LACEY LOWDOWN

Eight was the unlucky number for the three Tall Ferns involved in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) on Friday (NZ time). All three registered 8 points but all three, and their respective teams, exited the tournament in the first round.

 Jacinta Beckley was playing her first game since she fractured her hand in early February but was unable to prevent the Seattle Redhawks going down to Wyoming 68-52. Seattle only trailed by 4 points at the half, 28-24 but was comfortably outscored in the final two periods.

Brigham Young Cougars (BYU) gave up 29 turnovers against Washington State, as they were downed 72-64. BYU scored from nine of their opening ten shots but it went downhill from there for the hosts. Kalani Purcell added 8 rebounds and 9 assists to her 8 points.

St Mary’s Gaels visited Colorado State and were beaten 80-68 in overtime after giving up a double-digit advantage in the fourth quarter. The scores were tied at 62 each in regulation before Colorado dominated the additional five minutes. Stella Beck snared 4 rebounds in addition to her 8 points.

It was better news at the Big Dance.

The Virginia Cavaliers came from behind to beat University of North Carolina Wilmington at the NCAA Tournament in Orlando, Florida on Friday.

Progressing past the first round for the fourth straight time at the Big Dance, Virginia had to come back from as many as 15 points in arrears before eventually claiming a 76-71 victory.

Jack Salt scored with his only field goal attempt, a two handed dunk, finishing with three points, 3 rebounds and a block.

In addition to the four Kiwis, Penina Davidson, Jack Salt, Tai Wynyard and Sam Waardenburg, participating in ‘The Big Dance’ three Tall Ferns will be playing in the 2017 Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). The tournament, once more prestigious than NCAA Division 1 tournament is competed for at the same time.

Jacinta Beckley (University of Seattle Redhawks)

Disappointingly Beckley fractured her hand in a game in early February and has been unable to suit up for Seattle in Western Athletic Conference games since. Beckley has had a strong season for Seattle, the fourth highest scorer on the team has averaged 8.0 points per game. She hopes to be fit for the opening round of the WNIT when the Redhawks visit Wyoming.

Stella Beck (St Mary’s University Gaels)

After losing to Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference final last week Saint Mary’s will make its eighth straight postseason appearance beginning Friday as the Gaels travel to Colorado State for a first round matchup.

Beck in her penultimate year at St Mary’s has had an outstanding season and was named in the 2017 All- Academic West Coast Conference first team.

Beck leads Saint Mary’s in scoring at 13.2 points per game, posting double-figure scoring in 23 of 30 games played. She also leads the team in assists (3.2 per game) and steals (1.6 per game).

The Gaels (20-12) won 20 games for the sixth consecutive year in 2016-17 while finishing among the top-three in the West Coast Conference for the fourth time in the last five years.

Kalani Purcell (Brigham Young University Provos Cougars)

Purcell is about to bring the curtain down on an outstanding two-year career at BYU.

She has racked up a colossal 16 double doubles this season in 31 games.

The power forward is averaging a double double with 12.9 points and a team- and league -high 10.6 boards per game. She also leads the Gaels in assists (4.9 per game) and blocks (1.3 per game).

Purcell was named this year’s West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year and picked up her second-straight WCC Women’s Basketball All-First Team honour.

The BYU Cougars (20-11) will host the Cougars of Washington State on Friday.

Four Kiwis will be lining up at the men’s and women’s NCAA Division 1 tournaments that begin this week.

Jack Salt (University of Virginia Cavaliers).

Salt has had a solid season for the 22-10 Cavaliers starting in all 32 games.

His 3.6 points per game and 3.9 rebounds don’t do justice to his value to the Cav’s where his 6’11” frame provides a significant inside presence for coach Tony Bennett’s Atlantic Coast outfit.

Virginia is drawn to play UNC Wilmington in the first round on Friday (NZ time).

Penina Davidson (University of California Berkeley Golden Bears)

Davidson is making her second appearance at the tournament being one of three Bears to have represented Cal when they last appeared in the tournament in 2015. The 19-13 Bears will face LSU in the first round in Waco, Texas on Sunday (NZ time).

The Tall Ferns forward has averaged 6.8 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game in her 31 appearances this season. She scored a season high 19 points against Arizona State on New Years Day.

Tai Wynyard (University of Kentucky Wildcats)

 Kentucky (29-5) is on an 11 game winning streak entering a record extending 56^th appearance at the NCAA Tournament. The Southeastern Conference champions have been paired with Northern Kentucky in the opening round in the South Region.

Wynyard has been a bit part player in his first year with the Wildcats logging just 54 minutes in 15 games.

Sam Waardenburg (University of Miami Hurricanes)

The Hurricanes (21-11) face Michigan State in the first round hoping to improve on their 2-1 record in the 2016 tournament.

Waardenburg, a redshirt freshman, is ineligible to play this season so will be restricted to towel waving supportive duty during the tournament. It is to be hoped he can perform that duty with the same vigour shown by Oklahoma Sooners redshirt freshman Matt Freeman last year.

Tai Wynyard courtesy of Kentucky Wildcats winning their conference and Jack Salt’s Virginia Cavaliers receiving an invitation look to be the only Kiwis heading into the 2017 NCAA Tournament beginning later this week.

For a full roundup of the conference tournaments played last week visit the BBNZ website

http://bit.ly/2njFB9Q

After more Division 1 College Conference play-off action on Saturday (NZ time) it is ironical that the two Kiwi international players left standing, Tai Wynyard and Jacinta Beckley, are unlikely to take the court for their teams for differing reasons.

Beckley fractured her hand in a game in early February and is still not cleared to suit up for the Seattle Redhawks who will face New Mexico State in the final on Sunday.

The Redhawks beat Utah Valley in the Western Athletic Conference semi-final at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas 61-60.

Wynyard has been unable to force his way into the Kentucky Wildcats playing rotation seeing little court time of late. Despite this Kentucky defeated Georgia 71-60 in the quarter-final of the Southeastern Conference Championships.

Katelin Noyer and Fresno State Bulldogs fell at the final hurdle of the Mountain West Conference Championships losing 66-53 to Boise State in the final on Saturday. It had been a dream run for the 7^th ranked Bulldogs with a couple of wins against higher ranked opposition in the quarter’s and semi’s but they were comfortably beaten by 4^th ranked Boise State.

Like fellow Tall Fern Krystal Leger-Walker earlier in the week, Tessa Boagni suffered the agony of a single point defeat as Cal State Northridge Matadors was beaten 61-60 by Long Beach State on Saturday. The loss was at the semi-final stage of the Big West Conference Tournament.

Trailing by eight late in the game, CSUN mounted a furious rally over the final four minutes of action but fell one point short in their comeback effort against the 49ers.

Boagni was excellent from the foul line converting all 7 of her attempts as she scored 11 points and added 4 rebounds, 2 assists, a block and an assist.

There was plenty of action on Thursday involving Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns in NCAA Division 1 conference championships.

Tai Webster scored in double figures for the 30^th time in 31 games this season but Nebraska Huskers seeded 12 in the Big Ten Conference went down in overtime to Penn, 76-67, in the first round of the conference championships. Webster finished with 12 points as the Huskers came from 10 points down with five minutes left to tie the game at 60 points apiece in regulation. Despite being thwarted in overtime Nebraska head coach Tim Miles was full of praise for his senior guard in the post match media conference.

“Tai has been a kid that I’m proud of because he never quit. He came as a much-heralded recruit, started on an NCAA tournament team, but wasn’t very productive. I think they called him the least productive Big Ten starter. That’s not a great reputation to start with, right?

“The next year he fell out of the rotation, then he fought back, had a pretty good year last year, averaged over 10 points a game, even more than that in the league. This year he’s been really good for us all year.

“It’s always the same thing with Tai. Guard their best player, score all our points, right? I have a lot of respect for him not quitting, just staying with it. A lot of times nowadays guys, if they’re not getting exactly what they want, they’ll go. Tai would never do that. Had every opportunity to. He had professional offers I believe at the end of almost every year. Back home, for sure. He turned them down, turned down a lot of money to stay with his college basketball career,” said Miles

For the record Webster finished with 528 points for the season and 1,116 career points for the Huskers in 127 games.

Jack Salt had to endure foul trouble as Virginia Cavaliers, who are seeded No 6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships beat Pitt 75-63 in the second round on Thursday. Salt picked up three fouls early and was restricted to 12 minutes court time. He did however put the exclamation mark score on proceedings throwing down a dunk in the closing seconds of the win. Virginia meets No 3 Notre Dame tomorrow in the quarters.

Cantabrian Tessa Boagni put in a dominating performance for Cal State Northridge Matadors as they beat University of Hawaii 71-64 in Long Beach at the Big West Tournament.

Boagni finished with 13 points (5/10FG) and a massive game high 13 rebounds, her fourth double double of the season.

The third seeded Matadors face No 2 Long Beach State in the semi on Saturday.

Katelin Noyer and Fresno State Bulldogs recorded a major upset at the Mountain West Conference Championships. The Bulldogs, seeded 7^th, knocked off No 2 Wyoming winning 58-48 and meet UNLV in the semi’s tomorrow.

Freshman Noyer snared a rebound in 6 minutes of action.

Northern Colorado Bears suffered an agonising 60-59 defeat to Idaho State in the Big Sky Conference quarter-final. The Bears and Krystal Leger-Walker were 5 points up with 52 seconds to play but were thwarted by an opposition basket with three seconds to play.

Leger-Walker finished with 8 points, 2 assists, 2 steals and a rebound.