The Corio Bay Stingrays were a basketball team based in

Geelong, Victoria Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon R ...

. The Stingrays competed in the men's

Big V Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * ''Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show presente ...

and played their home games at Geelong Basketball Netball Centre. The team was affiliated with Corio Bay Basketball Association (CBBA), which later merged to create Geelong United Basketball.

Team history

CBL origins

Corio Bay Basketball Association originated with the Corio Bay-Barwon Bullets entering the men's Country Basketball League (CBL) in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in 2009. The team won back-to-back CBL championships.

Big V

In December 2011, the Corio Bay Stingrays were accepted into the

for the 2012 season. In 2013, the Stingrays reached the Big V grand final series, where they defeated the

Ringwood Hawks Ringwood may refer to: Places Australia * Ringwood, New South Wales, in Federation Council area * Ringwood, Queensland *Ringwood, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne **Ringwood railway station, Melbourne Canada *Ringwood, Ontario, a hamlet in the tow ...

2–0 to win the championship. In 2014, the Stingrays reached the grand final series for the second straight year, where they lost 2–1 to the Hawks despite winning game one. In 2015, after five years being coached by Dan Riches, the Stingrays appointed Mark Leader as head coach. They went on to reach their third straight grand final series, where they defeated the McKinnon Cougars 2–0 to win their second Big V championship. The Stingrays returned to the grand final series in 2016, where they were defeated 2–0 by the Hawks. After four straight grand final appearances, the Stingrays fell to eleventh in 2017 and then twelfth in 2018. A ninth-place finish in 2019 marked the team's final season in the top Big V division. That same year, Corio Bay Basketball Association and Basketball Geelong amalgamated under a new banner, Geelong United Basketball.

Post-amalgamation

For the 2020 season, a senior Stingrays women's team entered the Big V for the first time in Division Two. The men's team dropped to Division One. All home games were shifted to Geelong United's home bases of AWA Alliance Bank Stadium and

Geelong Arena Geelong Arena is the home of former National Basketball League team the Geelong Supercats who now play in the NBL1. The arena has the majority of its 2,000 seating capacity on the broadcast side of the court with two smaller sections at each e ...

. The season ultimately did not take place due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. In 2021 and 2022, the men remained in Division One and the women remained in Division Two. The Corio Bay Stingrays ceased to exist from 2023 onwards.

References

{{reflist

External links

Archived CBBA websiteArchived Big V profileCorio Bay's CBL history2016/17 CBL Women's Preview
Big V teams Sport in Geelong Basketball teams in Victoria (state) Basketball teams established in 2012 Basketball teams disestablished in 2019 2012 establishments in Australia 2019 disestablishments in Australia