Stephanie Talbot stays south with Adelaide Lightning for another year Adelaide Lightning player Stephanie Talbot has signed to stay at the club for another year. ADELAIDE Lightning are a veteran away from retaining the core of its WNBL team after their rookie, Stephanie Talbot, signed to stay with the club in 2013-14. Talbot, 18, won the Betty Watson Rookie of the Year award last season and was actively pursued by Dandenong Rangers. But the Kadina-born guard/forward, who made a sensation with her acceptance speech at the awards night in reference to how much she had learned from her experienced teammates, decided to stay in Peter Buckle's Lightning rotation. With the exception of dual-league MVP Suzy Batkovic, who headed to Townsville Fire as a free agent, Adelaide now has retained the nucleus of the team that has contested finals for the past two seasons. Olympians Laura Hodges, Jenni Screen and Angela Marino all return, as will livewire guard Amy Lewis, burgeoning centre Nadeen Payne and rookie playmaker Lauren Mansfield. The North Adelaide rookie, who played college ball at Iowa State University and is currently playing with Launceston in the SEABL, signed earlier this week. That leaves only captain Jo Hill, who turns 40 in June, to confirm whether she will go again in 2013-14. Hill won her first WNBL championship with North Rockets in 1990, the same year Mansfield was born and five years before Talbot was born. But Talbot, elevated into the starting line-up by Buckle in her debut, has a similar career awaiting her. The all-rounder averaged 5.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists. She also drew some of the WNBL's toughest defensive assignments. Mansfield, 23, said staying in her home of Adelaide and reuniting with the same core group of players made her decision to stay an easy one. A decision by Hill is expected soon, with the Sydney Olympian fit and playing SBL with North, suggesting there is no physical reason she could not continue.