Katie-Rae Ebzery (born 8 January 1990), also known as Katie Ebzery, is an Australian former professional

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 primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player who played 15 seasons in the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

(WNBL). She was a three-time All-WNBL First Team member and a two-time Olympian with the Australian Opals.

Early life

Ebzery was born in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, in the suburb of

Waratah Australia’s famous waratah (genus ''Telopea'') is an Australian-endemic genus of five species of large shrubs or small trees, native to the southeastern parts of Australia (New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, and Tasmania). The be ...

. From a young age, she would watch her mum and cousins play basketball. She started playing socially at the age of five, and by the age of nine she was playing representative basketball for the Newcastle Hunters. She attended St Mary's High School in Newcastle.

Professional career

Ebzery debuted in the

(WNBL) in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

with 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 the ...

(AIS). The talented guard left the AIS after three seasons with 65 WNBL games to her name at just 18 years of age. After playing for the

Dandenong Rangers The Southside Flyers are an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Flyers compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at the State Basketball Centre. For sponsorship pur ...

in the 2008–09 season, she stepped away from the WNBL for the 2009–10 season. In 2010, Ebzery joined the

Sydney Uni Flames The Sydney Flames are an Australian professional basketball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Flames compete in the Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketba ...

. In 2014–15, she passed 200 WNBL games and was named the Flames Club MVP after averaging 16.8 points per game, the sixth highest average in the league. She played her sixth season for the Flames in 2015–16 and was named to the

WNBL All-Star Five The All-WNBL Team is an annual Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) honour bestowed on the best performing players in the league following every WNBL season. From 1988 to 2018–19, the honour was known as the All-Star Five. As of 2020, it is ...

. For the 2016–17 season, Ebzery moved to Russia to play for

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

. Ebzery returned to the WNBL and the Sydney Uni Flames for the 2017–18 season. In June 2018, Ebzery signed a two-year contract with the

Perth Lynx 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 both WA Basketball Centre, Bendat Basketball Centre ...

. In the 2019–20 season, she was named to the WNBL All-Star First Team. In June 2020, Ebzery re-signed with the Lynx. In the 2020 WNBL Hub season in Queensland, she was named to the All-WNBL First Team. She finished the regular season fourth (18.0) in scoring and ninth (3.6) in assists. In October 2021, Ebzery retired from the WNBL after 15 seasons and 304 games.

Off-season stints

Between 2008 and 2012, Ebzery played for the Newcastle Hunters in the Waratah League. She was named Waratah League MVP in 2011. In 2014, she played for the Hornsby Spiders and helped them win the Waratah League championship with a grand final MVP performance. In 2015, she played for the BA Centre of Excellence in the

SEABL The South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) was a semi-professional basketball league in Australia comprising both a men's and women's competition. The SEABL began in 1981 and operated for 38 seasons until it was disbanded in 2018. The ...

. In 2016, she had a short stint with the Hunters. In 2021, she played four games for the Hunters, who were crowned champions following the season's cancellation due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

National team career

In 2007, Ebzery represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at the

FIBA Under-19 World Championship The FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup (formerly FIBA Under-19 World Championship) is the under-19 men's world basketball championship organised by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). From its inauguration in 1979, until 2007, it was ...

in Slovakia. In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, Ebzery won bronze with the Australian University Team at the

World University Games The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

. She also won bronze with the Australian 3x3 team at the inaugural

FIBA 3x3 World Championships The FIBA 3x3 World Cup is a 3x3 basketball tournament for national teams organized by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). The debut of the tournament originally named as the FIBA 3x3 World Championship was held in August 2012 in Athen ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. Ebzery made her Australian Opals debut at the

2015 FIBA Oceania Championship The 2015 FIBA Oceania Championship for Men was the 22nd edition of the FIBA Oceania Championship. The tournament featured a two-game series between Australia and New Zealand. It also served as the qualifying tournament of FIBA Oceania for b ...

, where the Opals claimed gold. In 2016, she played for the Opals at the Olympic Test Event in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, and later in the

Rio Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. In 2017, Ebzery played for the Opals at the

FIBA Women's Asia Cup The FIBA Women's Asia Cup is an international basketball tournament which takes place every two years for women's national teams from FIBA Asia, and since 2017 FIBA Oceania. It was known as the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championship u ...

, where she helped them win silver in Division A. In 2018, Ebzery helped the Opals win gold at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

and silver at the

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

. In 2019, Ebzery helped the Opals win bronze at the

FIBA Asia Cup The FIBA Asia Cup (formerly the FIBA Asia Championship and ABC Championship) is an international basketball tournament which takes place every four years between the men's national teams of Asia and Oceania. Through the 2015 edition, the t ...

. She later played in the FIBA Olympic pre-qualifying tournament and the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. At the

Tokyo Olympics Tokyo Olympics may refer to: * 1940 Summer Olympics, Games of the XII Olympiad, cancelled due to World War II * 1964 Summer Olympics, Games of the XVIII Olympiad * 2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an ...

in July and August 2021, Ebzery averaged 6.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists in four games.

Personal life

Ebzery is the daughter of Helen and Robert. She has three siblings, brothers Andrew and Mathew, and sister Alison. Alison made her debut in the WNBL in 2019. Ebzery married her fiancé Dane in the Hunter Valley on 19 October 2024, and they live in Country NSW.

References

External links

*
archive

Katie-Rae Ebzery WNBL profile at GameDay
* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ebzery, Katie-Rae 1990 births Living people Australian expatriate basketball people in Russia Australian Institute of Sport basketball (WNBL) players Australian women's basketball players Basketball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Basketball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists in basketball Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Dandenong Rangers Medalists at the 2011 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade Olympic basketball players for Australia Perth Lynx players Shooting guards Small forwards Sydney Uni Flames players FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Australia Summer World University Games medalists in basketball Women's National Basketball League players Basketball players from Newcastle, New South Wales Sportswomen from New South Wales Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games 21st-century Australian sportswomen