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In a story that could have come straight from Tinseltown, the besieged Adelaide Lightning basketball team is defying financial pressure and threats of folding to play in its first grand final in 11 years.
Just three months ago the Lightning's owner said it needed $500,000 to stay afloat and more spectators going to games after it had bled $1 million over two years.
Fast forward to now, and South Australia's most successful professional women's team is preparing to contest a final that may very well seal its fate.
"What makes teams good is the way they can handle adversity," captain Nicole Seekamp said.
"We've had a few ups and downs in the season and we've managed to handle that and it's got us to where we are now."
The Lightning plays the University of Canberra Capitals in the ACT on Saturday — the first in a three-game series to decide the title.
A turbulent few years
Adelaide Lightning has the second highest number of grand final wins (five) in the Women's National Basketball League but has been plagued by trouble since January 2015.
It started when former owner Vince Marino announced plans to relinquish the club's licence to Basketball Australia.
Basketball SA became caretaker for the 2015-16 season, but the SA Government refused a request for $150,000 in assistance, a shortfall eventually filled by new sponsors.
The following year, Adelaide Basketball (AB), which also owns the Adelaide 36ers men's side, stepped up to be temporary custodians and appointed championship coach Chris Lucas in a three-year deal.
The South Australian native, who had coached the Lightning in 2004-05 and 2006-07, agreed to rebuild the team on a shoestring budget and has worked for free along with other staff.
But the Lightning had a shocking season and finished bottom of the ladder with just three wins.
Undeterred, AB bought the licence from Basketball Australia and took over for 2017-18, but was soon hit with news that Lucas would miss the start of the season in order to have a benign cyst removed from his kidney.
He returned three games into the season and helped the team finish fifth on the ladder with 11 wins.
Another blow
But despite signs of improvement, AB announced last November that the Lightning would need more money to stay afloat.
It said owner Grant Kelley had invested $1 million over two seasons but that the team was averaging just 250 spectators a game and extra support was desperately required.
Lucas told ABC Radio Adelaide that he was angered to hear the bad news just 40 minutes before the team played a match against Melbourne.
"I heard it was going to be hitting social media during our game, which I found a little disappointing," he said.
"I just would have liked to know beforehand."
The State Government showed little willingness to help at the time and later drew fire from Sports SA when it granted $275,000 to the Adelaide Crows women's team.
It followed concerns that emerging women's sports were being disproportionately supported by government and popular media to the detriment of long-standing women's sports filled with elite athletes.
Fast forward again to now, and the Government has announced a $150,000 commitment for the Lightning as well as a working group through the Office of Recreation and Sport and Basketball SA.
"We have also been in regular contact with the current group in support of their efforts to find a new owner," Corey Wingard, the Minister for Sport, said.
"I'm looking forward to watching the team win on Saturday night and then hopefully clinching the title in front of a packed home crowd in Adelaide next Wednesday."
But $150,000 is the same amount the Lightning has received in sponsorship each year from the Motor Accident Commission (MAC) of SA. The Government is abolishing the MAC later this year.
The Government said late last year that all MAC's sponsorships would be rolled over at their existing levels to June 2020, so it is not clear whether the Lightning will be better off in the long term.
Finding focus on court
Seekamp, a Renmark local who helped the national team win gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, said amid the turmoil Lucas stressed the importance of not listening to off-court issues.
"We managed to do that and went on a winning streak and have only lost two games since then," she said.
The coach, however, attributed the season's success to the players turning around their form and finding focus.
"I asked the girls to set their own identity as players and try and be more consistent in our performance."
Seekamp and Lucas said they were not thinking about the problems that might face the Lightning at season's end, and were instead determined to win the grand final.
"I believe there are some really good things happening in the background, but every time it's brought up to me, I just say I really don't want to talk about it," the coach said.
"I just want to focus on the team."
A call to arms
Lucas said the Lightning attracted 1,170 people to its semi-final against Melbourne, and that there was no reason why it couldn't get more than 2,000 when it hosted game two of the final next Wednesday.
"If we can get 2,000-plus, it might show people we can get the support if we have a winning program," he said.
"I can't see any reason why the club can't achieve that."
But for Seekamp, it remains all about the game, pointing out that much of the year's success could be attributed to on-court chemistry.
"When we're together we all get along so well and there's none of the clique-iness you can find in female sport," she said.
"It shows when we get out on the court and we don't care who scores; we just want to win and get the job done."
The Lightning opens its grand final series against Canberra in the ACT on Saturday, with game two in Adelaide next Wednesday.
If a third game is required to decide the series, it will be played in the ACT on February 16.
Topics: community-and-society, sport, sports-organisations, basketball, human-interest, adelaide-5000, sa, canberra-2600
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