This was published 7 years ago
Ashleigh Karaitiana making up for lost time with Bendigo Spirit
By Roy Ward
After five years away, Bendigo Spirit guard Ashleigh Karaitiana has quickly regained her place in the WNBL.
The 24 year old was an Australian junior international when she left our shores to play college basketball at the University of Hawaii.
Ashleigh Karaitiana looks for a scoring opportunity against Dandenong Rangers.Credit: Mick Connolly
In her five years with the Rainbow Warriors, she turned into a starter and a leader on her team but didn't have too many WNBL options upon her return home earlier this year.
While playing on the Australia under-17 and under-19 teams she was alongside now established stars like Sara Blicavs, Carley Mijovic, Aimie Clydesdale and Maddie Garrick but while they built careers in the WNBL, Karaitiana was somewhat out of sight at lower profile Hawaii.
"The last five years have flown by so quick and I see those players are now the main players on their teams," Karaitiana said.
"For me I don't feel like I've missed out on too much, I'm still playing at the same level as those players now and I'm excited about where things can go from here."
The one WNBL option which had remained open to her was joining the Spirit as coach Simon Pritchard has continued to track her career.
"Bendigo was the only team that really reached out to me," Karaitiana said.
"Simon kept in contact with me last year in college, I was supposed to finish a year earlier but I received an extra year from the NCAA so I put the WNBL on hold to finish my college career and make sure I graduated.
"In keeping in contact with me Simon confirmed he really wanted me there in Bendigo and I wanted to play with someone who wants me on the team – someone who is persistent."
That persistence has paid off early in the season with Karaitiana moving into the Spirit's starting lineup and proving an excellent link player between the guards and star players Kelsey Griffin, Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe and Gabe Richards.
She had 14 points in the Spirit's win over Dandenong Rangers last round.
"When I was recruited I was told I would come off the bench and I was perfectly fine with that because I'm a rookie," Karaitiana said.
"I'm learning to play with older players after being one of the go-to players in Hawaii – but I'm now in the middle of this side."
In college Karaitiana was a wing player who used her driving and shooting skills to score baskets and open up the court for her team.
With the Spirit she is still using those skills but she has been especially damaging when taking the ball from deep in defence and pushing it up the court.
The Spirit's roster is filed with versatile players like Griffin who can play inside or outside so Karaitiana's ability to open up the court and push defences onto the back foot has been a key part of her side's 4-2 [win-loss] start to the season.
"The offence here is very similar to what I was running in college," Karaitiana said.
"So that experience enables me to make the right reads."
Karaitiana's Hawaiian experience was similar to other college stories, she had plenty of her plate between school work and basketball.
"Who wouldn't want to live in Hawaii? It's paradise," Karaitiana said.
"But I didn't get to the beach as much as people think because it was school, training and sleep on repeat."
The Spirit's good start will undergo another test when they face a much-improved Canberra Capitals at Bendigo Stadium on Saturday night.
"This is our validation game," Karaitiana said.
"We are sitting in first place, this game could go either way so we need to do what we need to do and get the win."
The Spirit play Canberra Capitals at Bendigo Stadium on Saturday night at 7.30pm then Dandenong Rangers host the Capitals at Dandenong Stadium on Sunday at 2pm.