LACEY LOWDOWN

It doesn’t pay to give your opponent a 19 points start in any game of basketball but when you are winless, bottom of the ladder and playing the second on the table it becomes more problematic.

That’s exactly what Bendigo Spirit did on Friday night against the high flying Melbourne Boomers in the Australian Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL).

To their credit Bendigo’s spirit wasn’t dented and with Mary Goulding to the fore they made a couple of good runs at the Boomers before going down 91-70.

It was the second clash of the season between the two teams that total seven New Zealand Tall Ferns on their rosters. In the first encounter earlier in the month, also won by the Boomers, all but Toni Farnworth contributed to the scoring column but in this one Farnworth joined the other six with a scoring contribution.

Stella Beck had a fine night steering the Boomers offence, the point guard scoring a season high 17 points (7/11FG) to accompany 4 assists.

Penina Davidson was also in double figures with 10 points to go with four rebounds. The Boomers came up with six steals in the contest, four of those going the way of Kalani Purcell who added 4 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in a typically robust performance. Farnworth finished with three points and Ash Karaitiana two.

For the Spirit Goulding, the only WNBL rookie out of the seven Kiwis, scored 12 points (4/7FG) off the bench with Chev Paalvast knocking down her only shot of the game for three points.

The Spirit are done and dusted, a disappointing season seeing them finish with an 0-13 record.

The Boomers (9-3) travel to Townsville for their final regular season game on Sunday against the Fire (tip-off 3.05pm NZ time). A win could see them move up to second on the WNBL league table – a more favourable position than third ahead of next week’s play-offs.

You can view the Townsville game and the play-offs on FIBA YouTube. 

The Melbourne Boomers completed the Australian Women’s Basketball League (WNBL) regular season with a 104-75 demolition of Perth Lynx in Melbourne on Saturday night.

All four Tall Ferns in the Boomers line-up made a contribution as Melbourne dominated from start to finish.
Kalani Purcell was at her box score filling finest adding 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals to 17 points on 7 from 9 from the field – her highest points haul of the season.

Toni Farnworth contributed 4 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists against her former club and Penina Davidson corralled 3 rebounds to go with 3 points.

Stella Beck has been a revelation starting in the point guard spot where she has had to take the place of the injured Lindsay Allen during the last month. Beck knocked down 3 from 5 from beyond the arc on her way to 11 points but it was her all-round game that impressed Boomers coach Guy Molloy.

“Stella has done an amazing job in Lindsay’s absence,” said Molloy.

“I think Stella probably feels great individually that she’s been able to step up so much and I know that the team has a lot of confidence in her,” he added.

Melbourne finished the season in third spot on the WNBL ladder with a 15-6 record, the same as Canberra Capitals who they will meet in the semi-finals.

That will be a best-of three series but will not take place until after the Australian Opals commitments at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in France (February 7-10).

The Australian Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) Grand Final Series is headed to a deciding game in Canberra on Saturday evening after a pulsating second game was won by Adelaide Lightning last night.

Canberra had comfortably won the opening game 88-67 on its home court but the Lightning bounced back in stirring fashion closing out a nail-biter 74-73. Nicole Seekamp scored with a buzzer beater in front of 3,700 ecstatic fans at the Titanium Security Arena in Adelaide to force a deciding game in the best-of-three series.

Tall Fern Penina Davidson, in her first season as a professional since graduating from the University of California Berkeley in 2018, produced a nice cameo off the bench posting 4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.

The winning basket wasn’t without controversy as the referees missed a clear double dribble as the ball was dribbled up court and there was grave doubt as to whether Seekamp got off her winning shot before the final siren sounded.

Earlier Canberra had forged a 44-37 half-time advantage although that lead has virtually evaporated by three-quarter time with Adelaide trailing by just one point (56-55). Even though Canberra led for the majority of the final period Adelaide were never more than two possessions in arrears and timed their final run to perfection.

Adelaide Head Coach and former Tall Ferns assistant Chris Lucas described the game as “An amazing game of women’s basketball. I thought it was just fantastic, it had everything.”

Whatever the outcome on Saturday Davidson has relished her rookie season in Adelaide.

“Making the Grand Final has definitely been a highlight and I couldn’t have asked for much more from my first professional contract,” she said.

A go-ahead basket by Kalani Purcell, with 27 seconds left on the clock, helped propel Melbourne Boomers to an exciting 79-75 home win against Townsville Fire in the latest round of the Australian Women’s National Basketball League.

In a re-match of last season’s Grand Final Purcell pulled down an astonishing 15 rebounds (8 off the offensive glass) as Melbourne recorded a fourth straight win and moved to second on the WNBL ladder with a 7-3 record. The Tall Ferns forward added 9 points, 4 assists and 2 steals in a typical all-action display.

Tall Ferns teammate Micaela Cocks was also in fine form, top scoring for the defending champions with 19 points at a highly efficient 8 from 11 shooting. However the loss means that, a third of the way through the season, the Fire sit outside the top four with 3 wins and 5 losses.

Two earlier clashes in the round also pitched mate versus mate, Tall Fern against Tall Fern.

Adelaide Lightning, with Penina Davidson nabbing 6 points, led by as many as 10 points against Townsville but eventually succumbed 79-77 on their home court. Stella Beck came off the bench for the Fire contributing 3 assists and a pair of rebounds. Also for Townsville Cocks chipped in with 5 points, 3 rebounds and a trio of dimes.

Prior to the win against Townsville Melbourne had travelled west and completed a comprehensive 89-69 victory over league leaders Perth Lynx. It was just the second loss of the season for Perth (6-2) who got 9 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals from captain Toni Farnworth. Purcell put up more big numbers amassing 6 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block.

The next edition of mate v mate will be on Sunday when Penina and Adelaide visit Kalani and Melbourne.

There were some strong performances by New Zealand national team players based overseas at the weekend.

Perth are top of the Australian WNBL table with a 5-1 record after getting a road double by defeating Sydney 78-62 and Townsville Fire 79-71. Perth skipper Toni Farnworth came up with 10pts/3rebs/2a/2steals against Sydney and 7 points and 5 rebounds against the Fire.

For the Fire, that slip to 2-3 for the season, Micaela Cocks scored 10 points and added 4 rebounds and a pair of steals.

Josie Stockill made her WNBL debut for Melbourne Boomers in its 101-75 demolition of Dandenong. The Tall Ferns centre is a Development Player with the Guy Molloy coached Boomers and came on for the final two minutes of the tie and knocked down a free throw to get on the scoreboard.

On Melbourne Cup Day eve Melbourne were kept to just nine points in the closing quarter as they fell 60-58 to Bendigo Spirit in front of almost 3,000 of their own fans. Kalani Purcell snared 9 rebounds, including 5 off the offensive glass, for Melbourne in addition to 3 points, 2 assists and 3 steals but the Boomers slip to a 3-3 record.

In Italy Jillian Harmon will have taken quiet satisfaction from Ragusa’s 67-56 win against Lucca. Harmon played for Lucca in its 2017 championship winning season but on Sunday helped plot Lucca’s downfall scoring 13 points to go with 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Ragusa moved into the Serie A top four with a 3-2 record following the victory.

Tessa Boagni produced a monster double-double of 14 points and 17 rebounds for Hatchers Valhyries in the Malaysian League. Hatchers beat Red Barron 58-48 and are fourth on the table with a 2-1 record.

Four Tall Ferns appeared in the opening round of the Australian National Basketball League (WNBL) at the weekend but only Penina Davidson enjoyed a win.

Melbourne Boomers, coached by Tall Ferns mentor Guy Molloy, are tipped by many to win the 38^th edition of the WNBL but they were surprisingly beaten 82-72 by Bendigo Spirit in front of nearly three thousand fans at the Melbourne State Basketball Centre on Saturday.

Kalani Purcell added four rebounds to one free-throw as Melbourne was outscored 29-5 in the second period giving up 23 turnovers in the contest.

It wasn’t a happy occasion for Micaela Cocks as she began her eighth season with Townsville Fire. Playing her 183^rd game for the club (second highest all-time for Townsville) Cocks scored six points and added 8 rebounds but the Fire were doused 73-68 by Dandenong Rangers.

Stella Beck has joined Cocks at Townsville following her successful four year career at St Mary’s College California. Unfortunately Beck will be sidelined for the first couple of weeks of the season as she recovers from a stress fracture in her foot.

Davidson began her professional career on a winning note on Saturday as Adelaide Lightning stole) an opening round win in Perth beating the Lynx 78-66.

“Fans are going to love New Zealand ‘big’ Penina Davidson,” observed respected Adelaide based basketball journalist Boti Nagy before the game.

The former University of California Berkeley standout contributed 3 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in 17 quality minutes off the bench for the Chris Lucas coached Lightning.

The win was based around a solid defensive effort from Adelaide as they held Perth to just twenty points in the middle two quarters to carry a decisive 58-41 lead into the final ten minutes.

Cantabrian Toni Farnworth, in her seventh campaign with the Lynx and her tenth WNBL season overall, scored 7 points but it wasn’t a great shooting night for Tall Ferns wing making just 3 from 12 from the floor.