The Australian WNBL began at the weekend with Micaela Cocks and her Townsville Fire team getting one over on Melbourne Boomers with Kalani Purcell in their lineup.
The Fire won 63-54 with Cocks contributing a solid 8 points that included a brace of threes, 2 rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Purcell had 4 points and 4 rebounds for the Boomers.
It wasn’t all bad news for Purcell as in the opening game of the weekend, on debut, she contributed in her usual manner attempting to fill every stats category – 6 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and a block – Melbourne beating Dandenong Rangers 76-61.
Chevannah Paalvast was also making her debut, the Tall Fern guard playing five minutes for Canberra Capitals as it beat Bendigo Spirit 93-80. Long enough for Paalvast to get on the scoreboard with a couple of points.
Toni Farnworth was unable to suit up for Perth Lynx as she sustained a fractured wrist in a pre season game the previous weekend. The Lynx missed the influential Kiwi guard going down 93-80 at home to last season’s champions Sydney University Flames.
In Italy Jillian Harmon scored 9 points and added 6 rebounds and 3 assists in 38 minutes of action but Napoli went down 51-48 at home to Venezia in its second game of the season. In a defence dominated encounter Napoli managed just 8 points in the fourth quarter.
LACEY LOWDOWN 