Madgen on the road to recovery

Boom JCU Townsville Fire signing Tess Madgen is on the road to recovery to start this week’s Winter Update.

With the Fire signing the 27-year-old in February following an ACL injury, Madgen finally made her long-awaited return to competitive basketball at the weekend in the SEABL competition.

Lining up for Dandenong, Madgen came through the contest unscathed as she finished with four points, three rebounds and a game-high six assists in a tick under 20 minutes to lead the Rangers to a 60-55 victory over Nunawading.

In the QBL, Townsville made an emphatic statement in their season opener as they obliterated Mackay 95-55.

Dual championship winner Darcee Garbin posted a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds, but she had plenty of support from Micaela Cocks (17 points, seven rebounds and two assists), Miela Goodchild (16 points and five assists) and Haylee Andrews (14 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists).

Queensland Country Health Fund Academy players Harriet Carey (10 points, four rebounds and three assists) and Alex Fowler (six points, 11 rebounds and four assists) also made telling contributions.

The outcome was not as positive for Logan, with the Thunder suffering a 78-101 loss to Ipswich.

Despite the loss, Mikhaela Donnelly top-scored for the Thunder with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Zitina Aokuso chipped in with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Finally, Suzy Batkovic top-scored for Montpellier with 11 points and 12 rebounds in their 49-71 loss to Villeneuve.

The loss ends Batkovic’s stint in France where she led the league in scoring after averaging 17.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per game following the Fire’s championship victory over Melbourne.