The Harbour Breeze are thrilled to announce the signing of Penina Davidson for the next three years.
Penina has had an outstanding college career with the University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears, graduating earlier this year. She will be travelling to Australia next week where she will play for the Adelaide Lightning in the 2018/19 Australian WNBL.
Penina is also a current member of the New Zealand Tall Ferns. Penina recently travelled to Japan and Taiwan with the Tall Ferns where the team won the William Jones Cup for the first time since the tournament commenced in 1977. Penina played a pivotal role in the success of the team averaging 11.4points and 10.6 rebounds per game.
Harbour Basketball CEO John Hunt says that Penina committing to the New Zealand Women’s Basketball Championship (WBC) for the next three years is an extraordinary statement of confidence in the top New Zealand women’s league.
“Penina is an extraordinary role model for young New Zealand girls. Her academic and sporting achievements to date are remarkable. We look forward to Penina inspiring the next generation of Harbour and New Zealand players to strive for excellence in the classroom and on the court.
“Penina’s signing is a statement of intent from Harbour Basketball that we want the Harbour Breeze to be at the forefront of New Zealand women’s basketball for the next few years. Our long term goal, along with Murray Kennedy of the Canterbury Wildcats and Basketball New Zealand, is to have a New Zealand women’s team competing in the Australian WNBL at some point in the future,” Hunt added.
Penina was also thrilled at the prospect of playing for the Breeze for the next three seasons and help grow the women’s game.
“I hope a string of girls will get behind me, it’s a fantastic thing that Harbour are stepping forward to do for women’s basketball. From here we want to trailblaze our way through and hope other associations will pick up on something like this and want to join.
“This is an amazing opportunity, the basketball community in New Zealand is growing and when that grows hopefully opportunities for future women players will grow. Then we can start thinking about bigger things like competing at the Olympics and World Championships and beating Australia which would be an amazing feat. It starts with small stepping stones and people doing their one percent. This is a one percent that I hope will add up to something bigger,” she said.
Tall Ferns Head Coach Guy Molloy said, “I would like to congratulate the Harbour Breeze on the signing of Tall Fern Penina Davidson for the next three years. Whilst this is a big day for both player and club, it is also great for basketball in New Zealand that a national team player of Penina’s talent has committed to play in the WBC.
“Not only will the competition be improved but many young players will now get to see an International player at home. Penina did a fantastic job for the Tall Ferns recently as part of the William Jones Cup winning side, and I look forward to her continued success with the Harbour Breeze.”
