Ciabattoni "grateful" to bring up 150-game milestone

She's already enjoying the best year of her basketball career and now Perth Lynx star Alex Ciabattoni will have even more to celebrate on Thursday.

The guard will play her 150th WNBL game when her Lynx host rivals, the Bendigo Spirit, at RAC Arena as part of the 2026 HoopsFest.

"It [the milestone] means the world to me," Ciabattoni said.

"As a kid, my goal was always to make the WNBL, so to be able to do that and play 150 games is very cool.

"I didn't even think I'd get to 100 games, because after I had Eli, I thought that would be it.

"The past 50-odd since coming back with Eli to play have been so special and I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to come back and play by the club and Ryan [Petrik].

"Anyone that knows me knows that my career has been a bit up and down, so just to get here is just such a privilege."

Born in Adelaide, Ciabattoni grew up playing for the Southern Tigers, while also attending Mary MacKillop College.

Following her schooling, Ciabattoni spent two seasons at Newman University, where she made 53 appearances for the Jets and was named both Heartland Conference Freshman of the Year and All-Heartland Conference First Team (twice).

Upon returning to Australia and a stint with the South Adelaide Panthers, the now 31-year-old signed with the Adelaide Lightning, who spent the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 seasons with, and won 2016 WNBL Rookie of the Year.

This was followed by signing with the Perth Lynx ahead of the WNBL18 campaign, which was surrounded by stops at the Albury-Wodonga Bandits, Hobart Chargers, Kalamunda Eastern Suns and Rockingham Flames (who she guided to the 2019 State Basketball League crown).

After one stint in Perth, Ciabattoni played abroad in Italy with Reyer Venezia, Ponzano Basket and Treofan Battipaglia.

The guard then returned to the Lynx for the 2020-21 season, the first of two straight with the Lynx before having a year off to give birth to her first child, Eli, alongside husband James.

Since returning to the court with the Lynx in 2023, Ciabattoni has also played NBL1 West with the South West Slammers, Cockburn and Rockingham, with her being named to the All-NBL1 West First Team in 2024 with the latter.

"[Upon reflecting on my career] my biggest growth areas, and Ryan might disagree, is that I'm a lot easier to coach and a lot less hot-headed," she said.

"In the early days, I feel like I would light fire up and get frustrated on and off the court a lot easier. Whereas now, I feel like I'm a lot more settled and have a lot more understanding of what's expected and what it takes to maintain this level."

The WNBL26 season has been a remarkable one for Ciabattoni, who is averaging career-best numbers in points (15.1), three-pointers made (1.2), offensive rebounds (1.3) and plus-minus (8.7) and her 13-4 Lynx.

"It's definitely been one of the most fun and selfless teams I've played in, which has made it so much easier to find a role and succeed in it," Ciabattoni said.

"Anyone on any night can go off and we all just get around them. It's so rare just to have a group that puts the team first before individual results. It shows how we play together and how we are all thriving in the system.

"It's definitely not something I've experienced before because even our superstars don't worry too much about their personal stats, rather just the outcome which is winning games."

On the game itself, which pits second-placed Bendigo against third-placed Perth, Ciabattoni knows how important this clash is for semi-final spots.

"Firstly, with the game being at RAC Arena, as part of HoopsFest, it's going to be a lot of fun and an incredible opportunity for us," she said.

"[Then in terms of the game] the biggest thing for us is just staying together and sticking with our stuff.

"We know that they're a good team, that's playing incredibly well and have so many people that can step up, which makes them so tough.

"We trust in our game plan and being prepared for the physicality, because when we're locked in, we know we're so hard to beat."

The Round 14 fixture tips off at 7pm AEDT, live on ESPN and 9Now.

Tickets to the RAC Arena clash at HoopsFest are still available here.