Stella beck leads the West Coast Conference in field goal shooting – 57% from the field.
Career high points hauls for Stella Beck and Josie Stockill highlight the efforts of Tall Ferns overseas this week.
Former Hutt Valley High School standout Beck put together an almost perfect shooting performance as she recorded a career high 27 points in St Mary’s Gaels 91-81 win At Loyola Marymount in West Coast Conference play. Beck was almost unstoppable shooting 10 from 11 from the field and a perfect 7 of 7 from the charity stripe. She wasn’t too shabby at the defensive end either collecting 3 rebounds and 4 blocks.
In the same conference Kalani Purcell continued her good season as Brigham Young Uni-Provo recorded wins against San Francisco and Santa Clara. Across the two games Purcell averaged 17 points, 15.5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1.5 blocks.
BYU remain atop the conference standings with a 14-1 record, St Mary’s (10-4) in third spot, with two weeks of the regular season to play.
Colgate University Raiders may have slipped to a fifth straight loss when beaten 78-55 by Army West Point but Tall Fern Josie Stockill had a game to remember. The Hawkes Bay product scored a career high 29 points in addition to securing 9 rebounds and effecting 7 blocked shots.
Stockill, who already holds the Raiders all time shot blocking record, is now just 18 points shy of 1,000 career points for the Raiders.
Cal State Northridge Matadors improved to 4-6 in Big West Conference play following a convincing 62-48 win against Irvine. Tessa Boagni has had a quiet time of late and that trend continued as the Cantabrian centre grabbed 4 rebounds to match 4 points (1-4FG).
Penina Davidson helped the University of California Berkley Golden Bears snap a four game losing streak with a strong 4pts/6rebs/4assists/2 steals stat line. The Bears improved to 3-11 in the Pac 12 Conference after defeating Arizona 75-56 on Sunday.
Australia – Women
The Townsville Fire has almost wrapped up the Australian WNBL minor premiership for the second successive season. After demolishing Dandenong Rangers 89-49 in Townsville on Friday the Fire requires just one win from its remaining two games after to secure the premiership.
Micaela Cocks made a major contribution to the win with 13 points that included a couple of crucial threes whilst Chevannah Paalvast added a brace of points and assists.
Canberra Capitals broke a 21 game losing streak to upset top four contenders Perth Lynx on Friday winning 80-77. Toni Edmondson had 3 points and 3 assists for the Lynx.
The Lynx bounced back on Saturday night securing a crucial 88-85 come from behind victory at Sydney Flames. Edmondson weighed in with a handy 8 points and 5 rebounds effort as the Lynx remained second on the ladder.
Nelson native Jess Bygate also had 8 points for Adelaide Lightning as it cruised to an 88-62 victory in Melbourne against the Boomers on Saturday. Bygate shot a perfect 3 from 3 from the field plus a couple of free throws.
The dosage was almost repeated on Sunday as Adelaide won again beating Bendigo Spirit 92-78. 6 points and 2 rebounds for Bygate on that occasion.
Top placing’s on WNBL ladder with one round to play – top four qualify for semi-finals at end of the 24 game regular season:
16-6 Townsville Fire
15-8 Dandenong Rangers
15-8 Perth Lynx
14-8 SE Queensland Stars
12-10 Bendigo Spirit
Europe – Women
Le Mura Lucca kept its impressive run in the Italian League going with a hard fought 74-71 road win at exotically named Siesto San Giovanni Geas. Once again Tall Fern Jillian Harmon led the Lucca effort with a 25 points haul.
COB Calais (3-13) remains second from the bottom of the French League after going down 76-51 at home to Villeneuve on Sunday. Erin Rooney put up just two shots for Calais failing to score with either attempt. The former Canterbury guard had to settle for 4 assists and a brace of steals in 29 minutes of action.
LACEY LOWDOWN 