career but without having to make the same sacrifices that I had already made for three years.”

On the decision to play college basketball Ciabattoni told the Brad & Boti basketball podcast in February 2022 “I was training with the Australian Under 17 team and I ended up getting cut in the last round. Literally like the next week I was ‘You know what, I need to get out of here.’ I love to travel, I always really wanted to go to college so for me I was like nah, let’s go, let’s just have a different opportunity and If I don’t like it I can always come home. This is the only time in my life that I could really do that so it was really a no-brainer for me and I definitely made the most of my time over there, I loved it. In the years I was there (at Newman) I ended up getting like the Rookie of the Year and finishing in the top 10 for the American Conference team so I had a pretty good run there with them.“

2015/16 & 2016/17 WNBL seasons with Adelaide Lightning

After returning to Australian in 2015 during a university break Ciabattoni was training with state league club the Southern Tigers. During Season 4 Episode 8: Super subs: Garbin & Ciabattoni of the Basket Case podcast Carol Wical asked Ciabattoni “So you came back from college and you thought you might give the Lightning a crack?” Ciabattoni responded “Yeah, so I came back and did a few workouts with Tracy (York) who was the coach at the time in the off-season. She asked if I was interested in staying and I was like ‘Yeah, why not, this is the best way to get to the next level’ so I was pretty fortunate that that gig came up when it did. Tracy was pretty good to me and gave me a few minutes, yeah it was a pretty good first year experience.” 

The Adelaide Lightning almost folded between the 2014/15 and 2015/16 WNBL seasons due to financial difficulties. The Adelaide Lightning club history page states “In the 2015/16 season, Basketball SA ran the Lightning looking for an owner of the Club.”4  The uncertainty on whether Adelaide would have a club for the 2015/16 season made it more difficult to recruit players in the off-season.

During Hey Pal Radio Episode 37 Ciabattoni, Alex reflected on her debut WNBL season with Adelaide Lightning in 2015/16, commenting “It was actually a really fun season, we had a pretty cool group of girls. It was a real nice I guess a pressure-free first year in the league. There wasn’t a lot of expectation on me but there definitely wasn’t a lot on our team because it was a situation where we had just been saved, so it was like last minute signings. No-one knew how we would go, it ended up being a pretty enjoyable season.”

Five players played at least 18 games and averaged more than 25 minutes per game for Adelaide Lightning in 2015/16 – Leilani Mitchell, Kayla Steindl (nee Standish), Mikaela Ruef, Kelly Bowen and Mikaela Dombkins. Ciabattoni was one of five players that averaged between five and 25 minutes per game and played at least six games for Adelaide for the season along with Jessica Good, Morgan Yaeger, Jessica Bygate and Ieva Nagy. Tracy York was in her first season as Adelaide Lightning’s Head Coach, having previously been an Assistant Coach for Adelaide Lightning and NBL club the Adelaide 36ers.

Ciabattoni made her WNBL debut in Adelaide Lightning’s opening game of the 2015/16 season on the road against the Melbourne Boomers on 10 October 2015 at the State Basketball Centre. On debut at 21 years of age Ciabattoni scored two points and took one rebound playing seven minutes and seven seconds court-time in a 72-94 loss.

In a road game against the University of Canberra Capitals Ciabattoni scored a season-high 15 points, took five rebounds and made one assist playing 22 minutes and 15 seconds court time for Adelaide in a 78-71 victory at on 14 November 2015 at AIS Arena. Ciabattoni shot the ball proficiently to make six of nine field goal attempts at an accuracy of 66.7%, made one of two three-pointers at 50% and made both free throws. Ciabattoni ranked second for Adelaide in scoring and was one of four Lightning players to score at least 12 points along with Steindl (20 points), Bowen (14) and Mitchell (12).

On 13 December 2015 Ciabattoni scored a team-high 13 points and took two rebounds in just 13 minutes and 40 seconds court time for Adelaide in a 61-72 home loss against the SEQ Stars at Wayville Sports Centre. Ciabattoni shot the ball exceptionally to make six of eight field goal attempts at an accuracy of 75% and made her only three-pointer. The only other Adelaide player that reached double figures in scoring was Dombkins with 11 points.

Ciabattoni continued her impressive form in Adelaide’s next game with 14 points, seven rebounds two assists and an equal game-high two steals playing 20 minutes and 22 seconds court time in a 75-68 victory against the UC Capitals on 19 December 2015 at Adelaide 36ers Arena. Ciabattoni shot the ball adeptly to make six of nine field goal attempts at an accuracy of 66.7% and made two of five three-pointers at 40%. Chibba was the Lightning’s second highest scorer behind Ruef (18 points) and was joined in double figures by Mitchell (13) and Steindl (12).  

Ciabattoni missed Adelaide Lightning’s last four games of the season from February 5 to 20. In 2015/16 Ciabattoni played 19 games and averaged 4.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 13.3 minutes per game. Alex’s field goal percentage of 46.4% ranked second for the Lightning behind Steindl with 49.1%. Ciabattoni ranked sixth for Adelaide in points per game, equal sixth for assists and steals, and seventh for rebounds and minutes per game.

Ciabattoni won the WNBL’s 2015/16 Betty Watson Rookie of the Year Award. After winning the award Ciabattoni commented to her junior basketball coach Boti Nagy for an article published in The Daily Telegraph on 10 March 2016 “It’s pretty exciting, I did not expect it. I came a long way from my first few games when I was very nervous and scared of making a mistake. I couldn’t believe how big and quick everyone was, that was the biggest adjustment for me to learn how to score against that type of defence.”5

During The Brad & Boti Basketball Podcast, Perth Lynx – Alex Ciabattoni Episode 85 published on 9 February 2022 Boti commented sarcastically  “I know you were really well paid just like you were in college in your first year at Lightning.” Ciabattoni replied “Luckily I had a job but shout out to mum and dad for their support” Chibba laughs. Brad asked “Did you think of giving it up?” Ciabattoni replied “Honestly there have been lots of points iso far in my career where I have thought ‘I just need to get a real job, I need to move on with my life. I need to have some financial security.’ It is one thing for everyone to be like ‘oh but look at the life you are living’ and it is another thing when you are like ‘OK, am I going to get paid in my next contract or am I going to be on $500 a week like, begging mum to let me work after training at her shop’. How is this going to look for me because all my friends have just finished Uni, they are all getting jobs, they are all moving on with their lives buying houses and I am sitting here (going) ‘I think I can make it, it is very confronting at times.’” 

Chris Lucas was signed as Adelaide Lightning’s Head Coach for the 2016/17 season, having coached Townsville Fire to back-to-back WNBL championships in 2014/15 and 2015/16. Lucas had eight seasons experience as a WNBL Head coach comprised of three seasons for Adelaide followed by five seasons for Townsville.

Ciabattoni was the first player to sign with Adelaide for 2016/17 and commented to Boti Nagy for an article published in The Advertiser on 12 June 2016 “I had no intention of coming back (to Lightning) but when I knew Chris was coaching, that was all I needed. I’ve only ever heard great things about him and I believe he can help me improve as a player. I loved the Lightning growing up. It’s my club.”6

Three Adelaide Lightning players averaged more than 28.0 minutes per game in 2016/17, four-time Australian Opals Olympian Laura Hodges and two American imports, point guard Samantha Logic and forward Colleen Planeta. Ciabattoni was one of eight players that averaged between nine and 25 minutes per game along with Tayla Roberts, Sarah Elsworthy, Jordan Hunter, Jessica Good, Anneli Maley, Ieva Nagy and Anne Hatchard.

Adelaide Lightning team huddle during the game against the Melbourne Boomers on 9 October 2016 at the State Basketball Centre

For most of the season Ciabattoni played off the bench. Late in the 2016/17 season Ciabattoni was given increased court-time and flourished as a starter for Adelaide, scoring at least 15 points in three consecutive games for the Lightning from February 3 to 16.

Ciabattoni playing for Adelaide Lightning against the Melbourne Boomers on 9 October 2016 at the State Basketball Centre

On 3 February Ciabattoni scored 17 points and took nine rebounds to set team-highs in both categories in a home game at Adelaide 36ers Arena. Ciabattoni shot the ball proficiently to make seven of 11 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 63.6% and made all three free throws in the 66-74 loss.

In a home game for Adelaide Lightning on 10 February 2017 at Adelaide 36ers Arena Ciabattoni played a brilliant all-round game to score 15 points shooting at 47% from the field, took six rebounds, made a game-high eight assists and blocked one shot in a 72-85 loss to the Melbourne Boomers.  Ciabattoni was recognised for her exceptional game by being named in the WNBL’s Team of the Week for Round 18.

Six days later in a road game Ciabattoni scored 20 points, took four rebounds and made three assists  in Adelaide’s 76-74 road victory against the UC Capitals on 16 February 2017 at  Southern Cross Stadium. Ciabattoni made seven of 13 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 53.8% and two of four three-pointers at 50%. 

Ciabattoni playing for Adelaide Lightning against the Melbourne Boomers on 9 October 2016 at the State Basketball Centre

During 2016/17 Ciabattoni played 19 games for Adelaide Lightning and averaged 5.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 19.4 minutes per game. Ciabattoni ranked equal second for Adelaide in assists, fifth for points and sixth for minutes and rebounds per game.

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The Milestones and Misses website was set up in December 2015. In sport as with life in general it is common that milestones are only achieved after overcoming adversity. Whilst articles on the Milestones and Misses website celebrate sportspeople achieving milestones they also cover the misses along the journey such as a player having minimal game-time or spending a prolonged period on the sidelines due to injury.

Below are links to the Milestones and Misses Home Page and the WNBL Category page:

https://milestonesandmisses.com/

https://milestonesandmisses.com/category/wnbl/

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2017/18 WNBL season with Perth Lynx

After signing with Perth Lynx for the 2017/18 WNBL season Ciabattoni told wnbl.basketball “Signing with a club such as the Lynx, which over the past two seasons has undergone such a professional transformation, is extremely exciting. I think my versatility is my biggest asset. I’ve played point guard, off guard, small forward, and had to defend opposition fours, so I believe that ability to adapt to what the team might need from me is my biggest single asset.”7

Andy Stewart was in his third season as Head Coach of Perth Lynx and commented on Ciabattoni “Alex is a versatile combo guard. She has very good vision, she’s strong, and she’ll be able to play the one, two or three for us.”8 From Stewart’s first season as Head Coach of Perth Lynx in 2015/16 current Perth Head Coach Ryan Petrik was an Assistant Coach.

During the Brad & Boti basketball podcast episode 85 Perth Lynx : Alex Ciabattoni published in February 2022 Boti Nagy asked “How did Perth Lynx come about, where did that opportunity come from, was that through playing SEABL down in Tassie, is that the way it went?” Ciabattoni responded “Yeah, so I went to Tasmania and played in Hobart for the Chargers and that was a great season and met some great people. One of the people I met was Mark Nash and him and the Perth Lynx coach at the time were best friends and I spoke to him about wanting to get a contract in the league, staying in Australia to play. He actually put me onto Andy Stewart who flew down to Hobart to meet me and we had a bit of a chat over there and I ended up getting a contract to go play in Perth the next season. It was such a great opportunity for me, it was pretty lucky actually.”

On her 2017/18 WNBL season with Perth Lynx Ciabattoni commented to Basket Case on living in Perth and playing for the Lynx, Perth “Is all about the beach life and pretty chilled, a chilled place to live so I am loving it here. Basketball wise this is the first time I have really had the chance to focus on playing and having it as a professional career without worrying about anything else so I have been absolutely loving that and really enjoying Andy (Perth Head Coach Andy Stewart) and the girls get along so well so I am just loving it.” During her first week out in Perth Ciabattoni met the man that is now her husband, James Goodlad. James grew up in the South West of Western Australian in Bunbury and had a long career playing State League Basketball as a forward for the South West Slammers in the WA State League and later NBL1 West. 

Carol Wical asked “Do you feel like your game fits a piece of the puzzle for the Lynx or have you changed your game a bit to fit into that machine?” Ciabattoni responded “I think Andy just uses us pretty well, he knows our strengths. I feel like it is the team, they like to play a fast pace, up and down, if you are open he gives us the confidence to take shots. When you have a coach like that giving you all the freedom you want, even coming off the bench it is like it is hard not to excel.” 

For Perth Lynx’s opening game of the 2017/18 WNBL season on 8 October the starting line-up was Sami Whitcomb and American import Courtney Williams in the back court with Alice Kunek, Kalya Steindl and Amanda Dowe starting in the front court. Perth’s nine player core rotation who each averaged more than 12.0 minutes per game also included Ciabattoni, Natalie Burton, Toni Farnworth and Olivia Thompson. Whitcomb and Farnworth were named as Perth Lynx co-captains for the 2017/18 season.

Ciabattoni during half time of Perth Lynx’s game against Townsville Fire at the State Basketball Centre on 26 November 2017 during Cluster Round

Perth Lynx lost their first three games of the 2017/18 season, losing a home game to Sydney and then being defeated in road games by Adelaide and Bendigo, being defeated 71-106 in the latter game on 14 October. Five days later Perth turned things around in dramatic fashion in a home game at Bendat Basketball Centre to defeat Bendigo 106-79 ON 19 October. Off the bench for Perth against Bendigo Ciabattoni scored 21 points, took three rebounds, made two assists and blocked two shots in the 27 point victory at Bendat Basketball centre. Ciabattoni put on a shooting exhibition to make seven of 10 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 70% and was even more accurate from long range, making five of six three pointers at an accuracy of 83.3% in 19 minutes and 15 seconds court time. Alex made both free throw attempts and was Perth’s second highest scorer behind Kunek with 23 points. In their fifth game of the season Perth Lynx lost to Melbourne Boomers 77-79 at the State Basketball Centre on 21 October and had a record of one win and four losses.

Perth Lynx team huddle after their victory against the Townsville Fire at the State Basketball Centre on 26 November 2017 during Cluster Round

Against Bendigo in a road game on 17 November at Bendigo Stadium Ciabattoni scored 15 points, took two rebounds, made two steals and blocked one shot in an 83-71 victory. Ciabattoni shot the ball proficiently to make five of seven field goal attempts at an accuracy of 71% and three of four three-pointers at 75%.

Ciabattoni cheering for her teammates whilst on the bench during Perth Lynx’s game against Townsville Fire at the State Basketball Centre on 26 November 2017during Cluster Round

Perth Lynx defeated Melbourne Boomers 84-66 in a Round 12 home game at Bendat Basketball Centre on 23 December to win their 14^th consecutive game, setting a new club record. 10 of Perth’s victories during the winning streak were by at least 10 points. Perth had 15 wins and six losses during the 2017/18 regular season to finish on top of the ladder, one win ahead of Sydney and Townsville and three wins ahead of fourth placed Melbourne. For the two semi final series the lower ranked team hosted game 1 and the higher ranked team hosted game 2 and game 3 if it was required. In the following season the finals system was changed, enabling the top ranked team to host game 1 and then game 3 if required with the lower ranked team hosting game 2. 

In game one of the semi final series on 3 January 2018 at the State Basketball Centre. Perth trailed Melbourne Boomers 45-56 at half-time, were held to 10 points in the third quarter and were defeated 76-92. Just two days later the teams met in game 2 on the other side of the country at the Bendat Basketball Centre. Perth led Melbourne 53-48 at three quarter-time. In the last quarter Perth were outscored by Melbourne 16-30 and were defeated 69-78, ending their season.

During 2017/18 Ciabattoni played 23 games for Perth Lynx and averaged 5.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.9 steals and 16.5 minutes per game. Among players that played at least five games for Perth Ciabattoni ranked equal third for assists, fifth for points, equal fifth for steals, eighth for minutes and ninth for rebounds.

Late in Perth Lynx’s game against Townsville Fire Ciabattoni has possession of the ball at the State Basketball Centre on 26 November 2017 during Cluster Round

Playing in Italy in 2018/19 and 2019/20

After playing three consecutive WNBL seasons from 2015/16 to 2017/18 Ciabattoni spent the 2018/19 and 2019/20 Australian summers in Italy playing basketball. Ciabattoni started both the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons with Reyer Venezia and joined another team during the season, joining Ponzano basket in 2018/19 and Treofan Battlipaglia in 2019/20. In 2019 Ciabattoni played four EuroCup games for Reyer Venezia and averaged 3.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Ciabattoni played six EuroLeague games for Reyer Venezia in 2020.

During Basket Case Podcast Series 10, Episode 3 published on 15 November 2023 Ciabattoni talked about playing in Italy, commenting “2018/19 I ended up in Venice for a season which was such a good experience, good spot to live. From there I ended up going back to Europe the next year and moved down south in Italy to this little town called Battlipaglia, it was about 30 minutes from the Amalfi coast so that wasn’t too bad either. Played the two seasons there before COVID hit and put a quick end to everything over there and kind of just rushed back home. I got in the day before they made you do mandatory hotel quarantine which was fortunate.” 

Playing in State Leagues from 2016 to 2021

During 2016 Ciabattoni played for the Albury Wodonga Bandits in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL).  Chibba played 22 games for the season and averaged 12.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.

Ciabattoni joined the Hobart Chargers for the 2017 SEABL season and her teammates included Mikaela Ruef, Kathleen Scheer and Sharna Thompson. Playing the full 40 minutes Ciabattoni scored a season-high and team-high 33 points at 60.9% from the field and took nine rebounds in a road game against the Ballarat Miners on 17 June. 

In an All-Tasmanian clash Hobart hosted Launceston in the first semi final at the Derwent Entertainment Centre on 11 August. Hobart led by one point at three-quarter time but lost the last quarter 22-27 and were defeated 82-86. Ciabattoni scored a team-high 23 points at a field goal accuracy of 56.3%, took five rebounds and made four assists. For Hobart Ciabattoni scored at least 21 points in a game nine times in her 22 games for the season including the club’s last three games of the season. In 2017 Ciabattoni averaged 19.3 point, 6.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game and had a field goal accuracy of 47.0%.  

After playing for Perth Lynx during the 2017/18 WNBL season Ciabattoni remained in Western Australia and played for the Kalamunda Eastern Suns during the 2018 West Australian State Basketball League season. For her performances in Kalamunda’s two Round 14 wins Chibba was named the women’s WA SBL Player of the Week. In an upset home 94-80 victory against the Rockingham Flames Ciabattoni played a brilliant all-round game to score 23 points, take eight rebounds and make nine assists. On the road against Warwick Chibba scored 23 points, took six rebounds and made seven assists and had four steals in a 79-72 victory against the Stirling Senators. Ciabattoni was named in the WA State Basketball League’s 2018 All-Defensive First Team and led the league with 5.5 assists per game. 

In the last week of May 2019 Ciabattoni signed with the Rockingham Flames for the remainder of the 2019 West Australian State Basketball League season. It was an eventful week for Rockingham as Head Coach Craig Reynolds resigned in his first year as Head Coach, having taken over from current Perth Lynx Head Coach Ryan Petrik who was the Head Coach of the Rockingham Flames Women’s  team for a decade from 2009 to 2018, he commenced the role as Head Coach of the Flames Men’s team in 2019. The Flames had split their games late May 2019, having a record of six wins and six losses. After starting the season as an Assistant Coach at Rockingham Keegan Crawford took over as the Head Coach of the Rockingham Flames Women’s team for the remainder of the 2019 season at just 23 years of age. Crawford had spent some time as an Assistant Coach of the Flames Women’s team late in Petrik’s stint as Head Coach.

Throughout the 2019 SBL season Ciabattoni predominantly played as Rockingham’s point guard and was one of four players that averaged more than 25 minutes per game along with front court trio Darcee Garbin, Maddison Allen and Christina Boag. Another five players averaged at least 15 minutes per game, Chelsea Petrik (nee Armstrong), Tayah Burrows, Janelle Adams, Ella Kennedy and Ariana Hetherington. Whilst Ryan Petrik was no longer the coach of the Rockingham Flames Women’s team in 2019, a member of the family still had a leadership role with his wife Chelsea being a co-captain along with Kennedy.     

Rockingham finished seventh at the end of the 2019 regular season to qualify for the finals. The Flames peaked at the right time of the season, winning eight consecutive games to make the Grand Final. Rockingham carried this form into the Grand Final to convincingly defeat Warwick Senators 85-56 with Ciabattoni scoring 14 points, taking 10 rebounds and making four assists. 

At 25 years of age Ciabattoni was able to draw on her experience of having played three WNBL seasons, one season in Italy and was able to provide composure and leadership for her Rockingham Flames team during the 2019 SBL season. Rockingham Flames Head Coach Crawford commented to the Sound Telegraph “(Alex’s) veteran leadership and coming into the situation midyear with a calming voice like ‘hey guys, we’re good, we’re alright, we’ve got this’ (was important). Sometimes emotions were high but her being a professional, coming in having seen every scenario before, having her be able to focus on basketball and motivating the girls on what they needed motivating on, she was a consummate professional. The advice she was giving she was able to back up on the court too. If she was speaking from experience saying we needed to tighten up our defence she would be the first to tighten up. Anything she said she backed up with her own play.”9

The 2020 WA State Basketball League season was cancelled due to restrictions in place for COVID-19. For the 2021 season a new conference commenced, NBL1 West, taking over from the WA State Basketball League. NBL1 West is one of five NBL1 conferences in Australia along with NBL1 South, NBL1 East, NBL1 North and NBL1 Central.

For the 2021 NBL1 season Tom Knowles took over as the Rockingham Flames Women’s Coach having replaced 2019 championship winning Flames Head Coach Keegan Crawford in the off-season. Ciabattoni’s Rockingham teammates for the 2021 NBL1 West season included Tayah Burrows,  Christina Boag, Ariana Hetherington, Paris Duffield and Chelsea Petrik. In the first ever night of NBL1 West basketball on Friday 16 April 2021 Ciabattoni played brilliantly to score 32 points for Rockingham Flames and made five of nine three-pointers at an accuracy of 55.6% in a 78-85 loss to the Cockburn Cougars.

The Rockingham Flames finished sixth at the end of the 2021 NBL1 West regular season with a record of 10 wins and eight losses. In an elimination final on 20 August the sixth seeded Rockingham Flames lost to the seventh seeded Cockburn Cougars 75-81 with Ciabattoni scoring 21 points and taking five rebounds. During the 2021 NBL1 West season Ciabattoni played 17 games for the Rockingham Flames and averaged 20.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.0 steals per game whilst shooting at 49.1%.

On the road with Perth Lynx for all of the 2020 WNBL season and most of the 2021/22 season

Due to the impact of COVID-19 the 2020 WNBL season had a very different structure to previous seasons and imports weren’t eligible to play in the league. All eight WNBL clubs were located in North Queensland for the duration of the 2020 WNBL season which was played at three locations, Townsville, Cairns and Mackay. The regular season was condensed to five rounds commencing 11 November and each team played 13 regular season games.

Ciabattoni was a starter for Perth Lynx in 2020 along with Katie Ebzery, Alex Sharp, Kayla Steindl and Darcee Garbin, all five starters averaged more than 25.0 minutes per game. Another three players played at least 10 games and averaged more than 12.0 minutes per game for Perth – Tayah Burrows, Emma Clarke and Ashleigh Isenbarger (nee Grant). Ryan Petrik was in his first season as Perth Lynx Head Coach in 2020, having been an Assistant Coach to Andy Stewart for five seasons from 2015/16 to 2019/20.

Late in the 2020 pre-season Ciabattoni suffered an ankle injury. After playing just seven minutes and 49 seconds court time in Perth’s opening game of the 2020 season against Townsville Ciabattoni was able to build match conditioning and form as the North Queensland hub season progressed.

On 4 December Ciabattoni scored 18 points, took five rebounds and made three assists in Perth’s 84-75 victory against Townsville Fire at Townsville Stadium. Chibba shot the ball proficiently to make seven of 10 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 70%, two of four three-pointers at 50% and was Perth’s second highest scorer behind Ebzery (21 points). Two days later at the same venue Ciabattoni scored 15 points, took seven rebounds and made four assists in Perth’s 80-78 victory against Adelaide Lightning.

During the 2020 season Ciabattoni played 11 of a possible 13 games for Perth Lynx and averaged 10.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.2 steals and 25.1 minutes per game. Ciabattoni ranked equal first for Perth for steals with Garbin, ranked second for assists behind Ebzery, third for points behind Ebzery and Garbin and fifth for minutes and rebounds.

In June 2021 Perth Lynx Head Coach Petrik commend on Ciabattoni’s 2020 season “Unfortunately, last year, she busted her ankle badly right before we left for the hub. Up until that point, I’ve never seen her play better basketball. I don’t think it was a coincidence Chibba’s ankle improving in the 2nd half of the hub season saw a direct correlation with us playing a much better brand of basketball; she’s critical to what we do.”10

On 24 June 2021 Perth Lynx announced that Ciabattoni had signed with the club for the 2021/22 WNBL season. Chibba commented to WNBL Media “I think we played a great and exciting brand of basketball last season, which made coming back an easy decision. We have a big challenge ahead of us, but I think Coach Petrik is putting together a team that will be competitive and will see us playing into the postseason.”11

On Ciabattoni suiting up for Perth in 2021/22 Head Coach Petrik commented “Everyone knows Chibba’s a talented basketball player, but it’s her versatility and the fact she can legitimately play 3 positions well, which we love. We want to play a positionless style of basketball largely, and Alex helps us do that.”12

Perth experienced a very different 2021/22 WNBL season to other clubs due to Western Australia having tighter border restrictions than other Australian states to combat COVID-19. Perth’s seven rival WNBL clubs started their 2021/22 WNBL season in the first half of December. Perth commenced their 2021/22 WNBL season with a Round 5 road game against Adelaide Lightning at the Lights and Community Sports Centre on 2 January. The Lynx then travelled east and had an extended time on the road, based in Victorian country town Ballarat.

Throughout the 2021/22 WNBL season Perth Lynx’s full-strength starting line-up was Sami Whitcomb, American import duo Jackie Young and Marina Mabrey along with forward and club captain Darcee Garbin and centre Lauren Scherf. Other members of Perth’s 10 player main roster with Ciabattoni were Alex Sharp, Emma Clarke, Ashleigh Isenbarger and Tayah Burrows.

On Sunday 6 February 2022 Perth played a road game against the Melbourne Boomers at Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium (GRISS) in Traralgon. Lauren Scherf and Jackie Young were the only two members of Perth’s full strength starting five that played in the game as Marina Mabrey missed with a foot injury and Whitcomb and Garbin were on Australian Opals duties for the FIBA 2022 World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Serbia. Melbourne were also without three of their starters as Cayla George and Tess Madgen were with the Opals and Magbegor was on the sidelines with an ankle injury.

Ciabattoni started for Perth and the two sides were evenly matched in a close contest. With eight seconds left in the fourth quarter Alex Sharp made a three-pointer for Perth to level the scores at 65 points apiece in what ended up being the final score in regulation. In overtime Perth outscored Melbourne 11-6 to have a five point victory, 76-71. Ciabattoni scored 12 points, took two rebounds, made three assists and one steal playing a season-high 31 minutes and one second court-time.  Ciabattoni made five of seven field goal attempts at an accuracy of 71.4% against the Boomers.

Ciabattoni dribbling the ball up the court for Perth Lynx against Melbourne Boomers at Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium in Traralgon on 6 February 2022

On the challenges Perth Lynx faced in 2021/22 including being based in Ballarat for an extended period of time Ciabattoni told the Brad and Boti podcast “I speak for most of the team, honestly this has been one of the most challenging seasons that I think any of us have ever been through. There has just been so many factors that have made the perfect storm I guess for us. We came over here (to Ballarat) knowing we were going home the 5^th of Feb. They sent us to Ballarat which to be fair the people here have been amazing but it is not exactly near an airport, it is not near anyone’s friends, anyone’s family, even the girls from Melbourne have a two hour drive to get home. For us we got here and everyone (in the general public) decided to go out on New Year’s and get COVID so we sat in our hotel rooms in Ballarat for 10 days and pretty much had a full pre-season again. After coming off a 12 week pre-season, playing one game in Adelaide.”

Brad Rosen asked “You guys are semi-professional would be correct, does everyone have a job or maybe one or two don’t?” Ciabattoni replied “I think there’s four people in our team that don’t work of the 12 girls that are here.” Rosen comments “Everyone else they are trying to juggle a job, now can’t get back into the state they live in, having to live in let’s be honest a room. The emotion and the mental health that must go through that. How are you coping?” Ciabattoni responded “Everyone is like ‘You are playing so well, you’re doing this’ and everyone doesn’t see, we walk out of the gym come back to the room and nine times out of 10 two people will be crying. Trying to get up for games has been so challenging. We are trying to train as hard as we can but it is stressful. You constantly feel like you don’t know what is happening next.”   

Boti Nagy commented “There is the other aspect that we don’t really address much, you need a break from each other as players. You need to be able to go home or go somewhere where you don’t see the other nine people or the coaches.” Chibba comments “100%.” Boti continues “As much as you might love your teammates at some point they are going to be doing things that irritate you or you are going to do something that irritates somebody. The problems that emerge are not problems that would emerge in a normal situation.” Chibba again says “100%.” Boti says “I’m with Brad just marvelling at how you guys can then walk out on the floor and produce a reasonably decent game of basketball. That performance against Melbourne, that overtime victory we have to factor in the fact that you had a family bereavement, you had to come back to Adelaide during that time, then you have had to go back and play because there is no option with already being down Darcee and Sami and I think.” Ciabattoni adds “Yeah Marina (Mabrey) was out as well.” Nagy continues “Right, so you had no option, you can feel sad right now but we gotta get you back because you have got to play a game it is crazy. Sharp hits that three, you go to overtime, you win the game, how is this even possible with the mental stress you guys are under, it is amazing to me.”

Ciabattoni comments “Yeah honestly that one was definitely challenging. I got a call from home on Tuesday saying my cousin had passed away. In their defense the Lynx did everything they could to help me, they got me home were like ‘if you can’t get back it is fine, we are probably just going to forfeit the game.’ I was like ‘I am not going to make you forfeit the game. I am going to go see my family, I am going to fly back Saturday night, we’ll play Sunday and I will deal with it after that’. It was pretty unreal and everyone was just so ready, everyone just wanted to win for each other at this point. We are almost there, we are at the home stretch. I don’t think we actually went into the game believing truly that we could win it.” Brad interjects laughing and comments “I shouldn’t laugh, sorry, I just love the rawness.” Chibba continues “It is true, we had seven people training all week, we can’t fly in DP’s, we had another girl in concussion protocols, like it was just the perfect storm leading up to the game. For us to get up and win that like honestly meant so much to us.”   

The Perth Lynx team after their victory against Melbourne Boomers at Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium in Traralgon on 6 February 2022

Perth played their first nine games of the season outside Western Australia and only played four regular season home games at Bendat Basketball Centre, all in an eight-day period from March 5 to 12. Perth’s second and third home games in this sequence were both against Adelaide, with a game on 7 March followed by a game on 9 March. Against Adelaide on 7 March Ciabattoni scored 13 points, took four rebounds and made a game-high six assists in a 104-79 victory. Chibba was damaging from long range, making three of five three-pointers at an accuracy of 60%. Two days later against Adelaide at Bendat Basketball Centre again Ciabattoni scored five points, took three rebounds and made an equal game-high seven assists in Perth’s 84-73 victory.   

Despite being away from home for most of the season Perth maintained a high standard during the 2021/22 regular season to have 11 wins, five losses and finished second on the ladder behind the Melbourne Boomers who had a record of 12 wins and five losses. Perth won a semi final 91-77  against University of Canberra Capitals at Bendat Basketball Centre on 24 March and progressed to the Grand Final.

Perth Lynx were on the road in game 1 of the Grand Final series at Melbourne Sports Centres Parkville against the Melbourne Boomers. During the middle stages of the first quarter Perth went on a 15-2 run to gain the ascendency, played phenomenal basketball and defeated Melbourne 98-71.

At home in game 2 of the Grand Final series at Bendat Basketball Centre Perth led Melbourne 28-25 at quarter-time. A buzzer-beating three from Boomers point guard Lindsay Allen on half-time gave Melbourne a 42-39 lead at the main break. The lead changed 13 times during an entertaining high quality game. Perth had the final possession of the fourth quarter and trailed by three points. On an attempted three-pointer with 0.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter Marina Mabrey was fouled. Mabrey made the first two free-throws with swishes, however the third free-throw was short, hitting the front of the rim, and Perth were defeated 75-76 to send the series to a third game.

In the middle two quarters of game 3 of the Grand Final at Melbourne Sports Centres Parkville Perth were outscored by Melbourne 26-48 and were defeated by the Boomers 66-84. After overcoming so many obstacles to complete the season including being on the road for the vast majority of it, making the Grand Final was a tremendous performance by the Perth Lynx. During 2021/22 Ciabattoni played 17 games for Perth and averaged 4.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 18.3 minutes per game.

During an Instagram interview with Megan Hustwaite in October 2022 Perth Head Coach Petrik commented on the Lynx’s 2021/22 WNBL season “Our biggest reflection in all honestly was the fact that we were good enough to get that far (make the Grand Final). In every four meetings we had three of them would have been trying to keep the team alive and not forfeit the season, one in four meetings was actually basketball related. It was a crazy kind of season. Every third phone call, every three in four meetings was I think we are going to lose this player, this player is going to go home and I think this player is going to quit, I don’t think we are going to see this thing out. So the ultimate losing to Melbourne sucks, Melbourne were great but the fact we got there in the first place, we genuinely thought we were going to forfeit the season after our third or fourth round of actually playing games.”  

Motherhood and coaching the South West Slammers in NBL1 West in 2023

During the 2022 NBL1 West season Ciabattoni played for South West Slammers. Ciabattoni was pregnant before the 2022 NBL1 season commenced but was able to play part of the season. In nine games for the South West Slammers in 2022 Ciabattoni averaged 16.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.1 steals per game. Alex’s partner is James Goodlad who was a men’s NBL1 player for the South West Slammers. Forward, Goodlad grew up in Bunbury and had a long career playing for the South West Slammers in the WA State League and NBL1. Alex and James’ son Elijiah was born on 21 January 2023.

At 28 years of age Ciabattoni was appointed the Head Coach of the South West Slammers women’s team for the 2023 NBL1 season. Whilst coaching the South West Slammers during the 2023 NBL1 season Ciabattoni was based in Rockingham which is approximately 135 km from Bunbury where the South West Slammers are based. In April 2023 Ciabattoni commented to nbl1.com.au on her past year and becoming a coach, saying “Yeah, the last 12 months have been pretty crazy. Everything I was doing has pretty much changed. It’s the longest I have ever gone without playing and has changed my life but it has also opened up different doors for me such as getting the chance to coach and spend more time with my family. I’m excited and nervous it’s been really enjoyable so far but it has also been a big learning experience for me personally. Playing last year has helped me understand the dynamics of the club and also build a relationship with the girls. They are such a great group to be around and we’re such great team mates so applying for the coaching role was an easy decision.”13

“I was always interested in coaching and have enjoyed coaching juniors but didn’t think I would get to the NBL1 level. I am definitely grateful to Slammers for this opportunity and taking a chance on me. I haven’t closed the door to playing again it will just be a matter of when I am able to commit again. I am very competitive and if I come back I want to make sure I am in shape and can help the team at whatever level that may be.” 14

Three months after becoming a mother Ciabattoni told nbl1.com.au in April 2023 “I’m loving being a mum it is the best thing I have ever done. Although it has its challenges and anyone who knows me knows how much I love sleep so it’s been a big adjustment it’s so much more than I could have imagined. I have been really fortunate that he is pretty easy going and I have great support network who are always there to help.”15

Ciabattoni commenced the 2023 NBL1 West season as the Slammers Head Coach. In the middle of the season Chibba returned to playing and continued in the role of Head Coach. In Perth Wildcast S2 E1 Sunday Dech – Alex Ciabattoni which was published on 18 September 2025 Chibba commented on her return to playing with the Slammers, saying “I was only going to coach, it’s a story and then felt better than I thought I would after I had a baby, decided I would have a run and try and come back and here we are.” Dech asked “So you retired, just gone nah, I’ve still got it, let me come back.” Ciabattoni responded “The full story is we lost the Grand Final, the (2021/22) WNBL Grand Final we should have won. I pretty much threw a tantrum, I was like I am never playing this sport again. Got pregnant the next week, I was like I am done.” Chibba laughs and then continues “A year later started getting the itch back and was like maybe we will have one more crack.”

Perth Wildcast host Dan Leach asked “It’s not an easy thing to coach at all. You’ve just left basketball and you’ve probably got a nasty taste in your mouth. What was the decision like to actually decide to go and coach and would you like to do it again down the track?” Ciabattoni replied “Yeah, it wasn’t something that I thought I would necessarily transition to. It was a bit of like right place, right time. I had a relationship with some of the girls in the club and I thought it would be such a cool opportunity, something like that would look good on my resume, you know, still around but don’t necessarily have that pressure to play and win. Coming back from having a child, I didn’t know how I would be. It was a cool opportunity. I think it is something that I would review but much later much later down the line and wouldn’t necessarily recommend with a six week old driving that drive to Bunbury.”

Dech asked “Chibba, did you find an appreciation for your past coaches and what you had to deal with while you were doing it?” Ciabattoni responded “Absolutely, and I am sure the amount of messages I received from everyone had ever coached me being like “Welcome and I hope you have to coach someone just like you.” Even things that I don’t really appreciate as a player I have got better at like watching film. I have got better but previous years I was like you couldn’t pay me to watch that. Then being on the other end and spending hours cutting it and the girls show up and they’re like ‘What is she left handed?” I was like I have just wasted hours.” During the 2023 NBL1 West season Ciabattoni played eight games for the South West Slammers and averaged 4.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 21.1 minutes per game.

2023/24  WNBL season with Perth Lynx

After having son Elijah in January 2023 and missing the 2022/23 season guard/forward Alexandra Ciabattoni returned to Perth Lynx for the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season. Ciabattoni had previously played three seasons for Perth including two seasons with Ryan Petrik as Head Coach in 2020 and 2021/22.

After signing with Perth Lynx for the 2023/24 season Ciabattoni told WNBL media “I have really been enjoying motherhood and coaching but I never ruled out playing in the league again, so when the opportunity presented itself to re-join the Lynx, it was an easy decision. It’s exciting and daunting at the same time to come back after having Elijah, but I have been easing myself back into it with my role as coach/player at the South West Slammers. I can’t wait to get back out on the court in front of all the Lynx fans and have a new mini-member cheering me on.”16

With so much player turnover at Perth Lynx over the previous two seasons the return of Ciabattoni was invaluable. Alex was able to draw on her experiences of being coached by Petrik for two seasons at Perth Lynx and also being a Head Coach herself of the South West Slammers in NBL1 West during the 2023 season. Ciabattoni was one of only two players on the Perth Lynx roster along with Anneli Maley that commenced the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season with more than 50 games WNBL experience.

On the return of Ciabattoni to the Lynx, Head Coach Petrik told wnbl.basketball in September 2023 “She’s just rejoined us on the court, and when you try to catch her up on things, we can talk in the language we used two years ago, and she knows what we’re talking about immediately. The longer we do it, the more we learn and this system does require pretty smart players and Chiba’s as smart a player as I’ve ever coached. She just knows how to play basketball, knows the timing of things and having IQ players who can make reads and play multiple positions are just invaluable. Getting her back and having Elijah on the side of the court as well is great, I love the fact she’s involved again.”17

The mutual respect Petrik and Ciabattoni have for one another was a critical factor in Ciabattoni returning to the WNBL after becoming a mum. In an article ‘Chibba thankful of teammates, coach in successful return’ published on wnbl.basketball on 19 December 2023 Ciabattoni commented “Honestly I don’t even think I would have been able to transition as well without Ryan. A few years ago it might have been different, but he has a young daughter now and might have been more prepared than I was for what it would be like. His wife, Chelsea, played with me at NBL1 and came back after a baby, and he saw how much work went into that and how frustrated she got with her body and everything. He knew somewhat what to expect, but I just thought I’d be fine and would come back no problem. But just having his support and having him even when I’m down, he is great at understanding I’ve got a lot going on and it’s been huge. Without his support, I don’t even think I would have been able to come back.”18

From 2021/22 to 2023/24 Perth had considerable roster turnover. Ciabattoni and forward Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard were the only two players from Perth’s 2021/22 roster that played for the team in 2023/24. Clinch Hoycard was a development player for the Lynx in 2021/22 and was promoted to the Lynx main roster for the 2022/23 season. 

Basket Case Podcast Series 10, Episode 3 published on 15 November Ciabattoni  commented on the pre-season for Perth Lynx, saying “We were actually pretty fortunate, I think we added Aari a week or two before we went away (to the River City Rebound pre-season tournament in Brisbane). I think we were one of the few clubs that had a full pre-season with pretty much all our pieces except for her, which was super helpful because I think we have eight new players in the first 10 so I think having that extra time together to gel and learn how we play and everything has definitely helped us start the season off on the front foot rather than try to gel and only have a week or two together.”

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On the eve of the 2023/24 season commencing Milestones and Misses published a comprehensive guide to player movement and main rosters for the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season. The comprehensive guide provided details on the player movement and main rosters from a league wide perspective and then looked at these two aspects for each of the eight WNBL clubs. The club section included player profiles on every player on a main roster as at 30 October 2023. A profile on each club’s Head Coach was also included. A link is below:

Comprehensive guide to player movement and main rosters for the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season

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During each of their first 11 games of the 2023/24 season Perth Lynx had the same starting five comprised of Aari McDonald, Miela Goodchild, Amy Atwell, Anneli Maley and Emily Potter. All five starters were averaging more than 23 minutes per game. Ciabattoni was one of three Perth players that were averaging at least 12 minutes per game off the bench along with Clinch Hoycard and Steph Gorman.

In Perth’s opening game of the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season at the Bendat Basketball Centre on 3 November 2023 Ciabattoni made her return to the league in an 85-71 victory against the Sydney Flames. Due to COVID-19 Ciabattoni missed Perth’s road game against the Southside Flyers on 22 November. 

On 3 December Ciabattoni played her first road game since becoming a mother to Elijah with the Melbourne Boomers hosting Perth Lynx at Melbourne Sports Centres, Parkville. Off the bench Ciabattoni played just under 20 minutes court time in Perth’s 80-63 victory.

In the 5 December episode of the Dribble podcast Ciabattoni was a guest. Host Craig O’Donoghue asked Ciabattoni ‘The league has implemented a policy several years ago around pregnancy and birth afterwards and helping their athletes. Elijah was born in January this year, he is not even 11 months yet, he is 10 and a half months, take us through that policy and what is in place to make sure that you can actually play.” Ciabattoni responds “Fortunately I know they did a lot of work to make it happen throughout the years but the most helpful thing for me is, well two things, one being able to bring him to training, so there is babysitters there that can help me out. And they fly my mum on the road with me so she will meet us wherever we are and look after him while I play or any game day commitments. She is too happy to have him so luckily for me she will grab him most of the time that we are in Melbourne or wherever we are.” O’Donoghue follows up “Your mum is in South Australia, you are in Perth, game was in Melbourne, so she will fly wherever you go from Adelaide then?” Ciabattoni replies “Yep, they book her, she is meant to land before us most trips, wherever we go she just comes and meets us at the airport.” O’Donoghue asks “It must be awesome just to see your mum a bit more because she wouldn’t get to see the little fella growing up, so imagine she would be loving this opportunity?” Ciabattoni comments “Yeah she is, she is so excited, I want to say it is to see me but it really isn’t. I try to act like I am the favourite but I have been replaced. Now she gets to see him every few weeks so she is so happy to see how much he is changing every time she sees him.”      

During the Dribble podcast O’Donoghue asked “You have changed a bit as a player, you shoot less in this team, I imagine that is more the role in the team rather than yourself, would that be the case, you are more of a distributor, you are more of a leader on court rather than a scoring sort of player at the moment?” Ciabattoni responded “Yeah, at the moment it is definitely easier for me to get back into the game trying to play defense and move the ball then it is for me to shoot my way into it. And we have such talented scorers on the team and I guess coming with age, just knowing your role. I am more than happy to facilitate the ball when you look at who is shooting at the other end. They obviously haven’t had the break, haven’t had the time off and are in great form so we want them getting as many shots as possible.” 

Against the Sydney Flames at Bendat Basketball Centre on 13 December Ciabattoni scored a then season-high 10 points, took four rebounds, made two assists and  had two steals in 18 minutes and 33 seconds court-time in Perth’s 98-58 victory. With exceptional shooting Ciabattoni made four of five field goal attempts at an accuracy of 80% and two of three three-pointers at 66.7% against Sydney. It was the third consecutive game that Ciabattoni had scored at least six points and had a field goal accuracy of at least 50%.

On returning to the WNBL and playing for Perth Lynx Ciabattoni commented in an article ‘Chibba thankful of teammates, coach in successful return’ published on wnbl.basketball on 19 December 2023 “I really wasn’t sure when I got pregnant and I thought I was done. To come back now it’s definitely a challenge but I’m enjoying it and am putting a lot less pressure on myself which is helping at the moment. But it’s just the mental adjustment and the first few games I just struggled to find my rhythm back even though we played well as a team. I was just in a heap but our team has just been so helpful and I’m not sure they even realise that. They’ve lifted me and helped me play through all that, and to now finally start finding some form again it’s just refreshing and it’s making it all feel worth it. There’s been a lot of long nights and really long days so to come out and actually feel like I’m contributing to the game is just huge for me right now.”19

Ciabattoni during the warm-up for the Perth Lynx road game against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 31 January 2024

On Wednesday night 27 December Alex Ciabattoni played the 100th game of her WNBL career against the University of Canberra Capitals at Bendat Basketball Centre. Perth Lynx suffered a significant setback when point guard McDonald suffered a knee injury at the end of the first quarter and took no further part in the game. With the scores tied at 90 points apiece Ciabattoni made a three-pointer with two minutes and 52 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to give Perth the lead which started a Lynx 8-0 run to finish the game and get a 98-90 win. Ciabattoni was outstanding in the last quarter against the Capitals, scoring six points, made two assists and blocked two shots to contribute to Perth getting the victory in her milestone game. McDonald took no further part in the game and there were fears that McDonald’s WNBL season was over. At the time of the injury McDonald was leading the league in scoring and was in contention for the Suzy Batkovic Medal. The knee injury wasn’t as bad as initially feared and McDonald was expected to return for Perth in the second half of February after the FIBA window for the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.

Early in the 2023/24 WNBL season Ciabattoni was building match conditioning and only played more than 20 minutes court-time in one of her first nine games before ger 100^th WNBL game on 27 December. With McDonald on the sidelines Ciabattoni was elevated into the starting line up at point guard for Perth’s New Year’s Eve game against Townsville on 31 December and had eight consecutive games playing at least 23 minutes court time. In a road game against the Sydney Flames at Qudos Bank Arena Ciabattoni made five of seven field goal attempts at an accuracy of 71.4%, scored 11 points, took two rebounds and made four assists in an 84-87 loss on 14 January.

Ciabattoni with son Elijah after the Perth Lynx road game against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 31 January 2024

With McDonald out of the line-up Perth fell down the ladder and dropped out of the top four. When the penultimate round of the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season commenced on 15 February Perth Lynx were at long odds to make the finals. Perth entered Round 14 sixth on the ladder with nine wins and 10 losses, two wins behind the teams that were second to fourth on the ladder, Southside Flyers, Melbourne Boomers and Sydney Flames. To have a chance to make the finals Perth had to win their last two regular season games and Sydney had to lose both of their games.

In Round 14 McDonald made her much anticipated return for Perth and played restricted minutes off the bench against the same opponent – UC Capitals and at the same venue – Bendat Basketball Centre that she suffered the knee injury. McDonald scored a game-high 24 points in just 21 minutes and 34 seconds to help the Lynx defeat the UC Capitals 94-79 on 18 February. On the same day Sydney had a 78-81 home loss to Southside which kept Perth’s finals chances alive.

Ciabattoni playing for Perth Lynx against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 31 January 2024

In the final round Perth required two results to occur to make the finals, the Lynx needed to win their road game against Bendigo and Townsville needed to win at home against Sydney. Perth’s road game against Bendigo started at 7.30pm on Saturday 24 February at Red Energy Arena. The following day Townsville hosted Sydney in the final game of the season at 3.00pm at the Townsville Entertainment Centre.

For the game against Bendigo McDonald again played restricted minutes off the bench. Bendigo dominated the early minutes of the game to lead 18-2 with six minutes and nine seconds remaining in the first quarter. Perth reduced the deficit to 11 points at quarter time 16-27 and made further inroads in the second quarter to trim the margin to five points, 44-49 at half-time. Perth outscored Bendigo 24-11 in the third quarter to turn a five point deficit into a six point lead. Perth controlled the last quarter to have a 93-74 victory to improve their record to 11 wins and 10 losses. Ciabattoni made three of four field goal attempts at an accuracy of 75% to score six points in 14 minutes and 15 seconds court time.  

In the final game of the 2023/24 Cygnett WNBL season Perth got the outcome they needed with Townsville at home defeating Sydney 90-78, resulting in Perth finishing in fourth place and making the finals. Three teams, Perth Lynx, Sydney Flames and Bendigo Spirit were tied on 11 wins and 10 losses for fourth to sixth. In the head to games between the three clubs Perth had four wins and two losses, Sydney three wins and three losses and Bendigo had two wins and four losses. Having the superior head-to-head record resulted in Perth securing the fourth and final play-off berth, Sydney finishing fifth and Bendigo finishing sixth. Townsville finished on top of the ladder with 14 wins, followed by Southside in second place on 13 wins and Melbourne in third place on 12 wins. During the regular season Perth led the league with 84.1 points per game – 4.6 points more than the second ranked team Townsville. The Lynx also ranked first with 8.6 three-pointers made per game. Perth ranked second with 38.4 rebounds per game, just behind Melbourne Bomers (38.7).

Perth Lynx Head Coach Ryan Petrik instructing Ciabattoni during the game against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 31 January 2024

Townsville hosted game 1 of the semi final series against Perth on Thursday 29 February at the Townsville Entertainment Centre. At half time Townsville led Perth 51-44. Perth had a phenomenal third quarter, outscoring the Fire 27-14 to lead by six points, 71-65 at three quarter time. Townsville fought back to go on a 17-10 run to lead by one point 82-81 with four minutes and 25 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Former Perth player Whitcomb made a three pointer with one minute and 15 seconds left to give Townsville an 87-86 lead. On the next play McDonald responded with a driving lay up to give Perth a one point lead 88-87 with 56 seconds left. Neither team scored again and Perth held on for a one point victory. In the dying minutes Perth almost cost themselves the game with inaccurate free throw shooting, making one of seven free throws in the last four and half minutes of the fourth quarter.

The Lynx hosted game 2 of the semi final series against Townsville on Sunday 3 March at Bendat Basketball Centre. After trailing 18-19 with two minutes and 10 seconds left in the first quarter Perth closed the first term with a 10-4 run to lead by five points, 28-23 at quarter time. With four minutes and 30 seconds left in the third quarter Perth led Townsville by 17 points, 71-54. Townsville were able to get back within striking distance and several times in the last quarter reduced the deficit to six points, each time Perth responded with the next score. In a shoot out Perth defeated Townsville 108-102 to win by six points and make the WNBL Grand Final for the second time in three seasons. Five Perth players scored at least 12 points, Atwell and McDonald with an equal game-high 27 points along with Potter (19), Maley (15) and Ciabattoni (12). Perth shot the ball proficiently to have a field goal accuracy of 53.0% and made 15 of 33 three-pointers at an accuracy of 45.5%.      

In the 2023/24 WNBL Grand Final Southside played Perth. Southside defeated cross-town rivals the Melbourne Boomers two games to one in their semi final series. Southside won the regular season series between the two clubs two games to one however in all three games the road team was missing at least two players from their core rotation. Southside had victories against Perth in home games at the State Basketball Centre 94-92 on 22 November and 91-70 on 31 January. At Bendat Basketball Centre on 23 December the Lynx defeated the Flyers 95-85. Ciabattoni and Gorman missed Perth’s road game against Southside on 22 November due to COVID-19 protocols and a foot injury respectively.

For the 2023/24 Grand Final series Perth’s starting line-up was McDonald, Goodchild, Atwell, Maley and Potter. Southside had the same starting five as their semi final victory against Melbourne – Maddy Rocci, Leilani Mitchell, Bec Cole, Lauren Jackson and Mercedes Russell. Southside hosted game 1 of the Grand Final at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on Sunday 10 March. Perth had an incredible start to lead 15-2 with five minutes and 30 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The Lynx extended the lead to 23 points, 60-37 at half-time. Perth defeated Southside by 22 points, 101-79 to register the second highest score in WNBL Grand Final history. In the 2023/24 finals Perth created history by becoming the first team in WNBL history to reach 100 points in a finals game twice in the same season. In the Lynx’s previous game they had a 108-102 victory at home against minor premiers and reigning WNBL Champions Townsville Fire to advance to the Grand Final.

Perth put on a long range shooting exhibition against Southside to make 22 of 38 three-pointers at an accuracy of 58%. The leader in this category was Lynx vice captain Amy Atwell making a phenomenal WNBA finals record nine three-pointers from 14 attempts at an accuracy of 64%. In game 1 of the Grand Final Atwell was one of six Perth Lynx players to make multiple three-pointers with the other players in this category being Steph Gorman (3 3PM), Anneli Maley (3 3PM), Alex Ciabattoni (2 3PM), Aari McDonald (2 3PM) and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard (2 3PM). Atwell scored a game-high 30 points and was joined in double figures by McDonald (15 points), Maley (15) and Ciabattoni (12). Chibba shot proficiently to make five of seven field goal attempts at an accuracy of 71.4% and made three assists. 

Perth Lynx team huddle after their victory against the Southside Flyers in game 1 of the 2023/24 Grand Final at Melbourne Sport Centres – Parkville on 10 March 2024

Perth Lynx hosted game 2 of the 2023/24 WNBL Grand Final at Bendat Basketball Centre on Thursday 14 March. The scores were tied at 33 points apiece with seven minutes and 33 seconds left in the second quarter. The Flyers went on an 8-0 run and maintained the ascendancy to lead Perth by 12 points, 55-43 at half time. Perth were able to make some inroads to the lead in the second half, reducing the margin to four points with two minutes and five seconds left in the fourth term. A lay up by Ciabattoni followed by two made free throws by McDonald tied the scores at 95 points apiece with 59 seconds left in the last quarter. The game went down to the final play with Southside having possession in the dying seconds. Mitchell drove through the key and after losing control of the ball used some quick thinking to tap the ball to Russell who caught the ball just outside the key on the left hand side of the basket. With two defenders Maley and Potter applying pressure Russell’s difficult fade away jump shot was in mid-air as the buzzer sounded, the shot went in, resulting in Perth having a heart-breaking 97-95 loss to level the Grand Final series at one game apiece. Ciabattoni continued her efficient shooting in game 2 of the Grand Final to make seven of nine field goal attempts at an accuracy of 77.8%, made her only three-pointer, made a game-high three steals and an equal game-high two blocked shots. Alex was Perth’s equal second highest scorer along with Potter, behind McDonald (26 points).

Ciabattoni in the warm-up before game 3 of the 2023/24 Grand Final at Melbourne Sport Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

Game 3 of the 2023/24 WNBL Grand Final was hosted by the Southside Flyers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on Sunday afternoon 17 March. After a high scoring opening quarter Southside led Perth by a point 28-27 at quarter time. In the first three minutes and 40 seconds of the second quarter Southside went on a 10-0 run. During the remainder of the second quarter Southside were able to extend their lead to 13 points at half time, 52-39. The Flyers put on a phenomenal long range shooting exhibition in the third quarter, making six of seven three-pointers at an accuracy of 86% and increased their lead to 20 points at the final change, 85-65. Southside outscored Perth 30-16 in the final quarter to have a 115-81 victory. It was the second time in three seasons that Perth won game one of a Grand Final series but then lost the next two games, game 2 at home and game 3 on the road to be defeated in the Grand Final series.

Ciabattoni playing for Perth Lynx in game 3 of the 2023/24 Grand Final at Melbourne Sport Centres – Parkville on 17 March 2024

During 2023/24 Ciabattoni played 25 of a possible 26 games for Perth and averaged 5.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 19.2 minutes per game. Ciabattoni ranked sixth for Perth in points per game, seventh for minutes and third for assists. Alex had a field goal accuracy of 53.2%, ranked second for the Lynx behind Teige Morrell (54.2%). Among players that had at least 10 field goal attempts Ciabattoni ranked eighth in the WNBL for field goal accuracy.

During Dribble Podcast Series 7 Episode 14 Alex Ciabattoni on blocks, babies and being a bride, published on 20 October 2024 host Craig O’Donoghue asked “Your little boy is nearly  two, when did you start to feel that you were like the Chibba of old in terms of getting your body right and match fitness because you raced back faster than most people would have considered possible?” Ciabattoni responded “Probably January, February last season (2023/24), during the WNBL I felt like I started finding my pace a bit more, feeling better on court, moving better. Which was a positive, especially heading into finals, I felt like I had a pretty decent finals series last year even though we didn’t get away with a win, but personally I felt like I was finally really rolling.”

2024 NBL1 West season with the Cockburn Cougars

Ciabattoni joined the Cockburn Cougars for the 2024 NBL1 West season and was teammates with fellow Perth Lynx player Steph Gorman. Ciabattoni recorded a triple double comprised of 13 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists in a Cockburn 131-78 victory against the Kalamunda Eastern Suns on 12 July.

The Cockburn Cougars finished third on the ladder with 16 wins and four losses, two wins behind the first placed Rockingham Flames and one win behind the second placed Warwick Senators. The Cougars made the Grand Final against the Rockingham Flames at RAC Arena on 10 August and trailed by two points at three quarter time. Rockingham dominated the final quarter 33-19 to have a 97-81 victory. Ciabattoni scored a game-high 30 points at 58.8% from the field, took six rebounds and made five assists.   

Alex played 20 games for the Cougars in 2024 and averaged 19.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. Ciabattoni shot exceptionally to have a field goal accuracy of 58.2%. Ciabattoni was recognised for her incredible season by being named in the NBL1 West All First Team. Alex was one of four players that had been teammates with Perth Lynx during the 2023/24 WNBL season that were selected in the 2024 NBL1 West All First Team, being joined in this category by NBL1 West MVP Tiege Morrell (Lakeside Lightning), Anneli Maley (Perth Redbacks) and Chloe Forster (Warwick Senators).

2024/25 WNBL season with Perth Lynx

Five of Perth’s returning players from 2023/24 – Ciabattoni, Atwell, Maley, Sowah and Steph Gorman   each averaged more than 22.0 minutes per game in 2024/25. Seven of the nine players that  averaged more than 10.0 minutes per game in 2024/25 played for Perth in 2023/24 with frontcourt players Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard and Tiege Morrell also being in this category. In the off-season  two Olympians were recruited that were well suited to the Lynx’s up-tempo brand of basketball. Australian Gangurrus 3×3 player Ally Wilson along with Canadian forward Laeticia Amihere who represented her nation in five on five basketball at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The Lynx 10 player main roster for 2024/25 was completed by 17 year old centre Kiara Waite who was in her debut WNBL season. Perth had a development player guard duo each in their debut season in the league, Alira Fotu and Jaya Scafidi. 

Ally Wilson was the only player on the Lynx 2024/25 roster with more than 125 games WNBL experience, commencing the season on 225 games which accounted for 34.6% of the Perth Lynx 10 player main roster’s tally of 650 WNBL games. Only two of Ally’s teammates had more than 75 games WNBL experience, her South Australian junior teammate Alex Ciabattoni (115 games) and 3×3 Gangurrus teammate Anneli Maley (112). Another three Perth players had between 45 and 65 games experience – Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard (64), Amy Atwell (49) and Miela Sowah (48). 

Perth Lynx team huddle after their victory against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 1 December 2024

In Perth’s opening game of the 2024/25 season against the Southside Flyers at Bendat Basketball Centre on 2 November the Lynx starting line-up was Wilson, Ciabattoni, Sowah, Atwell, Maley and Amihere. 2023/24 All-WNBL Second Team member Atwell was on the sidelines at the start of the 2024/25 season due to a knee injury. Ciabattoni made five of nine field goal attempts at an accuracy of 55.6%, made both three-pointers, scored 12 points, took four rebounds and made four assists in Perth’s 94-79 victory against Southside. Alex was one of four Perth starters to reach double figures in scoring against Southside along with Maley (22 points), Wilson (17) and Sowah (16).  

In the post-game press conference Lynx Head Coach Ryan Petrik commented on his team “We don’t want to put too much into their heads because it will slow them down. We have got some base stuff we want to do but we try and play out of principles and therefore they can just play on instinct, we have got some guidelines for them but just let them hoop because they are pretty intelligent and they can all shoot so they can all space the floor. They can play to some principles and let their talent take over, I don’t know how you would guard it and it is our offense so good luck.”

Against Townsville in a home game on 6 November Ciabattoni made a team-high six assists and took four rebounds in a 80-84 loss to Townsville at Bendat Basketball Centre. On the road against Adelaide Lightning Ciabattoni scored 15 points at 54% from the field, took five rebounds, made four assists and blocked a game-high three shots in a 92-78 victory at Adelaide 36ers Arena on 9 November. All five Perth Lynx starters reached double figures in scoring and Gorman scored nine points off the bench.

Early in the Dribble Podcast Series 7 Episode 14 Alex Ciabattoni on blocks, babies and being a bride, published on 20 November 2024 host Craig O’Donoghue commented “You are experienced in the (Perth Lynx) system, you are experienced in the league as well and you are very unflustered. Not much gets you worried at all. Is that one of your strengths?” Ciabattoni replied “I think so, they (teammates) always tease me, some of the girls will be feeling really nervous and they will be like you know what calmed me down, I am like ‘What?’ we just said to ourself what would Chibba do right now, and they will be like, she just wouldn’t care’. I think I just give across this very calm persona. Having a baby probably helped me with that, as much as I care about what is happening there are so manty bigger things off the court and my focus is there. When I get to play it is more about getting in, getting what I need out of it, helping won I can, having a bit of fun and then it is done, I step off the court, I can’t worry about it anymore so I think that actually has helped me a lot. Be calm and get a bit of perspective. When I am at the court I have got two hours to worry about myself, this is not hard.”

During the Dribble Podcast Series 7 Episode Chibba told host Craig O’Donoghue that she was getting married on “the seventh of December in Adelaide. Right smack bam in the middle of the season, really nailed this, I have.” O’Donoghue asked “How are you going to handle the fixture, where does it work amongst things, are you going to take some time off or are you going to keep playing, how will it work?” Alex responded “Part of the reason I signed so late, I was looking at Europe and other options, financially and after the wedding. So I was like I can just chill until then but no definitely excited that we could come to terms with Lynx. We play on the seventh so I am obviously out for that game” Chibba laughs then “continues, I am unavailable, I will miss I think it is a week. They (Perth Lynx) have been really flexible, I went home a bit longer when we went to Adelaide, I have been able to go back and forth as much as I need around training, so just getting everything organised. Anything I am not organised with I have just handballed to my parents, they’re great.” Due to Perth playing on December 7 none of Ciabattoni’s Lynx teammates could attend her wedding. 

O’Donoghue asked “It’s not easy fitting your life in around your basketball is it, there is a lot going on in your world?” Chibba responded “Yeah, I don’t make it easy for myself but it is fun as much as it is a bit stressful at the moment I am sure it will come and go so quick and I am just excited for everything happening at the moment so we will just take everyday as it comes and hopefully it all works out.” O’Donoghue commented “Your life’s pretty good isn’t it, you would be stoked, everything has worked out as well as you could have possible hoped for I would imagine. Good bloke, great son, career is going well, you are getting married in a couple of weeks time. You would be pretty content with the way your world is I would have thought.” Ciabattoni responded “I am, and it is funny because we did the interview after the final and we had one after Eli was born and it went from ‘I am done to maybe to now two years later loving it’ and probably enjoying it more than have over the last season and a half. If someone had of told me that the first time we spoke around the finals I would not have believed them. Yeah it is crazy how it has all worked out.”     

In both of Perth’s Round 5 victories Chibba had at least five assists, making a team-high six dimes in a home 106-80 win against Townsville on 27 November and made an equal game-high five assists in the 89-82 road victory against Southside on 1 December 2024 at the State Basketball Centre. 

Alex Ciabattoni making a lay up for Perth Lynx in their victory against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 1 December 2024

On 7 December 2024 Alex Ciabattoni married her partner, James Goodlad, having the ceremony at St Patrik’s Church in Adelaide. Below is a link to joint Instagram post by Alex and James.

View this post on Instagram

In a WNBL Weekly Round 6 article published on espn.com.au on 2 December 2024 Megan Hustwaite wrote that Ciabattoni “booked the date and venue two years ago when she was pregnant with son Elijah and at the time didn’t anticipate she’d return to the WNBL.”20 Ciabattoni commented to Hustwaite for the espn.com.au article “As female athletes we have to play all-year round so availability, for big life events, is limited and I really didn’t want a winter wedding so my options were slim.”21 Ciabattoni missed Perth’s Round 6 road double against Bendigo Spirit on 5 December and the Sydney Flames on 7 December. Chibba also missed a Round 7 home game against the UC Capitals on 12 December.

After missing three games Ciabattoni returned for Perth’s Round game and played off the bench against the ladder leading Bendigo Spirit at Red Energy Arena on 19 December with Gorman starting. Perth fought back from a four point deficit at half time to win a low scoring thriller 71-68.   

Playing off the bench in a road game against the UC Capitals Ciabattoni scored 12 points (ranked 3^rd for Perth) at 57.1% in an 89-82 victory at AIS Arena on 29 December. Perth’s starters were Wilson, Sowah, Gorman, Maley and Amihere. Atwell was hampered by a knee injury and was playing off the bench.

Perth Lynx were the second club to lock in a 2024/25 finals berth after Bendigo Spirit, achieving this feat with their 13th victory of the season in a Round 12 home game against Southside Flyers on Saturday 18 January. Entering the final round of the regular season Bendigo Spirit had won the minor  premiership. The final game of the 24/25 regular season between Perth and Townsville determined which club finished second and which club finished third. The team that won the final game when Townsville hosted Perth Lynx at Townsville Entertainment Centre on Sunday 16 February would win the season series between the two clubs to secure second position and home court advantage for the semi final series between the two clubs.

The starting line-up for Perth was Wilson, Sowah, Gorman, Maley and Amihere. Perth were on the back foot early, trailing Townsville by 14 points, 15-29 with nine minutes left in the second quarter. Perth turned the game around to lead by five points 67-72 with three minutes and 20 seconds left in the fourth term. Townsville struck back to send the game to overtime with the scores locked at 75 points apiece at the end of the regulation. Ciabattoni was substituted into the game replacing Sowah with Perth trailing Townsville 78-81 with two minutes and 50 seconds left in overtime. A Nia Coffey made pull-up jump shot extended Townsville’s lead to six points 86-80 with 41 seconds remaining in overtime. Maley made two free throws to reduce the margin to four points with 31 seconds. Steph Gorman stole the inbound pass by Townsville and provided an assist for a Maley lay-up and all of a sudden Perth had reduced the deficit to two points, 84-86 with 26 seconds to play in overtime. Townsville were unable to attempt a shot on their next possession with Amihere making a steal dribbling up the court and passing to Ciabattoni set on the three-point line. Ciabattoni made the go ahead three-pointer from the wing with 5.1 seconds remaining in overtime. Abbey Ellis missed a three-point attempt on the buzzer and Perth pulled off a miraculous comeback to win by a point after going on a 7-0 run in the last 35 seconds of the game. Ciabattoni was extremely efficient to make all four field goal attempts for the game at an accuracy of 100% and scored nine points.

At the end of the 2024/25 regular season Bendigo finished on top of the ladder with 18 wins and three losses. Perth finished second on the ladder with 16 wins and five losses, one win ahead of third placed Townsville. There was a massive win gap from Townsville to Sydney in fourth place with eight wins. In most national sporting league’s there is a sizeable gap between the club that secures the last finals berth and the team that finishes on the bottom of the ladder. The 2024/25 WNBL season was an outlier with only two wins separating the fourth placed Sydney Flames and the last placed Southside Flyers. In the previous eight seasons with eight teams in the league from 2016/17 to 2023/24 the smallest gap from fourth to eighth place on the ladder at the end of the regular season was six wins in 2021/22, triple the 2024/25 margin. During the eight seasons from 2016/17 to 2023/24 with eight teams competing in the WNBL and the top four making finals the biggest gap from first to fourth place at the end of the regular season was five wins in 2019/20. The 10 win advantage 2024/25 minor premiers Bendigo Spirit had over the fourth placed Sydney Flames was double the five win gap between first and fourth in 2019/20.

In game 1 of the semi final at Bendat Basketball Centre on 22 February. Perth had a slow start and trailed Townsville 16-27 at quarter time. Perth were able to work their way back into the game and led 85-84 with two minutes and 10 seconds left. Townsville responded to score the next five points of the game and went on to defeat Perth 92-87.

Townsville had a convincing victory in game 2 of the semi final series, winning each quarter by at least five points to record a 106-76 victory at the Townsville Entertainment & Convention Centre on 26 February. Off the bench Ciabattoni scored 11 points at an accuracy of 57.1%.

During the 2024/25 season Ciabattoni played 19 of Perth’s 23 games and averaged 7.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Ciabattoni ranked second for the Lynx in assists, equal fifth in rebounds and sixth for scoring per game.  In the WNBL Ciabattoni ranked equal 18^th for blocked shots per game.

Ciabattoni playing for Perth Lynx in their victory against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 1 December 2024

2025 NBL1 West season with the Rockingham Flames

After three seasons away from the Rockingham Flames from 2022 to 2024 Ciabattoni re-joined the club for the 2025 NBL1 West season. In addition to her role as a player Ciabattoni was also a Player Development Officer with the Rockingham Flames. During 2025 Ryan Petrik was the Head Coach of the two Rockingham Flames teams in NBL1 West, the men’s team and the women’s team. Ciabattoni was one of six players to start at least 10 games for Rockingham in 2025 with others players in this category including Alex Sharp and Marena Whittle.    

During Perth Wildcast S2E8 – Elijah Pepper published on 22 December 2025, Perth Wildcats player Sunday Dech said “Chibba, quick question, like for us guys, the Wildcats who choose to play in the off season, you’ve got obviously JR’s (John Rillie) our coach and we’ve got the Wildcats system and then the NBL1 season, you’re like, ‘thank god, I’m out of that for a little bit before I come back.’” Chibba says “I know where this is going.” Dech asks “How do you deal with Ryan being your coach all year round?” Ciabattoni responded” Look, it didn’t have a great start when this came in. I literally stared at him in the meeting and I said words I shouldn’t say on air and then he’s like if you’re going to have that attitude you can leave and I got up and walked out for that exact reason. It got better from there, but yes, it’s a lot. It is a lot. I was like, I do this to get a break from you. Yeah Me and Ryan are cool. We get on really well. He was way more laidback in NBL1, especially with us women. Like, thank God. Cuz honestly, I don’t know what I would have done. I think it turned out being fine. But the start, oh my gosh, I’ve never been so stressed out. I was like I would not have signed here.”

Leach asked Chibba “There’s a lot of players that that go there (NBL1)  and it’s their 9 to5 beforehand and then they go and blow off some steam. That’s obviously the case with the women’s teams cuz unfortunately basketball’s not you know full-time professional sort of gig.” Ciabattoni responded “It is not. I worked for the club as well, so I worked full-time and then played. So, I worked full-time upstairs in the office, coaching and that and then would go down and play. Which obviously has its perks, but it also is tiring, especially with Eli running around and then James works full-time. So, yeah. I don’t know why I did it to myself, but it was good. It was enjoyable. Care about kids development.”

Ciabattoni scored more than 20 points in a game five times for the 2025 season including a season-high 32 points at 72.2% from the field against Mandurah Magic on 15 July. The Rockingham Flames finished fourth on the ladder with 13 wins and seven losses and played the fifth placed Mandurah Magic (11 wins & 9 losses) in a quarter final. Ciabattoni played a brilliant all-round game for Rockingham to score 27 points, take seven rebounds and make nine assists in an 86-97 quarter final loss to Mandurah. Chibba made a season-high seven three-pointers from 13 attempts at an accuracy of 53.9%, a superb long-range shooting performance. During 2025 Ciabattoni played 20 games for the Rockingham Flames and averaged 16.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 2.2 steals and 31.5 minutes per game.

 2025/26 WNBL season as a starter for Perth Lynx

Seven of the players on Perth’s main roster for the 2025/26 season suited up for the club in 2024/25. This includes five players that averaged more than 20.0 minutes per game for the Lynx during the 2024/25 regular season with Ciabattoni being joined in this category by Maley, Gorman, Atwell and Wilson. Two teenagers that made their WNBL debut for the Lynx in 2024/25 returned to the club this season, centre Kiara Waite and guard Alira Fotu. After being a development player in 2024/25 Fotu was promoted on to the Lynx main roster for 2025/26.

American centre Yemiyah Morris was the first import signed by Perth for the 25/26 season. Playing for the Sydney Flames in 2024/25 Morris ranked fourth in the WNBL with 1.5 blocks per game. Perth completed their 10 player main roster with a duo who have experience representing their nation at international tournaments, Chinese centre Han Xu and New Zealand guard Tegan Graham.

 Due to national commitments with China Xu missed the start of the WNBL season. Whilst the 2025/26 WNBL season was Xu’s first time playing in the WNBL she had achieved significant individual and team success representing China at FIBA tournaments held in Sydney. At FIBA Women’s World Cup 2022 held in Sydney Xu averaged 12.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game for China’s silver medal winning team to be named in the All-Tournament team. In the semi final against host nation Australia Xu scored 19 points, made eight of 10 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 80%, took 11 rebounds and had five blocked shots in a 61-59 victory. Xu was a dominant force for China at FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2023 held in Sydney, averaging 22.0 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots per game to be ranked first overall in all three categories to earn the Tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP). With her exceptional performances at the tournament Xu played a crucial role in China winning the gold medal, winning a thrilling final against Japan 73-71.  

The Lynx secured a very capable front court replacement for Xu for the early stages of the 2025/26 season with American forward Brianna Turner signing a short-term contract for Perth as a nominated replacement player. Playing for Adelaide in 2024/25 Turner averaged 12.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game to lead the WNBL in both categories and averaged 2.5 steals per game to be the league’s joint leader along with Geelong guard Jaz Shelley. At Perth in 2025/26 Turner was teammates with Maley, the player who ranked second in the 2024/25 WNBL season with 12.0 rebounds per game.  Turner was expected to play about eight games for Perth before Xu joined the team about a third of the way into the 2025/26 regular season. Perth’s 2025/26 roster was completed by a trio of development players, Jaya Scaffidi, Kyana Weir and Kuir Gayo. 2025/26 was the second consecutive season that Maley and Atwell were Perth Lynx co-captains.  

191 centimetre tall Turner was ideally suited to Perth’s pace and space system under Head Coach Petrik and has a very different skill set to 211 centimetre tall Han Xu. Petrik opted to play the long game and implemented a Perth Lynx game style in 2025/26 that suited Xu to make it easier to adjust when Turner departed and Xu joined the team.  

2025/26 is the second season of the Perth Wildcast podcast. Each season has featured three regulars, host Dan Leach along with one player from WNBL club the Perth Lynx and one player from NBL club the Perth Wildcats. Ciabattoni is the Perth Lynx player in 2025/26 following on from former teammate and current Townsville Fire player Miela Sowah in 2024/25. Sunday Dech is the Perth Wildcats player on the Perth Wildcast podcast in 2025/26 after Elijah Pepper had the role in 2024/25.

During Hey Pal Radio Episode 37 Ciabattoni, published on 19 November 2025 host Eric McFarland asked “You jumped on board as one of the hosts of the Perth Wildcast this season, I know you are a very personable person, is that something you have always been keen on, doing more media stuff or it sort of just fell into place?” Ciabattoni responded “Its honestly just fallen into place. I know I love a chat but I always get teased for laughing too much in these interviews and smiling, it is always the first comment, I think it is a good thing. When this came up I was like let’s actually have a good go at it because I feel it is something a bit out of my comfort zone. Something new and I was like why not, it will be such a cool experience. To be honest it has been, I am enjoying it way more than I thought I would.”

During Perth Wildcast S2 E4 Ally Wilson, host Dan Leach said to Ciabattoni “Let’s talk about something that popped up on (Perth Lynx) socials in the last week or so, there is an adorable Instagram and Tik-Tok probably of Eli doing interviews with players from the Lynx and obviously your good self.” Wildcast played some of the interview between Alex and her son Eli at Perth Lynx media day. Leach continued “That’s a really cool thing to be able to do, to go to Eli ‘Hey do you want to help us out with something this will be really fun’ and you look back. That is something you will probably keep somewhere on a hard drive or something like that. That is a cool memory to be able to do something like that.” Ciabattoni commented “Yeah, absolutely. We were just mucking around at media day and we were like ‘We’ll get Eli to do some questions.’ Firstly it was like, ‘You are actually speaking very clearly, this is great that we can probably use it’. Then when they put it together and I saw it I was like this is my little mum moment, even I have shown people the video, ‘Look at this one’. It was pretty cool for him to be part of the media day. If you go on and watch he interviews some of the other girls as well. He loves it. Obviously we love having him around and yeah, it was a lot of fun.” Leach said “I feel like he gets the chat from you. Is that right? Just the constant chitter chatter.” Ciabattoni responded “Oh, he’s worse than me. James is a lot more reserved. (With) Eli I have to be like “Allright, how about we just like play the silent game and we see who can not talk the longest, he just loves a chat.” Below is a link to the post made by Perth Lynx on their Instagram account of Eli at media day interviewing Lynx players. 

View this post on Instagram

During the 2025/26 WNBL regular season ESPN / Kayo played a feature on Alex Ciabattoni as pert of their television coverage. Ciabattoni reflected on her career and on what you should expect from the Perth Lynx in 2025/26, saying “Been in the league a while now and we have a pretty young team at Perth. If you had asked me five years ago if I would still be playing I don’t think my answer would have been yes.”Chibba laughs and continues “but it is definitely exciting to be back to pass on some of the knowledge. Any season I would expect Perth Lynx to play a pretty up-tempo, exciting style, having five or six girls back from last season should set us up to continue that which is exciting. We have got a few good pieces coming in which is always good. I think it will be similar but we have a bit more depth this year and definitely some pieces that we have been missing in the last few years so hopefully it is enough to go all the way. With our style of play if you are open you have the green light to shoot it. We are aggressive, we are always attacking, the coaches really back you in, I think that is sometimes hard to find in this competitive environment. It makes it really fun to play, everyone has your back all the time and it is just a great environment to be part of.”   

Later in the feature Ciabattoni commented “I think being a mum has hands down been the best experience of my life. It has changed my perspective on so much. Before I would complain that I was tired, this has just given it a new meaning. Going to training, when I am there I have the two hours to focus, lock in on what I need to do, worry about myself. Then as soon as I step out of there mum hat straight back on, straight back to where is my child, what does he need. I wouldn’t change it for the world, it has definitely made my game so much more enjoyable, basketball it has taken the pressure off and it has given me so may positive changes in all aspects of my life and given me a bit of a reality check. It definitely has its challenges, at times it can be isolating. He is very good on flights luckily but it is a long day for him. While everyone is taking a nap I am trying to entertain a two year old. Anyone who has had to do that I’m sure understands where it is coming from.”    

A knee injury kept 2024/25 All-WNBL First Team member Wilson on the sidelines for part of the pre-season. Due to the injury Wilson missed each of Perth’s four pre-season games comprised of two games against Bendigo at Goldfields Stadium in mid-September and two games at Townsville Tip Off in late September. During these four games Ciabattoni was able to gain some continuity playing as Perth’s starting point guard. Ciabattoni scored at least eight points in each of Perth’s four pre-season games and made at least five assists in each of Perth’s last three pre-season games. In the Lynx’s opening game at Townsville Tip Off Ciabattoni made a game-high 10 assists against the Southside Flyers on 26 September at Townsville Stadium.

After playing three home games at the Perth High Performance Centre (PHPC) in 2024/25, all 11 Perth Lynx home games were played at PHPC in 2025/26. In June 2025 Perth Lynx co-captain Anneli Maley commented on the club playing their home games at PHPC,  saying “Playing at the HPC last season was a game-changer. The energy, the crowd, the game presentation – it really felt like home, so I’m pumped that we’re going to be there full-time this season.”22

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At the start of the 2025/26 WNBL season Milestones and Misses published an article taking a detailed look at the 2025/26 WNBL fixture from a league and club perspective. A link to this article is below:

Comprehensive guide to the 2025/26 WNBL fixture

Note that Bendigo Spirit’s home game against Southside in Round 13 was postponed due to bushfires in Country Victoria. This game has been rescheduled with Bendigo hosting Southside in Ballarat at Selkirk Stadium in the opening game of Round 15 on Wednesday 21 January.

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Two members of Perth’s core rotation missed the club’s opening game of the 2025/26 WNBL regular season due to injury, Wilson and Steph Gorman. In Perth’s opening game of the 2025/26 WNBL regular season on the road against Adelaide Lightning on Sunday 19 October the club’s starting five was Ciabattoni, Graham on WNBL debut, Atwell, Maley and Turner. On the opening  possession of the game Ciabattoni made a lay up for Perth whilst being fouled. Alex made the and one free throw to score the Lynx’s first three points of the season 13 seconds into the game. Ciabattoni consistently scored for Perth throughout the road game. In the last five minutes of an extremely close game Ciabattoni made four of four free throws. Perth led 72-71 with 45 seconds left, off a missed Atwell three-pointer Ciabattoni made a tip in with 23 seconds left in the game to give the Lynx a 74-71 lead. Perth went on to win the game by three points, 75-72. Ciabattoni displayed composure and skill to make nine of 15 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 60%, made five of six free throws at 83.3%, scored a game-high and career-high 23 points, took three rebounds and made four assists.  

In the post-game press conference Ciabattoni was asked “You were fantastic out there tonight, how were you feeling as a player coming into this sixth season (with the Lynx)?” Alex responded “Old” she laughed then continued “I feel like every year it does get a bit easier, I know what to expect in some ways, my body does not get better but I feel like I know what to expect more. It is easier to prepare, I know what I need to do to get fit enough to play, make better decisions. I am probably the wrong one to ask, I am pretty chilled.” Ciabattoni laughs again and Petrik who is sitting next to her at the press conference comments “Who else will they ask?” Alex responds “I don’t know, I am pretty laid back with my preparation.” Petrik adds “Everything, everything.”

Ciabattoni was asked “I know it is not your first season playing as a mum, but obviously getting settled into that role, has that changed how you go about things?” Alex responded “Absolutely, I think before having Eli I thought I was done really, I didn’t think I would play anymore. Coming back just gave me a whole new perspective, when I am there I actually really want to be there which is nice. I feel like anyone that has gone through pregnancy and childbirth has a new outlook on strength and actual pain. So coming out and having to play through things, the game seems a lot easier and a lot more fun.”

During the press conference Alex was asked “You are an Adelaide girl, a Southern Tigers junior, you had the Southern Tigers as the club of the round, that was quite serendipitous. Is it special to come home still after six seasons?” Ciabattoni replied “Absolutely, I love playing at home, I grew up playing on these courts, well not these ones exactly but just on the other side and it is always nice to play in front of my family. My Grandpa’s there who is actually like my number one fan. It is always incredible to have them at my game supporting.”

Wilson and Gorman made their return from injury and played their first game of the 2025/26 regular season off the bench in Perth’s third game of the season. A road game against Geelong Venom on 1 November at Geelong Arena. With two minutes and five seconds remaining in the fourth quarter Perth railed 72-74. On the next possession Ciabattoni made a three-pointer from the top of the arc from a Maley assist to regain the lead for Perth 75-74. The next score of the game was Chibba providing an assist for a Maley lay up to extend the Lynx lead to three points with one minute and 14 seconds left in the final term. Geelong reduced the margin to one point but missed three attempted go ahead baskets. Ciabattoni deflected an attempted inbound pass by Geelong and Perth held on to win by one point 77-76. Ciabattoni scored 12 points shooting at 62.5% from the field and made three assists. Early in the 2025/26 season Perth had been unable to recapture their free-flowing high-scoring form of 24/25 but were still winning. After the game Perth Head Coach Petrik commented “We don’t care how it looks right now; we’re just trying to get Ws. If you told me in pre-season that three games in, Ally Wilson’s played 20 minutes, Steph Gorman’s played 13, and we’re 3-0 — we’d take that every day. It’s not pretty or convincing, but it’s 3-0. I reckon we’re at about 20–25 percent [of potential], but again — 3-0, we’ll take it.”

In the next game Ally Wilson reached 250 career WNBL games in a home game against Townsville at Perth High Performance Centre on 4 November. Ciabattoni missed the game due to ankle injury and Wilson had her first start for the season suffered a broken nose. With five minutes and 59 seconds left in the third quarter Wilson suffered a broken nose and took no further in the game. Without either of their two main point guards Wilson and Ciabattoni the Lynx struggled with their ball movement in the last quarter and a half and lost to Townsville 70-79.

Wilson didn’t miss any of Perth’s games due to her broken nose but had to wear a mask. Ciabattoni returned for Perth’s fifth game of the season at Perth High Performance Centre against the Southside Flyers on 9 November. The Lynx starting five was Ciabattoni, Atwell, Wilson, Maley and Turner. Southside were in a dominant position when they led by 16 points, 66-50 with 41 seconds left in the third quarter. Perth fought back to record a three point comeback victory, 79-76 led by a 22 point, 13 rebound performance from co-captain Maley.

At home on 16 November Perth had a three point half time lead against Bendigo Spirit at Perth High Performance Centre. Ciabattoni had an incredible third quarter scoring 12 points, comprised of three three-pointers and a three point play the old fashioned way with an and one after being fouled on a  made lay up. Ciabattoni’s superb play was the catalyst for Perth outscoring Bendigo 28-15 in the third term to gain control of the game.  The Lynx went on to defeat Bendigo by 15 points, 79-64. Ciabattoni finished the game with 16 points and shot proficiently from long range to make four of five three-pointers at an accuracy of 80%. Ciabattoni was one of four Perth starters to reach double figures in scoring along with Maley and Turner (12 points each) and Atwell (21 points). The only starter that didn’t reach double figures in scoring, Wilson (4 points) was adept at providing dimes to her teammates, making a game-high 10 assists.  

During Hey Pal Radio Episode 37 Ciabattoni published on 19 November 2025, host Eric McFarland asked “Making the decision to move to Perth initially to play for the Lynx and then sticking around, playing some SBL/NBL1. How big a decision was it to uproot and give the Perth Lynx an opportunity?” Ciabattoni replied “It was huge. It was only meant to be for one season and (I) actually met my partner (James) the first weekend out in Perth so it was kind of like, this isn’t too bad here. Eight years later still here. I have been fortunate to make my home here. Make really good friends (and) have some really cool experiences on and off the court. Fortunate enough to know Ryan (Petrik), so have a really good relationship with him. He has kept signing on so I have kept signing on.” Chibba commented on Petrik “He knows what I can be like as a player and he doesn’t try and change that, he just embraces it and rolls with it and is like ‘this is your strength, let’s just play to that, I am not going to try to mould you into something you are not’ which has been huge for me even confidence wise and I would say for most of our team. That’s why he is always going to get the best out of people. He is not going to try and stop you from doing what you are good at but he is also going to give you the confidence to do it.”

McFarland asked “Over the last ten years from Rookie of the Year to this new era of WNBL with the new ownership this year, what is the most positive change or difference that you have seen unfold in the last decade in the league?” Ciabattoni responded “I think the league has been stagnant for many reasons for a while now. This year the biggest thing is the media coverage and the access to games. I have been playing professionally for about 10 years, this would be the first year that I get messages from my school friends who probably don’t even though that there is a game on most of the last eight years, they go ‘Look we are just having family dinner watching your game.’ It means the world to me but it also shows you how much more accessible it is now, they will just be on Disney for their kids trying to find some Spiderman show and they will be like ‘Alex is on, let’s just quickly throw on the TV.’ That for me has been the most important change. We can all talk about we need more money, we need this. You don’t have sponsors, you don’t have TV rights it is hard to do any of that so I think that is such a positive step in the right direction.”    

Late in the Hey Pal Radio episode McFarland asked “What is the go to when you want to switch off?” Chibba replied “I do enjoy reading but to be honest most of the time these days it is just chasing around after Eli. My down time just involves walking to the park or trying to find a beach or something that will get him outside running around.” McFarland commented “I say this with the biggest respect because you are an absolute superstar but I think Eli has become the superstar of the family. The amount of times that I have heard you referred to as the mum of Eli. He is so popular already so it is a pretty good go-to activity when you are not a basketball court I would think.” Chibba replied “Yeah, he is great, poor kid he is always dragged around to basketball, they are now all his best friends so that is very cute to see and the girls are amazing with him and just embraced him. You are 100% right, he is the face of the Perth Lynx, sorry to anyone else that wanted it. Anytime he is on the socials it is huge. He has always got a camera in face, he loves it now, I am not sure what he is going to do when I retire.”

Turner played her eighth and final game of the 2025/26 WNBL season for Perth Lynx in a 58-87 road loss to Bendigo Spirit at Gippsland at Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium in Traralgon on Sunday November 23. Opposition front court duo Marianna Tolo and Kelsey Griffin both played their 250^th career WNBL game. Benido were convincing victors, winning 87-58. Perth were inaccurate from long range, having a three point accuracy of 17.2% on 29 attempts, well below Bendigo’s 45.7% on 35 attempts. It ended up being Bendigo co-captain Marianna Tolo’s last game of the season, days later she announced that she was pregnant with her first child. 

During her stint with Perth Turner led the WNBL with 2.1 blocks per game and ranked fifth with 8.8 rebounds per game. Perth had a record of five wins and three losses whilst Turner was with the team. Before the 2025/26 season the only WNBL season that Ciabattoni had averaged more than 7.5 points per game was the 2020 hub season in North Queensland when she averaged 10.0 points per game. Chibba was able to gain momentum as a starter for Perth in the first third of the season, playing seven of Perth’s first eight games of the season and scored at least nine points in a game six times.

On 29 November Xu made her WNBL debut with Perth Lynx in a road game against the UC Capitals. As the starting centre Xu made an instant impact to score an equal game-high 22 points and was incredibly efficient to make 10 of 12 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 83.3%. Ciabattoni scored 16 points at 54.5% in Perth’s 91-67 victory.

With Xu (211 cm tall) in the Lynx team Perth’s full strength starting line-up has been Wilson (175 cm), Atwell (183 cm), Ciabattoni (180 cm) and Maley (185 cm). Apart from Xu Perth’s other four starters are a similar height, making it easier to switch positions one through four and retain Xu as the centre. Four of Perth’s starters represented their nation at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Wilson and Maley were teammates on the Australian Gangurrus 3×3 team, Xu represented China in five on five basketball and Atwell was a member of the Australian Opals bronze medal winning team.

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During the 2024 Paris Olympic Games Milestones and Misses published player profiles on the Opals Paris Olympic Games team and the women’s Australian Gangurrus 3×3 Paris team. Links to these articles are below:

Player profiles on the Australia Opals 2024 Paris Olympic Games team

Player Profiles for the Australian women’s Gangurrus team and guide to the women’s 3×3 tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games

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At home against Southside on 5 December Perth dominated the second quarter 30-14 to set up a 98-81 victory at Perth High Performance Centre. Ciabattoni shot efficiently from the field to make eight of 11 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 72.7%, took four rebounds, made five assists and two steals. Chibba was one of three Lynx players that scored at least 19 points along with Atwell (32 points and Xu (19).

In the following game Ciabattoni lifted her shooting efficiency even higher against a championship contender, scoring 21 points at 77.8% from the field and made both three-pointers in a 97-81 victory against Townsville Fire on 14 December at Townsville Entertainment Centre. Chibba took five rebounds, made an equal team-high five assists and again was one of a trio of Lynx player to score at least 19 points, joining Xu (28 points) and Wilson (19).

In an article published in The West Australian in mid-December Perth Lynx Head Coach Ryan Petrik commented on Ciabattoni “She’s been phenomenal all year. It’s like a career year for her. How she does that while dealing with Eli as well, there’s a lot on her plate. I’m super proud of how she’s playing. She’s also such a funky match-up because she is essentially a one, two, three for us. She reminds me a lot of Shawn Redhage. Obviously, not the point-guard aspect but everything is goofy-footed. She doesn’t look athletic but then she jumps and her shot release is so much taller than other point guards. She’s playing really well.”20

In a pre-game interview on ESPN /Kayo before the start of Perth’s 21 December road game against Adelaide Lightning Laura Hodges asked “We, were standing here the first game of the season and I spoke about how you play so well in Adelaide and you just dominated, 23 points and you have gone from strength to strength, tell us what you have been doing this season?” Ciabattoni responded “I wish I knew, I have just been having a lot of fun and our team has been so great to play with. Everyone is getting along, moving the ball and just wants everyone to do well and I think it shows in my game. I don’t know, it has been a lot of fun though.” Hodges said “Your coach Ryan Petrik said that you are a versatile player who can go from one to three but I think you could go one through to four as well, I think he left it out. Are you loving that versatility that you can play so many different positions?” Chibba replied “I am, he always teases me because he is like ‘I have never seen a point guard that wants to post up so much.’ It has definitely been good and has been huge for my game, just being able to add those different elements around the basket, loving it.”

Against Adelaide on the road at the SA State Basketball Centre on 21 December Ciabattoni opened Perth’s scoring account with a reverse lay up 55 seconds into the first quarter. In an exceptional first term Chibba scored 13 points comprised of two jump shots, a lay up, a reverse lay up, a three pointer and two free throws. Perth led a shoot-out 31-29 against Adelaide at quarter time. The Lynx outscored the Lightning 30-17 in the second term and won each of the last two quarters by at least five points. Ciabattoni set a new career-high for scoring in a WNBL game, surpassing the 23 points she scored earlier this season at the same venue against Adelaide in Perth’s opening game of the season on 19 October. A made three-pointer with three minutes and 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter took Chibba’s tally to 32 points, one point shy of the then league-high for the season of 33 points set by Geelong Venom’s Mackenzie Holmes. Chibba was subbed out of the game seconds later, finishing with a game-high and career-high 32 points and made three of five three-pointers at an accuracy of 60% in Perth’s 109-82 victory. Alex shot proficiently to have a field goal accuracy of 81.8% and was named the WNBL’s Player of the Round for Round 10.

In a post-game interview Laura Hodges said “Well Chibba, you love playing in Adelaide.” Chibba was then mobbed by her teammates with Maley saying “Adelaide Chibba is the best Chibba.” Hodges said “I agree, Adelaide Chibba is the best, 32 points I even got peer pressure to speak to your assistant coaches and get you back on to score 34 which would have been a season-high for the league. How do you feel?” Ciabattoni commented “It is obviously great but I always love playing at home, having my family here, there is a whole bunch of them yelling and heckling me so it is aways great and everything went my way tonight which was good.” Hodges commented “You said that your mum cooked dinner for the team last night and if you didn’t play well it was her fault, so what did she cook you all?” Chibba replied “She actually made us like a full home-made lasagne, roast, everything, she went all out which was great and we all had a fun night together which is always good.”  

During Perth Wildcast S2E8 – Elijah Pepper published on 22 December 2025, Ciabttoni commented on mid-season Lynx recruit Han Xu “She’s so sweet, like very sweet and just brings so much energy to practice, which is good. We have a very introverted team, a bit  quiet, so she just comes in with this like infectious smile and just so chatty and yeah, just wants to compete, which is incredible. She is just such a professional. Like the first thing she did when she got here was ask Ryan for the playbook so she could go home and study it cuz she didn’t want to slow us down. Such an incredible person and on-court unreal. Like I’ve never seen someone almost 7 foot just pick and pop so casually and make it look effortless, wild.” 

In Perth Lynx’s eight 2025/26 regular season games before Xu joined, the team didn’t reach 80 points in any of their games. With Xu in the line-up Perth looked far more potent, scoring more than 90 points in each of their first four games with her in the team including scoring 109 points on the road against Adelaide on 21 December.   

At home on 2 January against Adelaide Lightning at PHPC Ciabattoni reached 1,000 career points in the WNBL, achieving the milestone with her 19th point in the game. Chibba scored a game-high 25 points at 58.8% from the field, took three rebounds, made four assists and an equal game-high three steals in a brilliant all-round game in a 93-75 victory against Adelaide. 

At the press conference after Perth’s Round 12 road victory against Adelaide Craig O’Donoghue asked “Ryan we have seen Chibba do a lot in her career but is that the best game you have seen her play?” Petrik responded “No and that is not knocking her game tonight, that’s more the compliment that she has had multiple games like that. This is probably the most important game she has played like that for us without Ally Wilson and probably the most we have put on your shoulders. I don’t think we have been depleted like that in the guard department before. She has had a few games like that, certainly, I can’t tell you off the top of my head. There is a reason we keep on re-signing her.”

Ciabattoni was asked “How do you reflect on reaching 1,000 points?” Chibba responded by saying “I had no idea, didn’t even know I was close. Cool, obviously this season I have had a decent start, I don’t even know, who would have thought I shot the ball that many times.” Ciabattoni laughs and then says “It has taken 20 years to get there.” Later in the press conference Ciabattoni expanded on her early season form, saying “I think for me personally and I would never, ever, ever want to be in this position again. We just didn’t have the same pieces we have had previous years which by default forced me to play. We had Ally out early so I think that just allowed me to find my rhythm early. Put more pressure on me to be in shape. While I have been fit I feel like when it gets to finals, as the season goes on I generally get better, whereas this year I had to try from the start and it has shown in the way I am playing.”    

During the press conference Ciabattoni was asked how Petrik’s coaching has changed. Chibba responded “I think it has adapted every year, he is always one of the first coaches, whatever the new style of play is Ryan is studying it and I think that has been one of the biggest differences. Every year you can tell the way we play the rest of the league seem to be behind and whether it works and we win it doesn’t matter, we have backed ourselves in, we have put ourselves in the best position. That is a credit to Ryan and the work he does off the court and all off-season which I think a lot of people don’t see. I don’t see the hours but when we get to pre-season and says ‘this is why we are doing this’ it has been great. Personally he has just given everyone a lot of freedom to play the way that they want to and he has got better at communicating that every year. Just giving everyone the freedom to play and that’s giving everyone confidence.”

Ciabattoni reached 150 WNBL games in the opening game of HoopsFest between Perth and Bendigo Spirit at RAC Arena On Thursday evening 15 January. Ciabattoni joined a select group of 14 players that have played during the 2025/26 WNBL season and have reached 150 WNBL games in their career, joining Lynx teammates Wilson and Maley in this category. In an article ‘Chibba “grateful” to bring up 150 -game milestone’ published by the WNBL on 14 January 2026 Ciabattoni looked back at her journey as a player and commented “[Upon reflecting on my career] my biggest growth areas, and Ryan might disagree, is that I’m a lot easier to coach and a lot less hot-headed. In the early days, I feel like I would light fire up and get frustrated on and off the court a lot easier. Whereas now, I feel like I’m a lot more settled and have a lot more understanding of what’s expected and what it takes to maintain this level.”24

In an article WNBL Round 14: everything you need to know written by Megan Hustwaite and published on espn.com.au on 14 January 2026 Ciabattoni commented on the prospect of the Perth Lynx winning the 2025/26 WNBL Championship “I think it would just be the most incredible experience. It’s something I haven’t managed to achieve, we’ve been there twice (Grand Final series), Semi-Finals in multiple years and I know some people play their whole career and never win one. As I’m getting older now it just means more and more to me and sometimes I feel like I’m on a bit of a deadline. I think we have the right pieces this year to be able to do it, people who are doing their role exceptionally well and happy so I’m hoping this is the right combination.”25

For the opening game of HoopsFest the third placed Perth Lynx played the top of the ladder and reigning WNBL Champions Bendigo Spirit at RAC Arena on Thursday 15 January. Bendigo held the ascendancy in the first half to lead 52-40 at the main break. Perth were able to slow down Bendigo’s scoring in the third quarter to reduce the margin to three points at three quarter time and then maintained their momentum to lead 81-80 with one minute and 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Ciabattoni was involved in Perth’s last two field goals of the game to secure an 85-81 victory in her 150th WNBL game. With one minute and 16 seconds left Ciabattoni provided an assist for a Maley jump shot. Chibba drove the down the middle of the key and made a lay-up with 17 seconds to record the final score of the game. Ciabattoni scored 11 points and made four assists and all five Lynx starters reached double figures in scoring.

Up until 19 January Ciabattoni has played 17 of Perth’s 18 games in the 2025/26 WNBL regular season and has relished increased responsibility, averaging a career-high 27.6 minutes per game for Perth. Alex ranks 15th in the WNBL with a career-high 14.8 points per game and is averaging 3.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. Ciabattoni has scored 253 points in 2025/26 to set a new career-high for points in a WNBL season, surpassing 144 points for Perth in 2023/24. Ciabattoni’s field goal accuracy of 51.6% in 2025/26 ranks 11th in the league and second for Perth, behind Morris (57.6%), and just ahead of Xu (51.4%). Chibba ranks 16th in the league with 3.18 assists per game which ranks third for the Lynx behind Wilson (4.9) and just ahead of Maley (3.17). 

All five members of Perth’s current starting line-up are averaging more than 12.5 points per game with Ciabattoni joined in this category by Han Zu (17.6 points), Atwell (15.9), Maley (14.3) and Wilson (13.5). All five Perth starters rank in the WNBL’s top 20 for points per game which highlights how potent this Lynx line-up is. Among the current Perth team Maley ranks first with 32.0 minutes per game, all other starters average between 27.5 and 30.0 minutes per game with Chibba ranking fifth. For the season Turner leads the Lynx with 32.5 minutes per game in her eight game stint with the club. A trio of Perth players are averaging more than 3.0 points per game and between 14.0 and 19.0 minutes per game – Gorman, Graham and Morris. Apart from the transition a third of the way into the season with Xu arriving and Turner departing Perth have had good continuity with their core rotation. Seven of the nine players that average more than 3.0 points and 14.0 minutes per game have played at least 16 games for Perth in 2025/26.  

At 19 January Perth are second on the ladder with a record of 14 wins and four losses, one win behind first placed Townsville Fire (15 wins and four losses) and one win ahead of third placed Bendigo Spirit (13 wins and four losses). As was the case in 2024/25 there is a significant from the top three teams on the ladder to the rest. Southside are fourth on the ladder with eight wins and nine losses followed by the UC Capitals in fifth place on seven wins and 10 losses. Perth have five games left in their regular season commencing with a home game at PHPC against Townsville Fire on 20 January. Perth’s 23 game regular season concludes with a home game against the Sydney Flames at PHPC on Saturday 7 February.

During the ESPN / Kayo pre-gamecoverage for Perth’s Round 14 HoopsFest game Ciabattoni was interviewed by fellow Perth Wildcast member Sunday Dech who asked “Chibba, game 150, how are you feeling tonight?” Chibba responded “I am pretty excited, a little bit nervous but it is always good. Just excited for the match up, it is going to be a great game and Bendigo are always tough so should be good.”

Dech said “150 games, obviously a wealth of experience, can you run me back over that time or is it a bit of blur to you?” Ciabattoni responded “It has definitely been very up and down from the start of my career until now. There have been a lot of interesting moments and a lot of moments where I definitely didn’t think I would be back next season. Even having Eli I was more then prepared to leave when I decided to get pregnant. For the last 60 games, to get through those with Eli and just that whole experience has been amazing and I definitely wouldn’t want to change it.”

Dech commented “We have all enjoyed having Eli at the games, him cheering you on, he is such a livewire. What are these memories going to mean to him in the future when you reflect on that when the time comes?” Ciabattoni responded “Hopefully I play long enough that he remembers it, that would be pretty cool. You can already see the impact it is having, all the girls getting around him, they are all his best friends, he has 12, 13 best friends. He wants to come to everything, he cries when I take his Lynx top off him. Obviously it is incredible to see, it is so exciting and I hope they help him form in the future, his career, whatever he wants to do.”

Ciabattoni in the warm-up for Perth Lynx for their game against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 1 December 2024

On multiple occasions after suffering a disappointment in her basketball career Ciabattoni decided that she wasn’t happy continuing with the status quo and made a dramatic change which has proven to be the right decision. Two examples are 1) exploring going to college in the USA after being cut in the last round of training with the Australian Under 17 team and 2) opting to start a family with her partner (and now husband) James Goodlad after Perth Lynx suffered a heart-breaking one game to two games loss to the Melbourne Boomers in the 2021/22 WNBL Grand Final. 

At the time of having son Elijah on 21 January 2023 Ciabattoni had played 89 WNBL games and thought that her career was over. Ciabattoni felt better than she expected after having Elijah and made her return to playing as a Head Coach/player of the South West Slammers in NBL1 West during the 2023 season. Rather than becoming a mum signaling the end of Alex Ciabattoni’s WNBL career it became the start of a brilliant new phase in her basketball career. With a new perspective and the role of mum to Eli being her primary focus Ciabattoni has now played 61 WNBL games since making her return with Perth Lynx in 2023/24, exactly the same number of games she played in her first three season WNBL stint with Adelaide and Perth from 2015/16 to 2017/18. Eli has loved interacting with Perth Lynx players including at Media Day. It has been incredible to watch Ciabattoni take her game to a new stratosphere as a starter with Perth Lynx in 2025/26 to rank in the league’s top 20 for points and assists per game and for field goal accuracy. Congratulations Alex Ciabattoni on an amazing journey on and off the basketball court to reach 150 WNBL games in career best form.   

Writing and photographs by Dean Andrews

X – @DeanAndrews7777

Instagram – @dean_andrews7_

References

1 https://wnbl.basketball/perth/news/chibba-thankful-of-teammates-coach-in-successful-return/

2 https://www.wnbl.com.au/news/perth-lynxs-alex-ciabattoni-grateful-to-bring-up-150-game-milestone

3 https://newmanjets.com/story.aspx?filename=WBB_0305143543&file_date=3/5/2014

4 https://adelaidelightning.wnbl.com.au/pages/history

5 https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/basketball/adelaide-lightning-new-face-alex-ciabattoni-claims-wnbl-rookie-of-the-year-award/news-story/44dd0a46840259ff50d0f9a9d38a593d

6 https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/reigning-wnbl-rookie-of-the-year-alex-ciabattoni-first-player-to-sign-for-mac-adelaide-lightning/news-story/ab175a36bf12a3f0d8fe6daefc019a99

7 https://wnbl.basketball/blog/news/alex-ciabattoni-signs-perth-lynx/

8 https://wnbl.basketball/blog/news/alex-ciabattoni-signs-perth-lynx/

9 https://www.soundtelegraph.com.au/news/perth/rockingham-flames-flickered-throughout-2019-but-light-never-went-out-on-sbl-championship-dream-ng-b881362772z

10 https://wnbl.basketball/perth/news/alex-chibba-ciabattoni-is-back-for-perth-lynx-this-season/

11 https://wnbl.basketball/perth/news/alex-chibba-ciabattoni-is-back-for-perth-lynx-this-season/

12 https://wnbl.basketball/perth/news/alex-chibba-ciabattoni-is-back-for-perth-lynx-this-season/

13 https://nbl1.com.au/news/new-mother-ciabattoni-embarks-on-coaching-journey-at-slammers/west

14 https://nbl1.com.au/news/new-mother-ciabattoni-embarks-on-coaching-journey-at-slammers/west

15 https://nbl1.com.au/news/new-mother-ciabattoni-embarks-on-coaching-journey-at-slammers/west

16 https://wnbl.basketball/perth/news/fan-favourite-alexandra-ciabattoni-is-back/

17 https://wnbl.basketball/perth/news/petrik-excited-how-new-look-lynx-are-shaping-up/

18 https://wnbl.basketball/perth/news/chibba-thankful-of-teammates-coach-in-successful-return/

19 https://wnbl.basketball/perth/news/chibba-thankful-of-teammates-coach-in-successful-return/

20 https://www.espn.com.au/nbl/story/_/id/42728455/wnbl-weekly-round-6-shaneice-swain-eye-catching-performances-go-unnoticed-sandy-brondello

21 https://www.espn.com.au/nbl/story/_/id/42728455/wnbl-weekly-round-6-shaneice-swain-eye-catching-performances-go-unnoticed-sandy-brondello

22 https://www.perthhpc.com.au/news/articles/lynx-to-call-perth-hpc-home-in-2025-26

23 https://www.wnbl.com.au/news/ryan-petrik-compares-star-alex-ciabattoni-for-perth-legend

24  https://www.wnbl.com.au/news/perth-lynxs-alex-ciabattoni-grateful-to-bring-up-150-game-milestone

25 WNBL Round 14: everything you need to know – ESPN