Cockburn Cougars
| Cockburn Cougars | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Leagues | State Basketball League |
| Founded | 1989 |
| History |
Cockburn Cougars 1989–present |
| Arena | Wally Hagan Stadium |
| Location | Hamilton Hill, Western Australia |
| Team colors | Sky blue, white, yellow |
| Main sponsor | Lapa Brazilian Barbecue |
| President | Scott Harris |
| Head coach |
M: Adam Nener W: John Triscari |
| Team captain |
M: Gavin Field W: Chelsea Evans |
| Championships |
3 (1992, 2012, 2016) (M) 0 (W) |
| Website | CockburnCougars.com |
Cockburn Cougars is a State Basketball League (SBL) club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's SBL (MSBL) and Women's SBL (WSBL). The club is a division of Cockburn Basketball Association (CBA), the major administrative basketball organisation in the City of Cockburn and its surrounding areas. The Cougars play their home games at Wally Hagan Stadium. For sponsorship reasons, the two teams are known as the Lapa Brazilian BBQ Cockburn Cougars.
Cockburn Basketball Association was established in 1972. By 1982, the association's men's side finished runners-up in Perth's local District competition. Two years later, the team won their first championship. In addition, the women's side were runners-up every year between 1983 and 1986. During that four-year run, Sue Arthur was named League MVP every year, while Russ McCall won MVP for the men's competition in 1985.
1989 saw the formation of the State Basketball League (SBL) with both a men's and women's competition. Cockburn, trading as the Cougars, entered a team into both the MSBL and WSBL. Both teams failed to make the finals in their first year, with the men finishing second last with a 4–18 record while the women finished fifth with a 12–9 record. Despite not being able to lead her team to the finals, Sue Arthur was named the inaugural WSBL Most Valuable Player.
In 1992, the Cougars men won their first SBL championship with a 107–91 grand final win over the Bunbury Slammers. As a result, Greg Gurr won the MSBL Coach of the Year award. Just one year earlier, women's coach Kim Poore earned WSBL Coach of the Year honours.
Two more grand final appearances for the Cougars men in 1993 and 1998 saw runner-up finishes, while individually, future NBL stalwart James Harvey won MSBL Rookie of the Year honours in 1997, and Natalie Kastropil won WSBL Rookie of the Year honours in 1996. Also in 1998, Scott Marsden (men) and Llyod Klaman (women) both won Coach of the Year honours, while Alan Erickson won MSBL MVP honours—a first for the Cougars men.
With the turn of the century, the Cougars continued to see success with a men's runner-up finish in 2003 and another MVP winner with Justin Lyons in 2001. Furthermore, women's coach Brad Spicer won Coach of the Year in 2001, while men's coach Shayne Hampel was a three-time Coach of the Year recipient between 2003 and 2005. Season 2004 saw both teams record club-best seasons: a second-place finish for the women with a 17–3 record, and a first-place finish for the men with a 21–3 record.
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