LACEY LOWDOWN

It was another busy week of college action with plenty of strong performances from our top players in the States. Many are playing at an elite level including Jack Salt at Virginia University.

Salt, the Cavaliers co-captain, made 7 points (3/3FG, 1/1FT) and snared 3 rebounds and a pair of blocks as the Cavaliers held off No 4 ranked Duke to win 65-63.

The win further strengthens the Cavaliers No 2 ranking and they are now unbeaten in the Atlantic Coast Conference with eight straight victories and overall have won 12 on the bounce – they are breathing down the neck of No 1 ranked Villanova.

Stella Beck, fresh from being named West Coast Conference Player of the Week following her career best 31 point last week, posted a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds but St Mary’s Gaels are now 6-4 in West Coast Conference play after a narrow 68-65 defeat at Portland.

Brooke Blair scored 19 points (7/13FG) but Idaho State Bengals fell 84-73 at Weber State and are now 4-4 in the Big Sky Conference.

Tessa Boagni scored 8 points and grabbed 12 boards as Cal State Northridge Matadors went down 56-47 at UC Irvine. The Matadors were outscored 17-7 in the last quarter as a three game winning streak came to an end – now 4-3 in Big West Conference fixtures.

Penina Davidson dropped 10 points and collected 7 rebounds as No 23 ranked Cal Berkeley Golden Bears thumped Arizona 63-39 but were then held to just 42 points by Arizona State losing 57-42. Davidson had 5 points and 8 rebounds in that one with the Bears now 6-4 in the Pac 12 Conference.

Mary Goulding, appearing to be fully recovered from a recent hand injury produced 15 points and 10 rebounds as Fordham Rams had a convincing 72-48 victory against St Bonaventure – the win was 600^th career win for Fordham coach Stephanie Gaitley. Fordham are now 8-1 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Izayah Le’afa came up with 7 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal as Sacramento State Hornets finished a three game road stretch with a 71-61 win at Portland State. The victory improves the Hornets Big Sky Conference record to 3-5.

 Krystal Leger-Walker hit all three of her shots from beyond the arc but on her way to 11 points for Northern Colorado in the 79-71 loss to Idaho. However the Bears improved to 6-3 in Big Sky Conference play with a 68-62 victory against Eastern Washington – Leger Walker was busy in that one with 5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals.

Katelin Noyer came off the bench to post 7 points for Fresno State Bulldogs in a dramatic 74-72 come from behind victory at Las Vegas – it doesn’t get much more dramatic than two threes being scored in the final 6.6 seconds to turn a four points deficit into a two points win. The Bulldogs have a 5-4 record in the Mountain West Conference after going down 60-52 at Utah State on Saturday – a couple of points and blocks plus a team high 6 rebounds for Noyer in the loss.