Last week it was a clash of the Kiwi women in the Australian WNBL as Townsville’s Tall Ferns Micaela Cocks and Jillian Harmon took on fellow international Toni Edmondson’s West Coast Waves.
This week it was the men’s turn in the NBL as Leon Henry’s Townsville Crocodiles hosted BJ Anthony’s Adelaide 36ers. It was the Crocodiles that snared the win, 96-84, although Henry played little part as he accumulated 4 fouls in just 9 minutes on court.
Anthony had a handy 7pts/6rebs outing against the Crocs and the following night in Cairns 4pts/2rebs as the 36ers lost their seventh straight game. At least BJ had better news on the home front with his signing for the James Blond Super City Rangers in the NZNBL announced last week.
Townsville also had two games over the weekend but came unstuck in Melbourne losing to United 83-79. Henry scored 8 points and added 3 rebounds and a block.
In Europe Rob Loe produced a strong performance for KAO Dramas in the Greek League. Returned to a starter role he produced 8pts/8rebs and 2 blocks but could not stop Dramas slipping to a 83-69 loss against a team with one of the longest names in club basketball, the vowel ridden – Panelefsiniakos.
In Spain Isaac Fotu benefitted from a full week of training at La Bruixa d’Or Manresa. Promoted to the starting five the power forward scored 16 points (5/8FG, 2/3 3pts) and collected 6 rebounds including 4 at the offensive end before fouling out. His effort wasn’t quite enough to get Manresa the win as they went down 66-62 to Iberostar Tener but it was certainly an encouraging performance and enough to earn him the Lowdown player of the week award.
Back to the women in the WNBL and it was heartbreak for West Coast Waves coach Kennedy Kereama and guard Toni Edmondson on Saturday night. The Waves found themselves 16 points down early in the final quarter before making an impressive comeback to tie the game 69 apiece in normal time against Melbourne Boomers. The extra period was a high scoring affair but unfortunately the Waves sank to an 87-84 loss.
The effort by the Waves was even more meritorious given that they were backing up from a defeat at the hands of the Dandenong Rangers, 97-80, the previous night. Edmondson scored 12 points (5/8 FG including 2/3 triples) against Dandenong and 5pts/4rebs against the Boomers.
The Waves slip to 4-6 after a third successive loss.
Top of the table Townsville Fire (7-2) were much too hot for Dandenong defeating the Rangers 91-57. Micaela Cocks was prominent again with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Fellow Tall Fern Jillian Harmon secured 9 rebounds and added 7 points for the Fire.
LACEY LOWDOWN 