LACEY LOWDOWN

Tegan Graham

Wellingtonian guard Tegan Graham was one point shy of equalling her career best, scoring 17 points (7/14FG, 3/5 3PG), as she paced Colgate University Raiders to a 70-58 victory over Army at West Point. Graham was in fine form adding a trio of steals and assists plus a block. The Raiders are 4-4 in the Patriot League.

Akiene-Tera Reed scored a game high 18 points (5/11FG, 7/8FT) as Virginia Commonwealth Rams comfortably accounted for St Joseph’s 65-47. She also added 4 rebounds at VCU moved to 8-1 at the head of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Kendell Heremaia dropped a career high 4 triples (made from 9 attempts) on her way to 14 points and 6 rebounds as Fordham University Rams improved to 6-3 in the Atlantic 10 Conference, fourth on the table behind VCU, with a 57-46 win against Duquesne. Mary Goulding filled the stats line with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal.

Shalae Salmon scored 13 points (6/12FG) but BYU, after starting West Coast Conference play with nine straight wins, slipped to a 79-65 defeat at Pepperdine. The starting centre also garnered 6 rebounds.

Amiee Book made her third start of the season for Cal State Fullerton Titans in their 59-53 loss to Log Beach State. The former Canterbury Wildcat scored 12 points (4/10FG), 4 rebounds and 2 assists – her 12^thdouble digit return of the season. The Titans slip to 3-4 in the Big West Conference.

It seems a common theme when talking about Krystal Leger-Walker as she once again stuffed the stats sheet as Northern Colorado Bears won 84-73 at Idaho State. The Waikato guard finished with 10 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals as the Bears moved to 9-2 in the Big Sky Conference.

Former Palmerston North Girls High forward Amy West scored a season best 6 points plus 4 rebounds as Liberty University Flames put the Lipscomb fire out winning 77-60. The Flames are 4-3 in the ASUN Conference.

Katelin Noyer has returned to action for Fresno State after undergoing foot surgery prior to the start of the season. She played 4 minutes for the Bulldogs against Wyoming in her comeback game and was then given a start at New Mexico where the Bulldogs went down 82-73. In front of 6,000 fans Noyer scored a couple of points and secured a pair of rebounds in 16 minutes as Fresno State slip to 6-3 in the Mountain West Conference.

Two North Shore boys Sam Waardenburg and Jack Salt squared off at the Paul Jones Arena, home of the University of Virginia Cavaliers, on Sunday (NZ Time).

It was Salt and the Cavaliers that eventually prevailed 56-46 but the University of Miami Hurricanes were far from blown away by their Atlantic Coast Conference rivals in a low scoring encounter.

Former Rangitoto College standout Waardenburg (10 points) reached double figures for the fifth time this season on 4 from 9 shooting. In 36 minutes of action, the most minutes he has played in a conference game, the sophomore forward also added 3 rebounds a steal and a block.

Salt, in his final year at the No 3 ranked Virginia, was his usual rock solid self on defense picking up a season high 9 rebounds to accompany 7 points (3/5FG).

Next up for Virginia (8-1 in conference play and 20-1 overall) is the mouth-watering prospect of entertaining Duke ranked No 1 or No 2 depending on which polls you view. Duke prevailed 72-70 when the teams last met – the game is scheduled for next Sunday (NZT).

In other news former Palmerston North Boys High standout Callum McRae was one of few bright lights for University of California Riverside as they were smacked 71-45 by Cal Poly. The freshman centre had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks, recording his fifth consecutive game in double figures.

Sacramento State Hornets are 6-4 in the Big Sky Conference after a convincing 74-58 win at Idaho State. Izayah Le’afa led the Hornets scoring effort with a season high 16 points on 6 from 10 shooting including 4 from 7 from beyond the arc.

Another former Tall Black Sam Timmins produced 9 points (3/5FG), 6 rebounds and 3 blocks as the University of Washington Huskies (9-0) remain unbeaten in the Pac 12 Conference after a 69-55 home victory against UCLA.

Krystal Leger Walker

The three Kiwis at Fordham University all played a part as the Rams went 1-1 last week (4-3 in the Atlantic 10 Conference). Kendell Heremaia was close to a double-double in the 56-38 win against Rhode Island, she had 10 points, 9 boards and added 4 steals for good measure – Mary Goulding chipped in with 7 points and 6 rebounds.

On Sunday Fordham were beaten 60-56 by Davidson University despite a mercurial effort from Goulding who hauled in 15 rebounds to accompany 16 points – a game high in both categories.

Zara Jillings went quietly about her work with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists across the two games.

Also, in Atlantic-10 action Michelle Nicholls had 10 points and 5 rebounds but La Salle University suffered a narrow 66-62 loss to Duquesne.

The third women’s team with Kiwi representation in the Atlantic-10 are top of the table Virginia Commonwealth (6-1) who produced almost identical score lines for a win against St Louis (57-47) and a loss at George Washington (57-48). Akiene-Tera Reed had 7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 dimes and 3 steals in the defeat but didn’t play in the win against St Louis due to injury.

Krystal Leger-Walker was her usual busy self as Northern Colorado Bears recorded wins against Southern Utah (71-44) and Northern Arizona (63-53). Across the two games L-W totalled 18 points, 14 rebounds and a team high 14 assists – she leads the Big Sky Conference with 109 dimes at 5.7 per game and is top-20 in all Division I basketball. The Bears are top of the conference table with an 8-2 record.

BYU stretched its winning run to 11 games (9 in conference games) with a 65-56 defeat of San Diego. Starting centre Shalae Salmon produced 8 points, 6 rebounds and a block for the Cougars.

Joellen How

Taranaki guard Joellen How scored a career high 11 points but it wasn’t enough to prevent Wagner College Seahawks going down 69-46 to Robert Morris University. The Seahawks are 3-4 in Northeast conference play.

Tegan Graham scored 10 points and dished a season equaling high 4 assists but Colgate University fell 86-58 to Lehigh. The Raiders are 4-4 in the Patriot League.

Amiee Book pulled down a career high 8 rebounds but Cal State Fullerton were humbled 75-39 by UC Davis and slip to 3-2 in Big West Conference play.

Sam Waardenburg scored an Atlantic Coast Conference career best 13 points but the University of Miami went down 78-66 against No 23 Florida State on Sunday. Sam was perfect from the floor making all four of his shots including two from beyond the arc. The Hurricanes slip to 1-6 in conference games.

Freshman Callum McRae recorded the first double-double of his college career posting 10 points and 10 rebounds as UC Riverside lost 82-64 at UC Irvine. The Highlanders are 2-4 in the Big West Conference.

St Mary’s Gaels had a couple of tough road losses going down 71-66 at BYU and 84-77 in overtime at Pepperdine. Dan Fotu had 10 points and 6 rebounds against BYU making a couple of triples in the process.

University of Washington Huskies are travelling well in the Pac-12 Conference, the Huskies unbeaten in seven games after road wins against Oregon (61-56) and Oregon State 79-69. Sam Timmins had 7 points in the first game and 2 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks against Oregon State.

Jack Salt claimed a team high 8 boards to accompany 7 points (3/5FG) as No 3 Virginia eased past Wake Forest 68-45 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and then accounted for the Fighting Irish at Notre Dame 82-55.

A 12-day break in the Cal State University Fullerton programme didn’t harm Amiee Book’s fine freshman form as she posted a career high 18 points in the 75-51 loss at UC Davis and followed that with 15 points in the 78-64 victory against Cal Poly.

The former Tasman and Canterbury representative went 12 from 19 from the field across the two games including 6 from 9 (67%) from beyond the arc. Amiee is shooting a highly impressive 50% (29/58) from three-point land overall this season. CSUF are 2-1 early in their Big West Conference programme.

With 2 assists in the 60-56 win against Idaho State Krystal Leger-Walker moved into the top five in Northern Colorado Bears programme history. She has 325 career assist to her name and as we are only just over half-way through L-W’s junior season that total is likely to be extended considerably.

Krystal added 11 points as the Bears moved to second place on the Big Sky Conference ladder.

A fine all-court game from Michelle Nicholls didn’t prevent La Salle University Explorers from slipping to a fifth straight Atlantic-10 defeat going down 60-57 against St Joseph’s. Nicholls had a career high 3 blocks plus 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

Still in the Atlantic-10 it’s a different story for Akiene-Tera Reed and Virginia Commonwealth. The Rams extended their winning run to seven games, the last five all conference games, after slamming Rhode Island 74-39. Reed tied a career high four three-pointers as she scored a team high 16 points along with 5 rebounds. Reid has scored double figures in seven of the last eight games for the Rams.

Also unbeaten in conference play are BYU as they registered an eighth victory on the bounce in West Coast Conference play coming back from a 16 points deficit to beat Portland 79-71. Shalae Salmon (2 points) was active at the defensive end executing 3 blocks in addition to grabbing 3 rebounds.

After a 3-0 start in conference fixtures Fordham University Rams have suffered two straight losses. The latest defeat was a 72-50 mauling at Dayton where Kendell Heremaia posted 9 points and 4 rebounds and Mary Goulding came up with 6 boards, 2 steals and 7 points.

Callum McRae got his first conference start of the season for University of California Riverside and rewarded the Highlanders coaching personnel with a team high 13 points on a perfect 6 from 6 shooting in the 69-61 loss at Cal State Fullerton.

That performance led to a second start a couple of days later and on that occasion the Highlanders (1-3) secured its first Big West Conference victory with a 75-71 home win against Hawaii. Once again the former Palmerston North Boys High big man was highly efficient scoring 12 points (6 from 8 shooting) to go with 5 rebounds.

In the eagerly awaited clash between the No1 ranked Duke University Blue Devils and University of Virginia Cavaliers it was the Blue Devils that prevailed on their home court 72-70. Jack Salt added 5 points to 4 rebounds in 26 minutes as Virginia (16-1) suffered its first loss of the season.

Jackson Stent scored 8 points (2/5FG, 4/4FT) but Houston Baptist came unstuck against Sam Houston State University going down 71-65 and now sit 1-4 in the Southland Conference.

Yanni Wetzell came up with 7 points and 4 rebounds but Vanderbilt University Commodores slipped to a fifth straight loss in Southeastern Conference play with a 71-55 home loss to No 22 Mississippi State.

Sam Timmins produced 6 points, 4 rebounds and a pair of blocks and steals as Washington University Huskies beat Stanford 80-64. Washington are unbeaten with five straight wins in the Pac-12 Conference.

Yuat Alok, the former Rangitoto College forward, has suffered a season ending hand injury. In addition, Alok has moved to Central Florida University from Texas Christian with immediate effect.