She played on Australia's "Opals" national team at four Summer Olympics , has coached the team at two more, and won three medals one bronze, two silvers as a player and one bronze medal as a coach. Brondello grew up in Mackay, Queensland , where her parents had a sugar cane farm.
At the age of 9, she started to play basketball in a grass court her father built in the backyard [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Brondello's career began in Australia's Women's National Basketball League , where she was named the Australian Basketball Player of the Year in She was selected by the Indiana Fever in late 's expansion draft , but never played a game for them, being traded to the Miami Sol along with a first-round pick for Stephanie White. After sitting out of the season due to a foot injury playing for Wuppertal during the WNBA offseason, [ 5 ] Brondello signed as a free agent with the Seattle Storm in , joining fellow Australians Lauren Jackson and Tully Bevilaqua.
Brondello was one of the top three-point shooters in league history, her. On the Australian National Team , Brondello joined the team before the age of 18 and remained on the Opals for 17 years, [ 4 ] and her games made Brondello the third most capped Australian player, behind Robyn Maher and Karen Dalton. Brondello's tournaments with Australia include four World Championships , with two bronze medals, and four Olympic tournaments , with two silver medals and a bronze.
She was promoted to head coach in February Brondello and her husband, associate head coach Olaf Lange, were fired by the Silver Stars in September Brondello finished her only season as head coach with a 14—20 record, third best in the Western Conference.
They were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Phoenix two games to none. General manager Dan Hughes regained the title of head coach in January , returning to the dual role he held before promoting Brondello. In April , Brondello was appointed head coach of the Australian women's basketball team , the Opals.
