Covid continues to wreak havoc with American college basketball. Numerous programmes won’t start until January and others have closed down completely for the 2020-21 season.
However there is some good news as many universities have kick started their seasons this week allowing a number if Kiwis to show their worth.
Hats off to NCAA Division I freshmen Tayla Dalton, Helen Matthews (pictured), Emme Shearer and Sam Mennenga in particular.
Here is the wrap on the major happenings in the last couple of days:
Arielle Williams Mackey helped propel Auckland Dream to a second straight Sal’s NBL 18IN18 victory at Bruce Pulman Arena on Friday.
The shooting guard produced a game high 19 points (8/13FG) as the Dream proved too good for Alloyfold Canterbury Wildcats winning 66-51.
The 18-year old, the youngest member of the Dream, has also announced that she will be headed to Brigham Young University (BYU) on a 4-year basketball scholarship.
Dream forward Amanda Wayment is a former BYU captain and of course former Dream standout and Tall Ferns captain Kalani Purcell is also a former Cougar.
The Girl’s edition of Battle of the Bridge was held at St Mary’s College on Saturday evening with City running out winners 81-64.
Shore were quickest out of the gate and led by double figures at the mid-point of the first quarter as Aroha Rogers, Rosie Dil and Makenzee Boucher made an immediate impact on the game.
City worked their way back into the contest at the backend of the period – five straight points from Lily Parke giving them a 22-21 quarter time lead.
Once ahead City steadily built their advantage to lead 44-34 at half-time and 64-51 at the three-quarter mark.
MacKenzie Chatfield made some eye catching plays for Shore but City always had the answers with MVP Flo Dallow, Parke, Odessa Lawson, and the Tenana-Williams sisters, Leata and Safena, all impressing.
As with the Boy’s game the previous day another good crowd was in attendance for what will hopefully become an annual celebration of girl’s high school basketball. Saturday evening was just that, congratulations to the organisers and all the players that provided the entertainment.
City 81 – Parke 20, Dallow 11, Lawson 8, Tyla Tevaga 8, Zaaliyah Kailahi-Fulu 8, S Tenana-Williams 5, Imogene Noble 5, Lelani Robertson 5, Monica Kelly 4, L Tenana-Williams 4, Ramona Fuaivaa 4, Maria Tatupu 2
Shore 64 – Chatfield 18, Boucher 8, Dil 7, Kellie Tawhio 7, A Rogers 7, Waiaaria Rogers 7, Emma Pugh 5, Centaine Noom-Duckworth 3, Qaizden Stephano 2
City retained the ‘Battle of the Bridge’ Trophy at St Kentigern College on Friday night with a 127-105 victory against their Shore rivals.
The free scoring tone was set in the opening quarter as the two teams threw down a combined 67 points – unfortunately for the Shore, City amassed 42 of them. Connor Ngan (six threes on the night) and Levick Kerr asserted early dominance with 13 points apiece in the frenetic start.
Christian Martin, Zach Riley, Taine Murray and Sean Murphy, on his way to a game high 36 points, redressed the balance in the second but City were sitting pretty – 72-56 ahead at half-time.
Any chance of Shore narrowing the gap in the third was snuffed out by Luka Vea and Dontae Russo-Nance.
Murphy continued his scoring ways but Theo Coker-Grey and Dakota Stephens put the exclamation marks on the win.
In front of a good sized crowd, and playing 12 minute quarters, the game was a fitting way to end Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Premier basketball for 2020.
City 127 – Ngan 23, Russo-Nance 23, Vea 20, Kerr 17, Coker-Grey 12, Alex McNaught 11, Caleb Langdon 6, Sataan Tawera 6, Stephens 5, Kazlo Evans 4
The Shore boys were able to turn the tables in the Junior game defeating City 73-67. Westlake’s Hamza Zahran led all scorers with 23 points.
It looked like another City win at three-quarter time as they were ahead 58-53 but held to just 11 points in the final ten minutes Shore charged home – threes in the final minutes from Zahran, Malachi Book and Jimmy Kim snatching momentum.
Harri Coker-Grey (18 points) and George Turner (11 points) were prominent for City.
Shore 73 – Zahran 23, Book 11, Michael Ropotini 10, Elyas Taher 8, Kim 7
City 67 – Coker-Grey 18, Turner 11, Noah Martin 9, Kade Cartwright 7
LACEY LOWDOWN 