Thanks in no small part to the efforts of Natalie Taylor and Micaela Cocks the Tall Ferns will head to the Gold Coast today with the opportunity to play for a medal.
Cocks, the only surviving member of the 2006 silver medal winning team is the leading scorer (59 points at 14.8ppg) for the Tall Ferns at the Games. Her 19 points against Mozambique along with Taylor’s 25 points were crucial in the win against Mozambique.
As Tall Ferns coach Buy Molloy mused, “It’s not every day that happens.”He was of course referencing the fact that Prince Charles was introduced to the two teams after the Tall Ferns 90-55 win against India.
Equally he could have been referring to his team racking up 90 points and cruising to a third straight win in Pool B at the Commonwealth Games. The team have done all that was expected of them, and probably a bit more and the coach is delighted, “I’m full ofpraise for the team,” he said.
The Tall Ferns now head to Townsville and a likely quarter-final match up against Mozambique. The prospect is enticing for experienced guard Micaela Cocks who has played for the Townsville Fire in the Australian WNBL for the past seven seasons.
“I think we will get lots of support with lots of familiar faces supporting us.” And her thoughts on meeting royalty? “We were told we didn’t have to courtesy which was a relief.’
The Tall Ferns conceded the first basket of the game to Malaysia but thereafter completely dominated proceedings on the opening night of the Commonwealth Games Basketball Tournament eventually winning 86-44.
From Kalani Purcell bossing the boards, Micaela Cocks dropping threes and point guards Jordan Hunter and Erin Rooney setting the tempo New Zealand were in charge for most of the tie. Debutant Charlisse Leger-Walker looked as if she had played a dozen games at the senior level and was even included in the starting five.
There are bigger fish to fry but it was an encouraging start to Guy Molloy’s tenure as head coach.
The Tall Ferns and Tall Blacks spent time in the Commonwealth Games village as they prepare for the upcoming tournament.
They are now in Cairns as they countdown to their tournament openers that see the Tall Ferns play Malaysia on Thursday and the Tall Blacks face Nigeria on Friday.
Due to her club commitments in Italy Jillian Harmon is unavailable for the Tall Ferns Commonwealth Games programme just getting underway in Australia.
Harmon and her Napoli team lost their final regular season game against Lucca 74-66. Lucca are of course the club Harmon won a championship with last year before signing with Napoli.
Harmon recorded an impressive 20 points (10/18FG), 8 rebounds and 5 assists in a game that proved to be a forerunner to the upcoming play-offs – the two teams are drawn to play each other in the Serie A quarter-final after Easter.
Corey Webster added 18 points (8/16FG) to a game high 7 assists but Ironi Nahariya slipped to a fifth straight loss going down 95-86 at Maccabi Tel-Aviv. Nahariya are now eleventh on the twelve team Israeli Winner League table with a 7-14 record.
Webster has become as much a facilitator as a scorer this season leading Nahariya in the assists category (4.0apg) as well as being the second highest scorer on the team averaging 13.6 points per game.
In Germany Frankfurt Skyliners moved up to seventh on the Bundesliga table after a valuable 79-75 win at Telekom Bonn. Tai Webster contributed 11 points and 3 assists as Frankfurt recorded a fourth win in the last five outings to further enhance their top eight standing with a 15-11 record.
Ratiopharm Ulm stayed a win and a place behind the Skyliners after a decisive 91-74 win at Wuerzburg. This was a fine road win considering Ulm were without the injured Isaac Fotu for the trip and Wuerzburg had the same number of wins (13) as their opponents before the game began.
It’s all over for the last of the Harbour reps playing at end of season college tournaments in the USA. However there is a silver lining for Zara Jillings.
Also a bit of Harbour Breeze news.
The Tall Ferns squad for the upcoming Commonwealth Games has a nice blend of youth and experience. The team features most of the players that attended the Asia Cup in India last year although Jillian Harmon (playing for Napoli in the Italian League) is a notable absentee.
Terrific to see teenagers Charlisse Leger-Walker and Zara Jillings included.
It was a pretty good week for our leading Kiwi players in Europe with all four making major contributions.
In Israel, Ironi Nahariya went down 96-88 at home to Ironi Nes-Ziona but the loss couldn’t be blamed on Corey Webster. The Tall Blacks shooting guard scored a game high 27 points as well as dishing 6 assists. His shooting line made good reading – 3 from 5 threes, 11 from 15 in total from the floor and both free throws knocked down. Webster’s 27 points equaled his season best for Nahariya for whom he averages 16 points per game.
Frankfurt Skyliners guard Tai Webster was missing from action last week due to illness but returned to the court in the 90-82 Bundesliga win against Oettinger. Webster recorded 14 points (4/7FG), 2 rebounds, 4 assists and a pair of steals as the Skyliners improved to 14 wins -11 losses, holding 7th spot on the German League ladder.
Webster did well containing Sydney Kings star point guard Jerome Randle who had 14 points for Oettinger – that’s better than most Australian NBL guards managed this season.
Two places behind the Skyliners are Ratiopharm Ulm who beat bottom of the table Walter Tigers 95-82. Isaac Fotu was in good form for Ulm notching 18 points (8/11FG) and 5 rebounds. It was a much-needed win for Ulm as they had lost their previous four games.
In Italy Jillian Harmon produced 17 points (8/17FG), 7 rebounds and 2 assists as Napoli recorded a valuable 69-66 win against San Martino. Napoli had lost their previous two games but the win solidifies their 4th placed spot in Serie A with just one round of the regular season remaining.
The outstanding shooting form Corey Webster displayed for the Tall Blacks in the recent FIBA international window seems to have temporarily deserted him.
The shooting guard has made just 2 from 15 threes in the two games he has played for Ironi Nahariya since returning to the Israeli League following the New Zealand games in China and Korea.
Webster had 10 points, 5 assists and 2 steals in the 83-62 loss at Maccabi Ashdod and 13 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in the 89-79 home defeat to Maccabi Rishon.
With the two losses Irono Hahariya (7-10) have slipped to 10th on the 12-team Israeli League ladder.
Also suffering a pair of losses have been Isaac Fotu and Ratiopharm Ulm. In fact Ulm were absolutely pummeled on Fotu’s first game back from Korea going down 89-54 against Ludwigsburg – 4 points for the Kiwi forward.
Fotu top scored with 15 points (6/9FG) for Ulm in their latest game, a 90-67 loss to Brose Basket but an accumulated points differential of -58 points suggests there is a little work needed at the defensive end in practice this week.
Ulm have fallen to 10th on the Bundesliga ladder with a 12-11 record.
There was a little more joy for Tai Webster as he posted 16 points (5/15FG), 3 rebounds and 6 assists as Frankfurt Skyliners defeated Wuerzburg 78-72.
In their most recent game the Skyliners fell 95-92 in a thriller against Goettingen but were without Webster in the lineup with the Tall Blacks point guard missing due to sickness. The Skyliners are a couple of places above Ulm on the German League ladder with 13 wins and 11 losses.
After a four game winning streak Napoli have recently lost two games on the bounce – the most recent defeat a 70-49 loss at third placed Ragusa. Jillian Harmon was one of just two Napoli players in double figures scoring 14 points (5/15FG) and adding 8 rebounds. Napoli remains fourth on the Italian League ladder with an 11-9 record.
The Tall Ferns forward leads the Serie A in scoring (19.2ppg), is 3rd in rebounding (9.7rpg) and 7th in the assists category (3.5apg).
Newly appointed Tall Ferns coach Guy Molloy has named a predictable squad ahead of a Commonwealth Games selection camp being held in Melbourne.
That camp is being held this weekend with only Italy based Jillian Harmon a notable absentee. Harmon’s commitments to her club side Napoli rule her out of contention, however the power forward has committed to the New Zealand programme beyond the Commonwealth Games when the Tall Ferns will look to qualify for the next Olympics.
LACEY LOWDOWN 