Louella Brooke Tomlinson (born 8 April 1988) is an Australian former professional basketball player. She retired in June 2021.

Early life and career

Tomlinson was born and raised in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

suburb of

Fitzroy, Victoria Fitzroy is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Yarra local government area. Fitzroy recorded a population of 10,431 at the 2021 census. Pla ...

. She moved to

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

in 2004 on a scholarship to the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of th ...

(AIS) and attended Lake Ginninderra College. Tomlinson debuted in the WNBL with the AIS during the 2004–05 season, but played minimal minutes in her first season. She played a further two seasons with the AIS before departing to play college basketball in the United States.

College career

Between 2007 and 2011, Tomlinson played at

Saint Mary's College of California Saint Mary's College of California is a private Catholic college in Moraga, California. Established in 1863, it is affiliated with the Catholic Church and administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college offers undergraduate and graduate ...

. As a senior (fourth and final season) with the Gaels in 2010–11, she averaged 14.1 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 4.7 blocks in 32 games. She earned conference Defensive Player of the Year honours two times, and first-team All-

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

honours three times. Tomlinson ended her U.S. college career as the sole leader in career blocks in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

women's basketball with 663, and the joint leader in career D-I triple-doubles alongside former Penn State star Suzie McConnell with 7. The blocks record fell during the 2012–13 season to Baylor's

Brittney Griner Brittney Yevette Griner (; born October 18, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. women's natio ...

, who finished her college career with 748. The triple-doubles record fell to Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu, who surpassed the career record as a sophomore (second-year player) in 2017–18 and ended her college career in 2020 with 26.

Saint Mary's statistics

Source

Professional career

WNBL

Tomlinson returned to Australia to begin her professional career, joining the Dandenong Rangers for the

2011–12 WNBL season The 2011–12 WNBL season was the 32nd season of competition since its establishment in 1981. A total of 10 teams contested the league. The regular season was played between October 2011 and March 2012, followed by a post-season involving the top ...

. In 22 games on the season, she averaged 3.1 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, helping the Rangers win the championship alongside

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

and Kathleen MacLeod. Tomlinson returned to Australia for the

2014–15 WNBL season The 2014–15 WNBL season was the 35th season of competition since its establishment in 1981. A total of 8 teams contested the league. The regular season was played between 17 October 2014 and 15 February 2015, followed by a post-season involving ...

, moving to Perth to join the

West Coast Waves The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Bendat Basketball Centre. For sponsorship reasons, ...

. An injury plagued season limited her to just 12 games, averaging 12.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. The fledgeling Waves managed just four wins in 2014–15, prompting

Basketball WA Basketball Western Australia (a.k.a. the Western Australian Basketball Federation) is the governing body of basketball in Western Australia and is responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at a state and local level. History The ...

to sell the team to the Perth Wildcats. The team was subsequently rebranded the Perth Lynx and Tomlinson signed on with the new program. On 17 October 2015, she scored a career-high 29 points against the

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

, which earned her a spot on the Round 2 WNBL Team of the Week. On 13 January 2016, she was ruled out for four to six weeks with an ankle injury. She returned to the line-up for the team's final three games of the regular season, helping the Lynx finish second on the ladder with a 16–8 win–loss record. The Lynx went on to defeat the first-seeded

Townsville Fire The Townsville Fire are an Australian professional female basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the prim ...

in the semi-finals, thus advancing to the WNBL grand final for the first time since

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

. There they were outclassed by the defending champion Townsville (who made it to the grand final via the preliminary final), losing the best-of-three series 2–0. In 23 games for the Lynx in 2015–16, she averaged 9.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 2.0 blocks per game. Tomlinson will return home to Victoria after a year abroad in Europe, after signing with the

for the

2017–18 WNBL season The 2017–18 WNBL season was the 38th season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The regular season began on 5 October 2017, with the Melbourne Boomers visiting the Dandenong Rangers. The Sydney Uni Flames were the defending champ ...

. After two one-season stints in

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban populat ...

and

Southside Southside or South Side may refer to: Places Australia * Southside, Queensland, a semi-rural locality in the Gympie Region Canada * South Side, Newfoundland and Labrador, a community in the St. George's Bay area on the southwest coast of Newf ...

respectively, Tomlinson then signed with the Adelaide Lightning for the 2020–21 season.

Europe

For the 2012–13 season, Tomlinson played in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

for Napoli Basket where she averaged 14.7 points, 12.9 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 3.4 blocks in 29 games. She moved to Hungary for the 2013–14 season, joining PINKK-Pécsi 424. She helped her Hungarian club win the league championship behind averages of 14.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.7 blocks per game. In July 2016, Tomlinson signed with Campus Promete Logrono of the Spanish

Liga Femenina de Baloncesto The Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, also known as Liga Femenina Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of league competition for women's basketball in Spain. It is the women's equivalent of the men's Liga ACB and is run by the Spanish Ba ...

. However, her tenure was short lived as then she returned to Hungary after signing with

Diósgyőri VTK Diósgyőr-Vasgyári Testgyakorlók Köre, more commonly Diósgyőri VTK () is a Hungarian sports club from Diósgyőr district of Miskolc best known for its football team. Founded in 1910 by the local working class youth, the team plays in the ...

for the remainder of the 2016–17 season.

References

External links

WNBL player piece on Tomlinson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomlinson, Louella 1988 births Living people Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian women's basketball players Centers (basketball) Perth Lynx players Saint Mary's Gaels women's basketball players Universiade medalists in basketball Universiade bronze medalists for Australia Medalists at the 2009 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2011 Summer Universiade Basketball players from Melbourne Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Southside Flyers players