The highlight of the past week amongst Tall Ferns in Division 1 colleges was the performance of Jacinta Beckley. She posted a career high 22 points (9/13FG) as Seattle beat San Diego 80-73 making a highly respectable 9 from 13 shots.
Not far behind was the effort of Stella Beck – her double-double of 13 points and 10 assists helped St Mary’s Gaels to a fifth straight win as they came from behind to defeat Boise State 74-72. A couple of days later the Gaels went down 74-63 to Utah with Beck collecting 8 points and 3 steals in that one.
Tessa Boagni also produced a noteworthy double-double. The Cal State Northridge Matadors centre accumulated 12 points and 12 rebounds in the 76-59 win against San Diego State.
Idaho State Bengals slipped to a second successive defeat going down 61-53 at Wyoming. Brooke Blair was kept relatively quiet scoring 7 points and bagging 3 rebounds for the Bengals.
Penina Davidson knocked down 13 points (6/7FG) as Cal Berkeley Bears comfortably beat San Diego 89-64 to improve to 6-2 for the season.
Krystal Leger-Walker had a trio of four’s as Northern Colorado Bears improved to 6-2 with a commanding 80-55 victory against Pacific. The Waikato combo guard had 4 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds in the win.
On the men’s front there were also some handy performances from the Tall Blacks in college this week.
Starting centre Jack Salt was needed for just 20 minutes as Virginia Cavs dispatched Lehigh 75-54 for an eighth straight win. Salt scored 4 points and added block and a pair of rebounds.
A couple of days later Salt played just 9 minutes as the Cavs unbeaten run came to an end downed 68-61 by West Virginia.Sam Timmins stuffed the stats line as Washington Huskies beat Kennesaw State 85-71. The Tall Blacks centre produced 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks to a season high 13 points.
The Huskies had a significant upset win three days later beating No 2 ranked Kansas 74-65. Timmins only scored 8 points but he was a major contributor at the heart of the Huskies zone defense.
Sacramento State snapped a six game losing streak beating the attractively named Antelope Valley 97-74. Izayah Le’afa was once again a major facilitator dishing 9 assists to compliment 12 points and five rebounds.
Le’afa has totaled 30 assists in his last 4 outings whilst coughing up just 8 turnovers.
LACEY LOWDOWN 