Fire players dominate abroad

JCU Townsville Fire star Micaela Cocks has continued her hot form overseas after leading New Zealand to a first-up victory against Singapore. Having averaged a team-high 15.8 points and 4.2 rebounds at the recently completed William Jones Cup in Taiwan, Cocks finished with seven points and six rebounds against Singapore yesterday as the Tall Ferns clinched an 80-55 victory. Fire championship winner Jill Harmon top-scored with 18 points. The Tall Ferns will continue their Asia Cup preparations against Singapore before departing to India for the World Cup qualifiers, with the top-four advancing to the game’s showpiece event next year. At the Under-17 Oceania Championships in Guam, Fire development player Miela Goodchild has been in scintillating touch to lead the Sapphires into the semi-finals with an unblemished record. With Fire coach Claudia Brassard on hand as an assistant at the tournament, the Sapphires obliterated the Marshall Islands 166-3 before disposing of Samoa 111-27. https://twitter.com/TownsvilleFire/status/885012136321273858 Goodchild was the star on both occasions and leads the Australians at the tournament after top-scoring in two of their three games with a tournament-high 24.7 points, along with 5.3 rebounds, 4.3 steals and 4.0 assists per game. Finally, Zitina Aokuso and the Australian Gems have arrived in Europe ahead of the up-coming Under-19 World Cup. https://twitter.com/MicheleMenso/status/885044282045976576 With the tournament to take place in Italy, the Gems have landed in France to fine-tune their preparations ahead of the tournament. The Under-19 World Cup will take place from June 22 to 30.