Adelaide Lightning captain Steph Talbot has defied a mid-tournament team quarantine to pip her Opals teammate Liz Cambage for WNBL MVP honours.

Talbot also won defensive player of the year and was named in the All-WNBL First Team at a ceremony in Townsville on Monday.

A COVID-19 outbreak in South Australia forced the Lightning off the court and into hotel quarantine after the WNBL season had already commenced in its North Queensland hub.

The Lightning resumed the tournament to finish with a 5-8 record in sixth place, missing the semi-finals which begin on Wednesday.

Talbot tallied 73 votes across a revised 13-game season to win the Suzy Batkovic Medal as MVP ahead of Southside Flyers ace Cambage (67) and Townsville Fire’s Lauren Nicholson (65).

Both coaches and the lead official in each game conducted 3-2-1 votes, with a maximum of nine votes possible.

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Talbot averaged 18.2 points, nine rebounds, three assists and 1.9 steals per game, passing double figures in points on 11 occasions.

“I’m shocked but absolutely honoured to be named league MVP,” Talbot said.

“Both Liz [Cambage] and Lauren [Nicholson] had great seasons, with many people deserving of this accolade.

“But as captain of the Lightning, I couldn’t be prouder of how we conducted ourselves this season and we have plenty of positives to take into next year.”

The Fire’s Shyla Heal, whose father Shane was a Boomers great, won youth player of the year after the 19-year-old averaged 15.2 points per game.

Fire coach Shannon Seebohm was named coach of the year after he piloted the side from last in 2019 to second place on the ladder this season.

AAP



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