Shelly Lee Boston (born 1 March 1975) is an Australian former

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. She is most well known for her 23 seasons spent in the Western Australian State Basketball League (SBL) / NBL1 West with the

Rockingham Flames Rockingham Flames is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of the Rockingham Basketball and Recreation Association (RBRA), the major administrat ...

and Mandurah Magic. Holding a

British passport The British passport (or UK passport) is a travel document issued by the United Kingdom or other British dependencies and territories to individuals holding any form of British nationality. It grants the bearer international passage in acco ...

, she also played in the English Women's Basketball League (EBL) for the Rhondda Rebels in the early 2000s and represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

, where she won a bronze medal. Boston was born in

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, in the

City of Kwinana The City of Kwinana is a local government area of Western Australia. It covers an area of approximately 118 square kilometres in metropolitan Perth, and lies about 38 km south of the Perth central business district, via the Kwinana F ...

. She grew up playing

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

and only started playing basketball at age 14. Boston debuted in the SBL in 1992 and played her first six seasons for the Rockingham Flames. After a five-game stint with the Wanneroo Wolves in 1998, she returned to the Flames in 1999 and played every year until 2002. Meanwhile, in 2000, Boston moved to south

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

to play for the Rhondda Rebels in the EBL. She helped the Rebels win all three trophies in the 2000–01 season, including the National Cup, league title and play-off championship. In her second season in 2001–02, the Rebels finished as runners-up in all three competitions. Boston did not initially return to Rhondda for the 2002–03 season, deciding to sign in Spain with Barcelona before ultimately leaving soon after and re-joining the Rebels. She re-joined the Rebels for a fourth season in 2003–04. In 2005, Boston returned to the Rockingham Flames and played another four seasons. In July 2008, she played her 300th SBL game. In 2009, she joined the Mandurah Magic and helped them reach the grand final. That year, she also earned SBL All-Star Five honours. She played seven seasons with the Magic, with 2015 being her 22nd season. In May 2015, she played her 400th SBL game. In

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, Boston returned to the Magic for a seven-game stint to make it her 23rd season in the SBL / NBL1 West. As of July 2021, Boston was third all time (413) for total games played in SBL / NBL1 West women's history. She was also first all time in points (6708), rebounds (4088) and blocks (773).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boston, Shelly 1975 births Living people Australian women's basketball players Basketball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Centers (basketball) Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in basketball English women's basketball players Power forwards Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Basketball players from Perth, Western Australia Sportswomen from Western Australia 21st-century Australian sportswomen 21st-century English sportswomen