THE LEGACY
The Pioneers made their debut in the SEABL in 1988, but only made the playoffs in one out of their first nine seasons. The Pioneers finished the 1997 season as conference runners-up before missing the playoffs again in 1998. They finished as conference runners-up again in 2000.
The Pioneers took out the SEABL South Conference Championship in 2003 before going all the way and winning through to the ABA National Final, where they defeated the Ballarat Miners 127–113 to claim their first ever National Championship. After eight straight seasons of missing the playoffs between 2005 and 2012, the Pioneers won four straight SEABL South Conference titles between 2013 and 2016, all under [current] Head Coach, Richard Hill. They also won back-to-back SEABL National Championships in 2014 and 2015. In 2017, the Pioneers won their fifth straight SEABL conference title, this time winning the East Conference. They went on to clinch the SEABL National Championship, thus winning their third national title in four years.
Following the 2018 season, Basketball Australia disbanded the SEABL, leaving the Pioneers in limbo for 2019. In December 2018, after much deliberation, the Pioneers were accepted into the South Australian Premier League. With the SEABL being Australia’s elite semi-professional competition, the Pioneers were forced to accept many concessions in order to enter the Premier League, part of the acceptance was fielding a women’s team. The Pioneers Men reached the Premier League Grand Final in 2019, whilst the Pioneers Women’s team fell short by 2 points in a nail-biting Preliminary final to finish the season in third position in what was an amazing debut season, coached by current Head Women’s Coach, Matt Sutton.
In October 2019, the Pioneers were finally granted entry into NBL1 for the 2020 season before COVID forced a cancelled season and a half in 2020 and 21.
Since then the Mount Gambier Pioneers have made an impact on the NBL1 South competition.
2022 saw the Castec Rural Pioneers men go all the way to the grand final, but fell short against the Hobart Chargers, with the OneFortyOne Pioneers women bowing out in a tough Semi Final against the Waverly Falcons.
In 2023 the Mount Gambier Pioneers were recognized as club of the year for the all round achievements of the club both on and off the court.
In 2024 the Pioneers had both our women’s and men’s programs finish in the top four but were unable to achieve the ultimate success of a championship success.
We remain hungry for sustainable success both on and off court. Whilst being hugely proud of the clubs success and consious of celebrating our achievements whilst striving for more each and every year.
