Basketball New Zealand

Aneka Kerr and the Townsville Fire host the defending champion Adelaide Lightning on Saturday (Photosport)

Three Tall Ferns team-mates will battle each other in Townsville on Saturday as the Australian Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) playoffs move down to the last four.

In the yellow corner for the elimination semifinal, representing the third-placed Townsville Fire, will be Ferns captain Aneka Kerr and back-up shooting guard Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe, while in the red corner, for the defending champion and fourth-placed Adelaide Lightning, will be national team-mate and starting point guard Angela Marino.

Marino scored 10 points (3/11 FG, 2/7 3pt, 2/4 FT), dropping three assists and a steal in 37 minutes in Adelaide’s 81-73 home win over the Bendigo Spirit in Wednesday night’s elimination final.

Townsville finished the regular season at 16-6, one game ahead of Adelaide, who split the season series 1-1.

The winner will move on to face the loser of Friday night’s qualifying semifinal between the regular season champion Canberra Capitals and second-placed Bulleen Boomers, featuring former Tall Fern Lisa Pardon.

Marino scored 12 points (5/11 FG, 1/5 3pt, 1/1 FT) adding three steals, a rebound and assist in 30 minutes in the Lightning’s 104-67 home win over the Perth Lynx in the regular season finale, ensuring the City of Churches hosted the first playoff game on Wednesday.

Kerr, who was with Townsville during the team’s last playoff run in 2002-03 when they fell a game short of the WNBL Final, had two double-doubles and narrowly missed a triple-double as the Fire stumbled into the postseason with a pair of road losses in the final round.

She scored 17 points (6/17 FG, 1/1 3pt, 4/4 FT) with 11 boards and two assists in 29 minutes in a 75-63 loss to Bendigo on Friday, and 12 points (6/13 FG), 10 rebounds and eight assists in 32 minutes in a 76-74 loss to Bulleen on Saturday, relinquishing second spot and a second playoff life to the Boomers.

When Townsville last made a deep run in the playoffs, they fell in close games to eventual finalists Canberra and Sydney, and were eliminated.

“Most definitely the memory of those losses are still in my mind but we (the team) had a chat before our game in Bulleen about what to expect when you play in the finals and in front of the home crowd,” said Kerr.

“Although we shouldn’t need motivation to win a title, the result from a few years ago still stays in your mind.”

Tall Ferns forward Natalie Purcell scored 10 points (4/9 FG, 1/2 3pt, 1/2 FT), also contributing five rebounds, two steals and an assist in 32 minutes in the Logan Thunder’s season-ending 77-73 home loss to Canberra on Friday. Logan finished their inaugural season eighth at 7-15.

Stateside, another Tall Fern, Jillian Harmon, moved within single digits of reaching 1000 points for Stanford University, following two home routs in Palo Alto last week.

Harmon had six points (3/7 FG, 0/1 FT), two rebounds, an assist, steal and block in 23 minutes in the Cardinal’s 68-49 win over Tall Fern Micaela Cocks and Oregon on Saturday, following nine points (4/7 FG, 0/1 3pt, 1/2 FT), four boards and three assists in 22 minutes in a 72-43 beatdown of Oregon State on Thursday, moving her within eight points of four figures.

The twin wins moved Stanford to 22-4 overall and 13-1 in the Pac-10 conference, now ranked number three in the country.

Cocks scored 10 points (4/10 FG, 2/4 3pt) in 36 minutes of action in the loss to Stanford, with a three-point (1/9 FG, 1/5 3pt) and three-assist game in 38 minutes in an 84-42 road loss to Cal on Thursday, leaving the Ducks 9-17, 5-10 in the Pac-10.

In Hawaii, Harbour forward Rebecca Dew went point-less in three minutes of action in the Rainbow Wahine’s 79-71 home loss to Louisiana Tech on Sunday, two days after scoring one point (1/2 FT) in four minutes in a 54-51 home win over New Mexico State. Hawaii sit at 6-20, 3-10 in the WAC.

Harbour guard Kezia Kelly went scoreless (0/1 FG, 0/2 FT) with a rebound in 11 minutes in Washington State’s 65-50 home loss to UCLA on Sunday. The Cougars now sit 10-16 for the season, just 3-12 in the Pac-10.

Waikato’s Hailey Purcell put up almost identical stat-lines as UT-Martin went 0-3 on a Midwest road trip.

Purcell put up two points and three rebounds in all three games, going 1/2 FG, 0/1 3pt with a steal in 12 minutes in a 82-68 loss to Murray State on Monday; 1/2 FG with two assists and a steal in 18 minutes in a 58-39 loss to Southeast Missouri on Saturday; and 1/3 FG with two assists and two steals in 27 minutes in a 63-53 loss to Eastern Illinois on Thursday.

At NCAA division two level, Harbour’s Amanda Harris posted 13 points (4/5 FG, 1/1 3pt, 4/6 FT), nine rebounds, five assists and three steals in 37 minutes in Alderson-Broaddus’ 68-66 road win over Charleston on Thursday in West Virginia conference play.

Harris added five points (2/3 FG, 1/2 3pt), five assists and three boards in 27 minutes in a 58-55 home win over Glenville State on Saturday and five points (2/5 FG, 1/2 3pt, 0/1 FT), five rebounds, four assists and two steals in 31 minutes in a 63-43 road loss to West Virginia Wesleyan on Monday. The Lady Battlers now sit 13-13 overall and 10-9 in-conference.

In the same conference, Waikato’s Alana Auld had two points (0/1 FG, 2/3 FT), six boards, three assists and a block in 20 minutes in Ohio Valley’s 67-51 road loss to Wheeling Jesuit on Saturday. The Lady Fighting Scots went 0-3 on the road in their last three, falling to 8-18, 4-15 in conference play.

In the NAIA, Canterbury’s Donna Lavea put up eight points (3/8 FG, 0/3 3pt, 2/4 FT), three blocks and two rebounds in 12 minutes in number three Lambuth’s 95-29 beatdown of Mid-Continent University on Saturday, two days after managing five points (2/8 FG, 1/2 FT), six rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 15 minutes in a 101-57 home win over Cumberland, improving the Lady Eagles to 21-5.

Assistant coaches Pina Lissaman and Warrick Wood saw their Rose-Hulman Tech Lady Engineers end their regular season with a 39-37 home win over Manchester College on Saturday, going 8-16 for the year and 4-12 in the Heartland conference of NCAA division three.

Canterbury coach Caleb Harrison, an assistant with Dakota State, saw his Lady T’s fall 88-70 in the first round of the Dakota conference tournament to number two seeds Black Hills State on Sunday, ending their year at 8-21.