Jillian Harmon was absent from the Tall Ferns successful Commonwealth Games campaign due to Italian League club commitments and things have been going well for the 31-year old power forward in the last couple of weeks.
During the Games Napoli safely negotiated their way through the best of three quarter-final series against Le Mura Lucca. Lucca were the club Harmon led to the title last year and she played a leading role in eliminating them from the 2018 title race.
Napoli lost the first game but bounced back to claim victories in the next two encounters with the Tall Fern averaging 16.3 points and 11.3 rebounds across the series. Napoli claimed game three 55-51 with Harmon producing a game winning double-double of 18 points and 16 rebounds.
Napoli are now locked in a semi-final series with perennial finalists Familia Schio who finished top of the league after the regular season with a 20-2 record.
It didn’t look good for Napoli when they dropped game one 72-57 but they bounced back in style in the second game winning 75-66 on the road with Harmon again prominent. She came up with 8 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and a couple of steals.
This is a five game series and the two teams will clash again on Wednesday in Napoli.
LACEY LOWDOWN 