Wildcats have Goulding back

Alloyfold Canterbury Wildcats were boosted by the inclusion of Mary Goulding for their Women’s Basketball Championship (WBC) game against South Island rivals Otago Gold Rush on Saturday.

The Wildcats suffered a 67-74 loss to Otago but it was a great game and solid battle.

Goulding, a junior at Fordham University in New York is coming off a strong season with the Rams (her university team) where she averaged 8.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.

The 1.83m forward started in all but one of the 25 games she played for the Rams in 2017-18, a season in which they finished with a 24-10 record. Fordham play in the NCAA Division I Atlantic 10 Conference.

She helped to fill the void in the Wildcats left by Fran Edmondson – the 2016 WBC Most Valuable Player who suffered a season ending knee injury in the teams loss to Auckland Dream two weeks ago.

The Wildcats and the Gold Rush had an identical 3-win, 2-loss record heading into the game. Otago has now reclaimed a top four spot on the WBC ladder after the weekends win.

The Wildcats will play their last home game of the season when they take on the Taranaki Thunder this Sunday, 2pm at Cowles Stadium.