Micaela Cocks and Kalani Purcell have stood side by side in New Zealand colours on the international stage on many occasions. However next weekend they will be on opposite sides of the court competing for the biggest prize in Australasian basketball.
Cocks plays for Townsville Fire and Purcell for Melbourne Boomers – the two teams will go head to head in the Australian Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) Grand Final Series beginning next Saturday.
Kiwi Kalani Purcell, in her first season as a professional player, has helped guide Melbourne Boomers to the Australian Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) Grand Final.
The Boomers finished fourth in the regular season but beat regular season champions Perth Lynx in the best of three semi-final series 2-0.
Purcell scored 8 points in the 92-76 home victory on Wednesday but it was in the second victory (78-69) in Perth on Friday night that she showed her true worth filling the stats line with four points, a game high six assists, six rebounds, two steals and a pair of blocks.
Purcell displayed the type of form that she demonstrated in a standout college career at Brigham Young University Cougars (BYU) where in her senior season she averaged 12.9 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.3 steals per game and holds the all-time record for the most rebounds in a season (416 in 2015-16).
Tall Ferns assistant Guy Molloy coaches the Boomers. A third member from the 2017 Tall Ferns campaign, Rebecca Ott, also features for the Boomers who will meet the winner of the Townsville Fire versus Sydney University Flames match up in the final. Townsville, with Micaela Cocks in their lineup lead that three game series 1-0 with game two to be played today (Saturday) and game three if required on Monday.
The loss by Perth brought to a close another Kiwi’s hopes of a first WNBL title. Toni Farnworth (nee Edmondson) has played ten seasons in the WNBL, the last six in Perth, but her wait for a championship will continue for at least another 12 months.
We conclude our four part series looking at the NCAA Division 1 players in college hoops by taking a look at the women (J-Z) making their mark in the States.
Zara Jillings
Jillings has played in all 15 games for the Rams averaging 2.2 points and 3.1 rebounds per games as Fordham have built a decent 11-4 record (2-0 in Atlantic 10 Conference play) over the first half of the season. Jillings has been given her first starts in the opening two conference games and has responded with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.
The 2017 Tall Fern guard plays alongside Kiwis Kendell Heremaia and Mary Goulding at Fordham.
Tylah King
King, the daughter of Basketball New Zealand High Performance General Manager Leonard King, was born in New Zealand but schooled in Australia where she attained Queensland representative honours. In her sophmore season at Pacific, King connected on 22-of-51 from three-point range (43%) averaging 4.3 points per game for the Tigers. This season her productivity has dipped having played just seven games averaging 1.6 points per outing. The Tigers are 6-7 this season but have lost both the West Coast Conference games played.
Krystal Leger-Walker
Leger-Walker has started in 44 straight games for the Bears (30 in 2016-17 and all 14 this season).
She led the Northern Colorado in assists last season and again leads the team in this statistical category with 5.1 per game – came up with a career high 10 dimes against Colorado State in early December. Playing alongside fellow Kiwi Tiarna Clarke the Tall Ferns guard is averaging 5.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game for the 11-3 Bears that includes wins in their first three Big Sky Conference fixtures.
Kayla Manuirirangi
The former New Plymouth Girls High guard, a Tall Ferns trialist in 2017 scored a career high 19 points against Troy in December. Manuirirangi has started every game for the Greenwave and leads the team in assists with3.9 dimes per game. She is averaging 8.9 points per outing with her three point shooting a very useful 39% (32 scored from 81 attempts).
Tulane have an overall 9-6 record this season including a win and a loss in their opening two American Conference games.
Michelle Nicholls
Nicholls spent her final two years of high school at Life Centre Academy in Burlington, New Jersey playing alongside Tera Reed. Prior to that she attended Auckland Girls Grammar School. Nicholls has played six games so far this season for the 5-9 Explorers (0-2in conference play) and yet to post points although she has dished three assists.
Katelin Noyer
Noyer was performing strongly as the starting centre at the beginning of the season but her opportunities have subsided since suffering a head injury early in December that forced her to miss a couple of games. Since her return she has only averaged 5 minutes per game compared with 20 minutes.
The 2016 Tall Fern and ex Westlake centre averages 2.8 points, 2.7 rebounds. She was outstanding against UC Santa Barbara in November recording 8 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks. Fresno State are 2-1 in Mountain West Conference play and 7-7 overall.
Tera Reed
Reed is a major story in the making. In the opening half of the season she has made an eye catching start to her career at Virginia Commonwealth.
Playing on a young team Reed has been afforded a start in all but one game played by VCU and has capitalized on her opportunities averaging 13.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game – the sort of numbers associated with senior players at the back end of their college careers, not a Freshman. Reed has scored double figures in all but three of the games including a season high 22 points against Old Dominion in early December.
The Rams have lost their opening two Atlantic 10 conference games and sit 3-11 overall this season.
Gracie Roberts
Roberts started most games in 2016-17 and has done the same again this season for DMU who unfortunately have had a horror start to their campaign losing all 13 games. The former Waimea College standout is leading the Titans in assists averaging 2.3 dimes per game. Roberts is also averaging 2 points and 3.5 rebounds per outing.
Shalae Salmon
After a quiet Freshman season Salmon has really flourished in her second season at BYU. The 2016 New Zealand Select forward posted career high rebounds (17) and points (12) against Southern Utah in November. Salmon has started every game this season and leads the Cougars in rebounding (8.2rpg) and blocks (1.2bpg). She is also third in scoring averaging 9.3 points per outing.
BYU are 6-7 overall with a 1-1 record in West Coast Conference play.
Rhaiah Spooner-Knight
Spooner-Knight previously played three seasons at Utah Valley where she averaged 12.6 points per game in 72 outings. This season Spooner-Knight has started in ten out of twelve games averaging 25 minutes per game. She has had two outings where she has scored 18 points and is second in scoring for Monmouth averaging 10.3 points per game. She also averages 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists for the 2-10 Hawks (0-1 in Metro Atlantic Conference play).
Khaedin Taito
Playing alongside Shalae Salmon at BYU, Taito has made just three appearances for the Cougars this season. She sat out the 2016/17 season following her transfer from University of Southern California where she played 32 games for the Trojans. Taito was raised in Hastings then went on to study at Palm Beach Currumbin High School, Gold Coast.
BYU are 6-7 overall with a 1-1 record in West Coast Conference play.
Dru Toleafoa
The 2014 Tall Fern had limited opportunities for the Broncos last season due to injury. This season she is enjoying a productive season averaging 6.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game, having started in nine games for the 4-9 Broncos (0-2 in West Coast Conference action). She scored a career high 17 points against Santa Barbara in November.
Prior to college Toleafoa attended Brigidine College Randwick, Sydney.
After taking a look at how the Kiwi men are shaping in NCAA Division 1 basketball we now turn our attention to the women – all 23 of them.
In this edition we focus on the eleven players (A-H) that include the five Seniors who are playing significant roles at their respective colleges.
You can view the previous editions here:
Stella Beck
There is plenty for Beck to live up to this season after being named in the West Coast Conference First Team last year as well as the WCC All-Academic team for a second successive season. One of only two seniors on the team Beck appears to be handling the responsibility with confidence as she leads the team in assists (48), blocks (11) and steals (19). The former Hutt Valley star is also top three in scoring (13.1ppg) and rebounding (4.8rpg)
St Mary’s have begun the season 8-5 (1-1 in conference action) and Beck has started every game.
Jacinta Beckley
Beckley won the Most Improved Player Award at Seattle last season and her form has continued in an upward curve in this campaign. The Redhawks are 6-9 this season and Beckley has started in a dozen of those games. She scored a career high 22 points against San Diego in early December and leads the team in three-point shooting at 40% (25/63). She is third in scoring (12.6ppg) and fourth in rebounding (4.1rpg).
Brooke Blair
Blair was due to complete her college career last season but she went down with an ACL injury in the opening game of the Bengals campaign. As a result the 2016 Tall Ferns final year at college was deferred to 2017-18.
The Bengals are 8-4 this season although they dropped their opening Big Sky Conference game to Weber State last week. The former Rangitoto standout is averaging 14.0 points per game, leading the Bengals scoring, and shooting the three-ball at a career best 50% (29/58).
Tessa Boagni
With 101 career games under her belt Boagni is second in both scoring (11.0ppg) and rebounding (6.3rpg) for the 7-7 Matadors ahead of conference play. The former Christchurch Girls High centre has also swatted away 2 blocks per outing and started all 13 games she has played this season. She scored a season best 21 points against northern Arizona recently and has scored in double figures in nine games in this campaign.
Tiarna Clarke
Clarke played 78 minutes across the final two games the Bears played before a short Xmas break. Since then she has scored a season high 12 points in the Big Sky Conference road win at Idaho that has helped the Bears to a strong 10-3 start to the season.
The combo-guard is averaging 5.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game playing alongside former Waikato guard Krystal Leger-Walker.
McKenna Dale
The Connecticut raised Dale has had her first year at Ivy League school Brown University interrupted by injury. The 2016 Junior Tall Fern has been restricted to just three appearances but did score an encouraging 7 points in the defeat of Boston just before Xmas. It is anticipated that Dale’s involvement will increase as she gains game fitness. The Bears have made their best start in the women’s basketball programme history bouncing out to an 11-1 record.
Penina Davidson
We had the pleasure of seeing Davidson play at North Shore Events Centre earlier in the year and as anticipated the Bears tour Down-Under kick started a pretty useful early season campaign. The Bears are 10-3 this season a record that sees them ranked inside the top 25 teams in the USA. They are 1-1 in Pac-12 Conference action – arguably the toughest conference in women’s college basketball. Davidson has already nabbed three double-doubles and posted a career high 22 points (v Pacific in early December). She has started every game and averages 9.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
Mary Goulding
Goulding has missed a number of games due to injury but when she has played she has been extremely productive. The Cantabrian has started in the nine games she has played and is averaging 9 points and 6.4 rebounds per appearance and already has three double-doubles to her name. Scored a season high 17 points against Pittsburgh in December. The Rams are 11-4 overall (2-0 in Atlantic 10 Conference play).
In her Freshman year in the States Goulding attended Gillette College in Wyoming where she averaged 17 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.
Tegan Graham
The former Wellington Girls College guard scored a career high 18 points against Siena in November. Graham, one of three co-captains of the Raiders, has started in all but three games and is averaging 6.8 points, 2.1 assists and 4.2 rebounds. In the most recent game against American Graham pulled down a career high 7 rebounds. Colgate have dropped their opening two Patriot League games and are 4-9 overall for the season.
Graham played in nine games with six starts for Colgate in her Freshman year, averaging 4.1 points per game before suffering a season ending injury.
Kendell Heremaia
Encouragingly for Heremaia she has played every game, including six starts, for the 11-4 Rams (2-0 in Atlantic 10 Conference play). She scored a season best 11 points at Penn State in early December. The 2016 Junior Tall Fern has been her usual busy self, averaging 3.1 points, 2.6 rebounds playing alongside fellow Kiwis Mary Goulding and Zara Jillings.
Joellen How
From Opunake the former New Plymouth Girls High School guard and 2016 Junior Tall Fern is a Freshman at Wagner and has played the last four games for the Seahawks scoring five points and grabbing three rebounds. Wagner are 1-1 in Northeast Conference play and 3-10 overall this season.
We conclude the wrap on the kiwi men playing NCAA Division I basketball. Impressively, three of these guys are playing in Power 5 conferences.
Check out previous part in the four-part series:
Jack Salt
The top 10 ranked Cavaliers have had Salt anchoring their defence for a couple of seasons now. Salt, now a co-captain of the team, has made the starting centre position his own during the past two years playing all 34 games in that role last season and all 13 games to date in this campaign.
Salt averages 3.0 points and 3.2 rebounds per game – not big numbers but in the role he performs for the Cavs he is a perfect foil for the athletic guards that have propelled Virginia to a very impressive 12-1 record.
That value was emphasized in the Cavs opening Atlantic Coast Conference win on Saturday (59-58 v Boston College). Salt played a season high 31 minutes, only took three shots but scored with each attempt, and finished with 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and an assist to go with those 6 points.
Shane Temara
Although raised in Syracuse, New York, Temara qualifies for selection for New Zealand in the future as he has Kiwi parentage.
The 6’9” forward has started in all 15 games for the Mean Green (9-6). He leads the team in rebounding with 6.6 boards per game, is third in scoring (11.1ppg), and already boasts three double-doubles this season.
Sam Timmins
Timmins made a big impression in his appearances for the Tall Blacks at the FIBA Asia Cup in Lebanon in 2017 when he averaged 6.7ppg and 8.0rpg. The former Otago High centre has continued that good form in the early part of the college season and he is second on the rebounding count for the 11-4 Huskies with 5.5 boards per game. Having started every game he also averages 6.4 points and 1.5 blocks per outing and will be a key player for Washington during Pac-12 Conference play, which they have begun with a win and a loss.
Sam Waardenburg
Partly due to a back injury Waardenburg has been restricted to six outings as the No 15 ranked Hurricanes have made an impressive 12-1 start to the season.
The former Rangitoto College standout has averaged 2.7 points and 2.5 rebounds in 10 minutes court time per game as he eases into the demands of top level Division 1 play.
Yanni Wetzell
After two standout seasons at St Mary’s University in Texas, Wetzell transferred to Vanderbilt University at the end of the last academic year. Last season Wetzell averaged 15.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game for St Mary’s – numbers that impressed Tall Blacks coach Paul Henare and earned him a place on the New Zealand Select tour of China in 2017. In accordance with NCAA transfer regulations he has to sit out (redshirt) the 2017/18 season but still has two years of eligibility remaining.
Tai Wynyard
Kentucky (11-1 this season) are always stacked with NBA bound talent, which is why Tai Wynyard is finding court time hard to come by. The signs were encouraging in the annual Blue v White pre-season game with Wynyard collecting 10 points in 37 minutes of action. Since then has played just eight of the Wildcats 31 games averaging one point and 2 rebounds per outing, playing a total of just 43 minutes.
Zach Young
The former Wellington College guard has played just eight games this season for the 8-7 Colonels. He averages 1 point and 1 assist per game as Nicholls State sit 2-0 in Southland Conference play.
What better way to start 2018 than taking a look at how the record numbers of Kiwis on NCAA Division 1 basketball rosters are performing this season.
This mid-year report card is broken into four parts and we begin with the Men (A-R). Tomorrow we will look at the remaining seven men playing in Division 1 and on Thursday begin our review of the women running the pine in Division 1
Flynn Cameron
In a rather unusual move Flynn Cameron has been signed mid-season by DePaul and is eligible to debut for the Blue Demons in early January. It will be a tough ask for Cameron to jump straight into Big East Conference play with a group of players he has only just met. The Blue Demons are 7-7 overall but have dropped their opening two conference games.
Like his brother Tobias, Cameron was a member of the Junior Tall Blacks team that attended the 2017 FIBA U19 World Cup in Cairo. Interestingly it looks as if seventeen year-old Flynn will make his college debut before his older brother as Tobias has opted to redshirt this season at Abilene Christian University.
Tobias Cameron
Tobias Cameron was a member of the 2017 Junior Tall Blacks team that attended the FIBA U19 World Cup in Egypt. In 2016 he was MVP at the Queensland Secondary Schools State Championships, the tournament won by his school Hillcrest Christian College. Cameron is opting to sit-out this current season at Abilene where the Wildcats are 1-1 in Conference play and 9-6 overall this season.
Tobias and Flynn are of course the sons of Tall Blacks legend Pero Cameron.
Takiula ‘Taki’ Fahrensohn
Having had to undergo a second round of knee surgery Fahrensohn has opted to redshirt this season in order to be fully fit for the 2018-19 campaign. The former Auckland Grammar guard was part of the 2016 Junior Tall Blacks team that won gold at the FIBA Oceania Championships in Fiji. He was ruled out of the 2017 JTB’s campaign due to that knee injury.
Portland are 6-9 overall this season but 0-2 in West Coast Conference play.
Matt Freeman
The Sooners, with rookie sensation Trae Young at the point (he leads NCAA Division 1 in scoring, averaging 29.6 points per game and assists – 10.7apg), are 11-1 for the season and ranked inside the top 10 teams in the nation for the first time in Sooners Men’s basketball history. Freeman has come off the bench in all 12 games contributing 4.8 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. The former Westlake swingman is shooting the three ball at a handy 40% having converted 12 from 30 attempts.
Having seen Freeman and the Sooners up close in their game against New Zealand Select back in August it is little surprise they are travelling so well.
Isaac Letoa
Playing his first season for the prestigious Ivy League school, Letoa has appeared in 10 of the 11 games played by the Big Green this season. Gradually earning more minutes in the Dartmouth rotation, Letoa has averaged ten minutes per outing accumulating one point and 1.3 assists per game. Dartmouth is 4-7 for the season with Ivy League Conference play opening next weekend with a trip to Harvard.
Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa
Le’afa has started in 11 of the 14 games played by the Hornets who have a 4-10 record. Well regarded for his defensive capabilities the former Tall Black showed he is no slouch at the offensive end when scoring a career high 23 points against Portland in December.
He is averaging a team high 3.4 assists per outing. In addition he averages 7.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and a steal per game whilst logging 29 minutes per fixture.
Harrison Meads
Meads is in his first season at Pepperdine after spending two years at Laramie County Junior College where he averaged 9.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in his sophomore year. This season the former New Plymouth Boys High forward is averaging 4.1 points and 2.6 rebounds for the Waves who are 3-11 this season including their opening two fixtures in West Coast Conference play. It is a relatively small sample size but his 66% field goal shooting percentage (21 made from 32 shots) is the best on the team.
Angus ‘Gus’ Riley (Senior)
Riley is averaging 2 points and 2 rebounds per game for the Bulldogs who have won just one of 15 games this season and will be hoping for a change of fortune in the New Year. His career best is 18 points, scored against Siena in November 2015. Between college seasons the Nayland College alumni played for New Zealand at the 2017 FIBA 3×3 World Cup in France.
There are nine Harbour women’s representatives players performing well in American college hoops at present.
We take a look at their progress read more
There were some surprise results in the final round of the Australia WNBL regular season. Although the top four play-off positions have been decided there was still plenty to play for in the Townsville Fire against Sydney University Flames match up on Friday night.
It turned out the Fire were engulfed by the Flames suffering their biggest loss of the season (107-81) and worse still gave up home court advantage for their best-of-three semi-final series against the same opponents next week should a third game be required.
The two teams were one win apiece in the head to head match up entering the contest. Micaela Cocks had a team high 4 assists to go with 4 points but it was a night to forget for the 2016 champions.
Perth Lynx are assured of the WNBL minor premiership but having won 14 straight games it was a major surprise that they lost their final two regular season games albeit both were on the road. On Friday they went down 74-69 at Canberra Capitals and on New Years Eve Townsville provided the fireworks as they protected home court with an 83-51 romp.
It was a good finish to the season for Canberra’s Kiwi guard Chevannah Paalvast who not only notched three rebounds and two points in the victory but also enjoyed the satisfaction of being named the Capitals Defensive Player of the Year before the game. It was the last game of the season for Canberra who, after a tough season, won five of their last six games to finish with a 7-14 record.
For Perth Toni Farnworth had a shooting night to forget going zero from six against Canberra but she bounced back strongly against Townsville finishing second in scoring (8 points) and rebounding (6 boards).
Micaela Cocks (10 points) was one of three Townsville players in double figures and she also secured 5 rebounds.
In a game of little consequence Melbourne Boomers thumped Dandenong Rangers 80-45 on Saturday night. Kalani Purcell underlined her value to the Boomers heading into the play-offs – only 5 points for the Tall Ferns forward but a game high equaling 10 rebounds plus 4 steals and 3 assists. Fellow Tall Fern Rebecca Ott chipped in with 2 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Amazingly Dandenong were held scoreless – yes zero points – in the final quarter won 21-0 by Melbourne!
The semi-final games begin next Wednesday with Perth (featuring Toni Farnworth) taking on Melbourne (Purcell and Ott) and Sydney matching up against Townsville (Cocks). Both are best-of-three series with Perth and Sydney hosting the third and deciding game if required.
Over in Europe Jillian Harmon had the satisfaction of leading Napoli to a convincing 69-47 road win against her former club Le Murra Lucca. Harmon won an Italian League championship with Lucca last season but turned on a 16 points, 13 rebounds and 4 assists, 2 steals master-class against her former teammates to help Napoli to end the year on a high note – they are now fifth on the ten team Italian League table but significantly only one win behind second placed Venezia.
LACEY LOWDOWN 