Clark couldn’t ask for a better start to pro career

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Cali Clark was surprised when she won the Lorraine Eiler Medal but she needn't have been given her standout first NBL1 Central season at Norwood Flames who remain alive in what has been the best possible start to her professional career.

After four years in college at Colorado State and then then finishing off at San Diego State, Clark hoped that professional basketball would be in her future but she didn’t exactly know what that might look like.

But her first stop was in Greece with Neas Ionias where she learned and developed aplenty, and then that led straight into this NBL1 Central which could scarcely have gone better with Norwood.

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Clark was instrumental in the Flames finishing the regular season in third position 12-6 and earning a finals double chance which they now need after last week's loss to the Sturt Sabres ahead of this Saturday night's home semi-final with the South Adelaide Panthers.

Along the way, Clark has produced 15.5 points, 12.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 steals a game to go with shooting 50 per cent from the field, 38 per cent from the outside and 81 per cent at the foul line.

She has had 14 double doubles along the way and last Sunday was named the league's Fairest and Most Brilliant player to win the Lorraine Eiler Medal for 2026.

That was the last thing she was expecting when arriving in Australia for the first time and even going into last Sunday's awards, she wasn’t expecting anything but it's an honour she's tremendous proud of so early in her career having only finished college little over 12 months ago.

"I honestly wasn’t expecting the award at all, I had friends and other teammates mentioning it to me here and there, but when I actually heard them call my name from the stage, that came as a huge surprise," Clark said.

"When I’m playing basketball. I’m not really thinking about what I need to be doing to achieve awards like that.

"It’s more what needs to be done for the team and the goals that we have, so i was just extremely grateful when the league recognized that with this award.

"As for personal awards I think this stands as one of the top awards I have received in my career, I’m still pretty early in my professional career so I’m hoping to continue building from here."

No more second chances

Team success does trump any individual accolades, though, and now Clarke's sole focus is on doing everything she can to keep the season alive for Norwood after Saturday night.

They earned the finals double chance by winning the last three games of the regular season before then losing on the road to the second placed Sabres last Saturday night.

Now Norwood plays host to South Adelaide this Saturday night at The ARC with a place in the preliminary final on the line and Clark will be hoping they can repeat the dose from June 20 when they beat the Panthers 81-68 at home.

"I think any game in the playoffs is gonna be a tough game," Clark said.

"I know we had some success late during the season with South, but our mindset going into the game is that it doesn’t matter who we’re up against our plan is to play the best basketball we can play and do what we need to do to win.

"I think if we’re able to perform like that, we’ll see success again during this game."

Norwood's rollercoaster of a season

One teammate that Clark was excited to play with when she joined Norwood was Dara Mabrey, but she only ended up being at the Flames for four games before being called up the training squad for the WNBA's Toronto Tempo.

She has remained back home in the United States but things have turned out well for the Flames in the long run and the addition of Ally Becki has proven pivotal in that.

After losing four of the opening six games of the season, Norwood won 10 of the last 12 in the regular season to have plenty of momentum coming into the finals which Clark hopes they can now recapture on Saturday night and then for two more weeks.

"Yeah, I was pretty excited to get the opportunity to play with Dara knowing her from over in Greece, and I was also sad to see her go, but excited she got that opportunity," Clark said.

"I think our season really did turn around though when Ally joined the squad. I think she really compliments the style of play that we were trying to achieve this season.

"If you look at our record, we started this season of pretty slow and things like you said, turned around pretty quickly when we got Ally and team started clicking really well.

"In the later part of the first half of the season up to the end we were able to play some really great basketball so overall, I would say that I’m pretty happy with how we were able to grow together and as a basketball team over the normal season."

Settling in instantly down under

Clark played her last game in Greece on March 1 and it was a quick turnaround to arrive in Adelaide, settle in at Norwood and then be out there for the season-opener against the defending champion Woodville Warriors who she had to watch unfurl their banner.

But both in a basketball and a lifestyle point of view, she couldn’t have been happier with what she's found in Adelaide and has had no troubles settling in.

"I’ve really enjoyed my time in Australia, I got out here almost straight after playing in Europe so it came to a delight that everyone was so welcoming and the city felt familiar straight away," Clark said.

"All of the people I have met and interacted with have been really great and easy to get along with. Honestly couldn’t imagine a better first season in NBL1 so far."

The start to professional career

Given the big schools that Clark played at firstly with Colorado State and then San Diego State, it's no surprise there were plenty of suitors for her to begin her professional.

She joined Neas Ionias of the top Greek division where she played against perennial powerhouses like Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, and ended up finding her feet the longer the season went.

She then felt coming to Australia would be ideal for her next stop straight after that to play in the NBL1, and she couldn’t be happier with the home she's now found in the Central at Norwood.

"I have really enjoyed my professional career so far. I was placed at a good developmental team in Greece that was competitive in their top league and was able to kind of increase my role on the floor there," Clark said.

"Then coming here I was given the opportunity to take on a bigger role. I think over the last year I’ve grown a lot as a basketball player and I’m really excited to see how this growth continues.

"I think another really important part of this lifestyle is the people you’re able to meet in the relationship you’re able to make and I’ve been given the opportunity to meet some really amazing people. So I couldn’t be more happy with the start of my career."

Setting goals to work towards

Given Clark is now only just over 12 months into life abroad as a professional, the world is her oyster especially with the skill set she has where she's big enough to play as a genuine big, she's mobile and athletic enough to play on a wing or step outside, and can do it all on the floor.

That’s why she already has an MVP award to her credit so early into her career and it would be a shock if WNBL clubs around the country haven’t taken notice as she weighs up where her next stop could be.

"Yeah there's definitely a few goals that I would like to achieve before the end of my professional career," Clark said.

"Obviously the WNBA would be an amazing opportunity, but I would also like to build up my résumé in Europe here in Australia and all over the world.

"Eventually I would love to play on some high-level Euro cup teams maybe even Euro League, and just see how much growth that I can experience there.

"And then with playing here in Australia I would love to win a grand final, and keep improving to potentially play for the WNBL."