Rebecca "Spida" Allen (born 6 November 1992) is an Australian basketball player for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Allen was a member of the Australian Women's basketball team (Opals) at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. The Opals were eliminated after losing to the USA in the quarterfinals.

Early years

Allen was born and bred in Melbourne, Australia. She played in the junior competition for the suburb Nunawading. Allen has twin brother, Christopher. Allen was given the nickname "Spida" because of her long limbs. She was sought out by the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...

(WNBL) at the age of 16.

Career

WNBL

In the domestic

(WNBL), Allen has played for the Dandenong Rangers (2009–2010),

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 ...

(2010–2012), Melbourne Boomers (2012–2015) and South East Queensland Stars (2015–2016). In 2014, Allen was awarded the WNBL Robyn Maher

Defensive Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY or DPOTY) is the name of an award given in sports for outstanding defensive play by a single player over the course of a season. Many sports leagues award this type of award. League awards for Defensive Player o ...

.Ward, Roy (3 March 2014)
''Rebecca Allen re-signs with Melbourne Boomers''
The Age. Retrieved 26 July 2014. Alongside the WNBL, in Australia Allen played with the Knox Raiders for the 2013 SEABL Season where the team took home the Championship. Allen starred and was awarded the Barbara Barton (Grand Final MVP) medal. She was previously awarded the 2011 SEABL Youth Player of the Year.South East Australian Basketball League (19 December 2013)
''WNBL star Rebecca Allen returns to the Spectres''
SEABL. Retrieved 25 August 2014.

WNBA

After her success at the World Championship, where she won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

, Allen signed as a free agent with the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was f ...

for the

2015 WNBA season The 2015 WNBA season was the 19th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The regular season started on June 5 and playoffs concluded on October 14. The Minnesota Lynx beat the Indiana Fever 69–52 in game five of the Fina ...

. She made her WNBA debut in the Liberty’s 2015 season opener against Atlanta, scoring six points. Shortly into the 2015 season, Allen suffered a season-ending right knee cartilage injury and decided to return home to Australia to undergo surgery. Allen was traded to the Connecticut Sun in January 2023, as part of a three-team deal.

LIGA FEMENINA ENDESA

In 2020, after the pandemic, she signed with the Spanish team, Valencia Basket.

National Team

Youth Level

Allen made her debut for the Gems at the

2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women The 2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women was hosted by Chile from July 21 to July 31, 2011. The draw for the Championship took place on March 18, 2011 in Puerto Montt. Teams played a round robin schedule, with the top four teams of the ...

held in Chile. Her long arms and legs earned her the nickname "Spida".

Senior Level

Allen is a current member of the Australian Women's basketball squad.Basketball Australia. Opals Players
Rebecca Allen
Retrieved 26 July 2014. Following good form in preliminary lead-up games, Allen was selected to represent the

Opals Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) is a spacecraft communication instrument developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that was tested on the International Space Station (ISS) from 18 April 2014 to 17 July 2014 to demonstrate the te ...

at the 2014 World Championship held in Turkey where she would make her national team debut. In 2019, Allen was named to the final roster for the 2019 FIBA Asia Cup. After strong showings throughout this tournament, Allen was named to the tournament All-Star Five. Allen, like all the other members of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Opals women's basketball team, had a difficult tournament. The Opals lost their first two group stage matches. They looked flat against Belgium and then lost to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in heartbreaking circumstances. In their last group match the Opals needed to beat Puerto Rico by 25 or more in their final match to progress. This they did by 27 in a very exciting match. However, they lost to the United States in their quarterfinal 79 to 55.

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

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2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

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, 21 , , 6 , , 13.3 , , .459 , , .567 , , .867 , , 1.7 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 0.6 , , 5.7 , - , align="left" ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

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, 33 , , 0 , , 9.2 , , .376 , , .341 , , .333 , , 2.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 2.8 , - , align="left" ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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, 28 , , 0 , , 10.4 , , .376 , , .263 , , .840 , , 1.7 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 3.8 , - , align="left" ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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, 24 , , 2 , , 17.2 , , .417 , , .426 , , .813 , , 2.5 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 7.2 , - , align="left" ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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, 25 , , 13 , , 24.6 , , .343 , , .381 , , .892 , , 3.7 , , 1.1 , , 1.6 , , 1.2 , , 0.8 , , 9.2 , - , align="left" ,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

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, 25 , , 19 , , 20.9 , , .379 , , .313 , , .833 , , 3.4 , , 1.2 , , 0.8 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 7.0 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 7 years, 1 team , 158 , , 40 , , 15.6 , , .384 , , .369 , , .829 , , 2.5 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 5.7

Playoffs

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, 1 , , 0 , , 6.7 , , 1.000 , , 1.000 , , .000 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.0 , - , align="left" ,

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, 1 , , 1 , , 29.0 , , .500 , , .600 , , .000 , , 4.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 3.0 , , 0.0 , , 11.0 , - , align="left" ,

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, 3 , , 0 , , 16.3 , , .286 , , .167 , , 1.000 , , 3.0 , , 1.3 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 1.0 , , 4.3 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 3 years, 1 team , 5 , , 1 , , 17.0 , , .391 , , .417 , , 1.000 , , 2.6 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 5.4

References

External links

Rebecca Allen Inteview at Nostresport.com
Retrieved 6 February 2023 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Rebecca 1992 births Living people Australian expatriate basketball people in France Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian Institute of Sport basketball (WNBL) players Australian women's basketball players Basketball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Dandenong Rangers players Forwards (basketball) Melbourne Boomers players New York Liberty players Olympic basketball players of Australia People educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School People from Wangaratta South East Queensland Stars players Sportswomen from Victoria (Australia) Undrafted Women's National Basketball Association players

Early years

Career

WNBL

WNBA

LIGA FEMENINA ENDESA

National Team

Youth Level

Senior Level

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

Playoffs

See also

References

External links