Sara Blicavs

Quick Facts

• Born: 15 February 1993, Sunbury, Victoria, Australia
• Hometown: Geelong, Victoria
• Height: 189cm
• Position: Forward / Guard
• Current clubs: Sichuan (WCBA, China) & Australian Opals
• Turned pro: 2009 (WNBL debut aged 16, Australian Institute of Sport)

Biography

Sara Blicavs is a veteran Australian basketballer with more than 15 years of WNBL and international experience. Born in Sunbury, Victoria and raised in Geelong, she comes from a basketball family. Her mother, Karen Blicavs, won the WNBL’s inaugural MVP award in both 1982 and 1983, and her father Andris also played for the national team. Her brother Mark Blicavs is an AFL premiership player with Geelong Football Club.

Blicavs made her WNBL debut at just 16 for the Australian Institute of Sport on 19 December 2009, then played for the Dandenong Rangers, Bendigo Spirit, Southside Flyers, Melbourne Boomers and UC (Canberra) Capitals over a long club career. In December 2022 she became just the seventh current WNBL player to reach 3,000 career points, and passed 300 WNBL games during the 2025-26 season.

International Career

Blicavs came through Australia’s national junior pathway, representing the Opals at the FIBA Under-17 World Championship (2010, 7th) and the Under-19 World Championship (2011, 4th), before making her senior Opals debut at the 2015 FIBA Oceania Championship, which Australia won. She was named in Australia’s squad for the Rio 2016 Olympic test event and made her Olympic debut at the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games, called up after Liz Cambage’s withdrawal. The Opals were eliminated in the quarter-finals by the USA, finishing 8th. In 2022 she won a bronze medal with the Opals at the FIBA Women’s World Cup. She has continued to represent Australia since, including selection for the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup squad and Australia’s Trans-Tasman Throwdown series against New Zealand.

Overcoming Adversity: The Comeback

Injury has shaped Blicavs’ career almost as much as her results have. A serious knee injury in November 2017, an ACL rupture, meniscus tear and fractured kneecap, kept her sidelined for 13 months. More recently, bilateral spine fractures and disc erosion led to spinal fusion and disc replacement surgery in early 2024, after which she couldn’t sit or stand for more than 30 minutes at a time. “It was kind of terrifying when you’re 30 years old,” she said of the ordeal. With the Victorian Institute of Sport supporting her rehab, Blicavs made a full comeback in 2025. She started with the Melbourne Tigers in NBL1 South, returned to the WNBL with the UC Capitals and the Opals squad, then signed a lucrative overseas contract with Sichuan in China’s Women’s Chinese Basketball League (WCBA) for the season beginning late 2026. She has described the surgery as being “about quality of life” as much as basketball, and says she now feels “fitter, stronger and more athletic” than at any point in her career.

Career Club History

• Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) – 2009-2012
• Dandenong Rangers – 2012-2013, 2015-2019
• Bendigo Spirit – 2013-2015 (WNBL Champion 2013-14)
• Southside Flyers – 2019-2023 (WNBL Champion 2019-20)
• Melbourne Boomers – 2023-2024
• Melbourne Tigers (NBL1 South) – 2025 comeback season
• UC (Canberra) Capitals – 2025-26 WNBL season
• Sichuan (WCBA, China) – signed 2026