Harbour Breeze forward Penina Davidson began her professional career on a winning note on Saturday as Adelaide Lightning recorded an Australian Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) 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.

Davidson, who graduated from the University of California Berkeley earlier in the year, 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.

Adelaide return home to face Townsville Fire on Friday, the defending champions smarting from a home loss.

It wasn’t a happy occasion for former Breeze player Micaela Cocks as she began her eighth season with Townsville. 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.

The eight club competition is played over 21 regular season games with the WNBL compressed into 15 rounds concluding mid January.