LACEY LOWDOWN

In another busy week of Junior College action Kaitlin Burgess led all scorers with 23 points, making 5 from 7 from beyond the arc, as Southern Idaho College made easy work of Colorado Northwestern winning 84-50. It was the seventh double figure outing in twelve games for the former Rangitoto College guard who is enjoying a standout season along with teammate Ashlee Strawbridge.

Ashlee showed her value to Southern Idaho claiming 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block.

Three Kiwis scored in double figures as Williston State trumped Lake Region State 78-63. 

For Lake Region former Massey High forward Yzabelle Tevao scored 10 points (4/7FG) while for Williston Jazz Kailahi-Fulu stuffed most the major stats columns with 23 points (11/14FG), 12 rebounds, 5 blocks and 4 assists. Keeley Tini was almost as productive with 17 points (3/6 3PG), 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

Jazz is now 8^th on the national Junior College leaderboard for scoring with 172 points with Keeley 22^nd having scored 154 points. 

Another player to fill the stats line was Ella Bradley as Utah State Eastern pipped Salt Lake 63-60. The ex-Waikato Wizard conjured up an efficient 8 points (4/5FG), 6 rebounds, 4 assists and a block.

Jordyn Maddix and Parehuia Delamere combined for 7/13 from beyond the arc to help propel Western Texas to a 72-67 win at Howard College. Jordyn finished with a season high  19 points (5/10 3PG), plus 5 rebounds whilst Parehuia had a tidy 10 points (4/5FG), 4 rebounds and a couple of steals.

Guard Briarley Rogers bagged a dozen points (4/7FG) and 6 rebounds as Weatherford College accounted for Cisco 91-58.

Molly Cockburn scored 8 points in her first start for Miles Community College as they accounted for United Tribes 103-79.

A break-out performance from Cantabrian Molly Cockburn highlights the latest Junior College roundup.

Molly nailed all four of her three-point shots on her way to a season best 17 points as Miles Community College climbed over Rocky Mountain 78-42.

Although well beaten former St Peter’s and Waikato forward Dominique Stephens peaked the Rocky effort with 12 points and 8 rebounds.

The North Harbour pairing of Jazz Kailahi-Fulu and Keeley Tini continue to carry a heavy load for Williston State College. In their 61-55 road win at Dakota at Bottineau, the pair scored half the teams points and secured 50% of the rebounds also.

Jazz finished with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists while Keeley produced 14 points and 8 rebounds. The pair are leading Williston’s scoring this season, each averaging a shade over 14 points per game.

The pair again led the Williston scoring a couple of days later when they were defeated 64-52 by North Dakota State College of Science. Jazz led all scorers with 16 (7/9FG) and Keeley bagged 9 points.

No fewer than six players featured in Southern Idaho’s 64-52 success against Utah State Eastern. For the victors Kaitlyn Burgess continued her good scoring form and Ashlee Strawbridge demonstrated her rebounding prowess.

Kaitlyn finished with 15 points (6/8FG) and Ashlee 8 rebounds to go with 6 points while Kyra Paniora scored a couple of points.

For Utah State Brooklyn Pouwhare secured a pair of rebounds, Hannah Wentworth scored 6 points and Ella Bradley made 4 points to go with 5 rebounds.

Rashaan Smith posted her highest collegiate score tallying 11 points (5/6FG) as Dawson College easily accounted for United Tribes 106-44. Imogen Noble scored 4 points for Dawson in the same game.

Porirua’s Grace Hunter had a nice stats line of 9 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals as South Plains got the better of Clarendon College 79-58. South Plains are 5-0 in the Western Athletic Conference. South Plains are a highly touted #3 in the nation.

Heeni Blakey conjured 3 steals and a brace of assists to go with 8 points although Marshalltown were quashed 92-36 by Iowa Western.

Congratulations to Harata Coleman who scored her first collegiate points at the weekend. The former Opunake standout scored 3 points (1/2 3PG) as Barton cooked Neosho County 117-71.

Plenty of good performances to report from the States including an encouraging comeback from Tall Fern Amy West but it’s Charlisse Leger-Walker, now with seven Pac-12 Freshman of the Week Awards, that continues to excel.

All the news here: https://nz.basketball/at-a-glance-leger-walker-duo-hold-headlines-stateside/

Heeni Blakey and Waiaaria Rogers scored 17 points apiece as Marshalltown College suffered an agonizing 86-83 overtime loss against Ellsworth. For good measure Waiaaria added 7 rebounds and Heeni 4 assists.

Kaitlin Burgess scored 15 points, Ashlee Strawbridge had 9 points (plus 11 rebounds) and Kyra Paniora tallied 7 points for Southern Idaho in their dominating 101-31 win over Christian Community College.

Strawbridge also had 8 points and 5 rebounds in a slightly more competitive game –  a 79-47 victory against Northwest College.

Former Massey High forward Yzabelle Tevao scored a season high 13 points (6/9FG) as Lake Region State were scuttled 80-66 by Bismarck.

A 10 points and 6 assists performance from Grace Hunter propelled South Plains to a 74-60 victory over Frank Phillips College.

She followed that with 8 points, 4 assists and 3 steals as South Plains improved to 6-1 with a comfortable 67-45 win against Howard College.

Ella Bradley had 7 rebounds, including 6 off the offensive glass, and also added 7 points and Hannah Wentworth scored 6 but Utah State Eastern were beaten 70-63 by Casper College.

Kiwi versus Kiwi

It took double overtime to separate Western Nebraska and Casper College with Dejaan Schuler departing with the grin after Casper prevailed 95-88. Izzy Cook grabbed 6 rebounds and a couple of steals for Western Nebraska.

Molly Cockburn could also force a smile after Miles College got the better of Williston State 79-63.  Once again Jazz Kailahi-Fulu (19 points and 8 rebounds) and Keeley Tini (14 points and 9 rebounds) carried a heavy load for Williston. 

Congratulations to Rashaan Smith on making her first collegiate point as Dawson College defeated Williston State 76-52. Kailahi-Fulu recorded 8 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks for Dawson.

In this roundup of men’s college hoops we put the primary spotlight on those players playing at NCAA Division II universities – seven of them scored in double figures in the past week.

Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones posted good numbers as Hawaii at Hilo improved to 5-1 in the PacWest Conference with a pair of wins against Hawaii Pacific. In the first game he tallied 15 points and 7 rebounds while in game two he posted his second double-double of the season adding 10 rebounds to 16 points (6/10FG).

The freshman out of St Pat’s College is averaging 16.7 points and 8.2 rebounds for Hilo.

Also in the PacWest Mac Stodart top scored for Concordia Irvine in the PacWest Conference. Biola beat them 94-78 although Stodart will take satisfaction from a 16-point outing, his best score in seven games played this season.

13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists from Wilfred Dickson were not enough to secure South Dakota Mines the win against Colorado Mesa. Mines are 7-6 in conference play after losing 82-77 in double overtime.

Will Heather didn’t miss a shot (9/9FG, 1/1FT) on his way to 19 points.  His career-best effort helped Dallas Baptist beat Texas A&M Commerce 80-69 to improve to 12-2, and second on the ladder in the Lone Star Conference.

Another Rosmini College old boy Marvin Williams Dunn scored a season high 12 points (4/5 3PG) and also grabbed a couple of steals but it was insufficient to stop Ouachita Baptist falling 68-57 to Arkansas-Monticello.

11 points and 5 assists from Matt Brien was also on a losing side as Nebraska at Kearney went down 87-79 to Central Oklahoma.

Connor Flannagan was within a rebound of a double-double in West Florida’s 71-66 loss to West Georgia. The former Auckland Grammar man finished with 10 points, 9 rebounds and a couple of assists.

Former Rongotai College guard Finn McClure came up with 10 points and 7 assists and pair of steals as Milligan University went down in overtime by just two-points (84-82) against Point University in the NAIA.

Meanwhile Kruz Perrott-Hunt made it four double digit contributions in a row as his 11 points (5/10FG) helped South Dakota past pre-season favourites South Dakota State 64-56. That’s 10 wins in a row for the Summit League leaders.

Despite 10 points and 7 rebounds from Yuat Alok Coppin State University went down 95-82 to Morgan State University – Coppin now 6-4 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Also with 10 points was James Moors as Colorado State edged Wyoming 74-72. The tally means Moors, in his freshman year, has passed 100 points for the season, with Colorado 10-3 in conference fixtures.

In Junior College Taranaki’s Nico Hill had a balanced 7 points and 7 rebounds (3 at the offensive end) to help Missouri State University–West Plains to a 93-84 win against South Arkansas Tech.

The former St Peter’s School, Cambridge trio of Kendell Heremaia, Charlisse and Krystal Leger-Walker are all in good form.

Charlisse will likely have another Pac-12 Freshman of the Week award after two prodigious performances for Washington State University at the weekend. Firstly WSU knocked off #5 UCLA 67-63 with Charlisse scoring the last nine points for the Cougars to finish with a game-high 28 points. She made 7 of her 15 shots, 4 of 8 from beyond the arc and was 10 of 12 from the free throw line.

Despite WSU then going down 81-71 to USC Charlisse was still in prolific form. 24 points (4/11 3PG, 6/7FT), 7 assists and 4 rebounds testimony to that. 

There was also  big numbers from Krystal L-W who over the two games accumulated 17 points 8 boards and 14 dimes. KL_W now has 401 career assists.

2017 Junior Tall Fern McKenna Dale has announced that she will play for the University of Virginia Cavaliers next season. Dale has spent the last three years at Ivy League school Brown University. 

She has two years of playing eligibility left as she missed her sophomore year at Brown due to an ACL injury, and lost the current season due to COVID as the Ivy League was cancelled. In 2019-20 she was second on the Brown team in scoring (13.4ppg) and rebounding (5.3rpg).

Dale will complete her undergraduate degree from Brown before undertaking the Master’s programme at Virginia studying public policy.

Following her Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week award, the previous week, Kendell Heremaia was again prominent as Fordham secured their fourth straight win, a come from behind 56-53 defeat of Rhode Island.

Heremaia scored 11 points and tallied three each of rebounds, steals and assists.

Tegan Graham scored 13 points (3/4 3PG) and grabbed 4 rebounds as BYU beat Loyola Marymount 69-50 in West Coast Conference play. Kaylee Smiler chipped in with 4 points and a couple of assists as BYU improved to 7-2 in conference play.

Graham has made an impressive 51% (25 of 49) three-pointers this season.

Helen Matthews bagged 9 points as Wofford (6-3) moved up to third on the Southern Conference standings after a 67-44 win against Chattanooga. Pare Pene knocked down her only shot of the game for Cattanooga.

In NAIA action Michelle Nicholls had a nice double at the weekend as Central Methodist (11-5) secured a brace of wins to make that six successes on the bounce. Nicholls had 11 points (3/5 3PG) and 7 rebounds as Central Methodist showed no compassion for Mount Mercy winning 99-74. They followed that with a 71-57 victory over Culver-Stockton with Nicholls making 9 points, 4 assists and 4 steals.

College of Southern Idaho recorded an outstanding 81-77 win against Western Nebraska. 

Western Nebraska, #14 in the country had not lost at home for four years but aided by 14 points from Kaitlin Burgess and 10 points from Ashlee Strawbridge CSI pulled off a stunning victory. 

CSI’s success continued. On the back of 25 points and 10 rebounds from Burgess the Golden Eagles outlasted Eastern Wyoming winning 88-77. The double success propelled Southern Idaho to #21 on the national NJCAA rankings.

The highest ranked team with a kiwi on the roster are South Plains College Texans. Grace Hunter enjoyed a nice double as South Plains scored a brace of wins. She scored 11 points in the narrow (49-48) win against Kilgorie and the Wellingtonian followed that with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in the 70-60 conference opener against Midland.

All three Williston State Kiwis featured in the starting line-up as Williston scored a comfortable 80-44 win against United Tribes Tech.

Jazz Kailahi-Fulu posted her second double-double of the season and Keeley Tini her first as Williston State sunk Bismark State 68-55. Both scored 20 points with Tini adding 11 rebounds, a steal and a block while JK-F had a prolific 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks. 

Utah State University Eastern have four New Zealand players and the quartet all got good minutes as USUE had little difficulty with Christian Community College, winning the triple header by an average of 70 points. 

Hannah Wentworth averaged 11 points across the three games, Ella Bradley averaged 10,  Brooklyn Pouwhare 5 points and 9 rebounds with Kay-Hauata Phillips also averaging 9 boards plus 7 points. 

Heeni Blakey scored 10 points (4/73PG) but Marshalltown College Tigers were well beaten by Des Moines Area College 88-41.

Congratulation to Dejaan Schuler and Molly Cockburn who scored their first collegiate points this week.

Dejaan for Casper College in their 78-39 win against Northeastern. The former Te Aroha College standout knocked down her only shot – a three!

Molly scored her first points for Miles Community College in their 84-70 defeat of Dawson College.

Kruz Perrott-Hunt recorded a career high 16 points (3/4 3PG) as University of South Dakota registered an easy 91-59 home win against Omaha. South Dakota are unbeaten in the Summit League with an 8-0 record after completing the double over Omaha with a tighter 97-93 success – Perrott-Hunt 10 points in game two.

Tobias Cameron scored a season best 12 points (3/4 3PG) as Abilene Christian took care of business against ACU winning 82-72 and are now 5-1 in the Southland Conference.

Yuat Alok scored 10 points on 5 from 7 shooting but Coppin State University fell 79-76 to Morgan State and are now 5-2 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

In Division II play Wilfred Dickson top scored for South Dakota Mines in their 67-55 loss to Colorado Springs. The Hawkes Bay native is averaging 14 points a game this season and surpassed that with 19 for the Hardrockers who are 6-5 in the Rocky Mountain Athletics Conference. 

Also tallying 19 points and elevating himself to the team’s top scorer was Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones as Hawaii at Hilo narrowly defeated Chaminade 69-68. Tait-Jones made 4 from 9 from deep and also added 3 assists as Hilo improved to 3-1 in the PacWest Conference.

Dallas Baptist are up to #11 in the Division II rankings but had to be content with sharing the spoils against Permain Basin. Having lost 99-97 in overtime on Friday they dominated Saturday’s fixture winning 91-74. Will Heather was prominent in both games totaling 28 points (13/19FG), 6 rebounds and 4 blocks during the two outings.

Conor Flanagan produced 10 points (4/7FG) and 6 rebounds to help propel West Florida University Argonauts to a solid 101-65 win against Shorter University. The Argonauts now 4-6 in Gulf South Conference fixtures.

Kendell Heremaia and Fordham University had to bus it back to the Bronx in a snow storm after their flight had been cancelled. The journey was made less uncomfortable after securing a 73-55 win at Davidson on Sunday.

Heremaia posted her second straight 20-point game and notched her ninth career double-double with 11 rebounds whilst also leading the team in assists (4) and steals (3). The senior now has 898 career points for the Rams (6-2 in the Atlantic-10 Conference).

Akienne-Tera Reed made a massive contribution to Virginia Commonwealth’s double success against the two George’s. In the 67-60 victory against George Washington Reed nailed 18 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and a season high 4 steals. VCU’s leading scorer followed that with 9 points and 8 rebounds in the 64-56 overtime win against George Mason.

VCU now tied with Fordham at 6-2 in the Atlantic 10 Conference – joint fourth on the ladder.

Also enjoying a fine all-round game was Helen Matthews in Wofford Terriers 63-59 win against North Carolina Greensboro. The former Kaiopoi College guard dished 7 assists to go with 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals playing a team high 34 minutes. 

Mate v Mate

Emme Shearer scored what proved to be the winning basket with under two minutes remaining as Portland beat St Mary’s, California 69-68. Shearer finished with a career high 16 points (7/12FG) as Portland completed the double over the Gaels, moving to 6-3 in West Coast Conference play – 3^rd place on the league table.

Tayla Dalton corralled 3 rebounds for St Mary’s with Jade Kirisome scoring 8 points.

Dalton snared a season best 4 steals (plus 5 points) but St Mary’s suffered a 79-52 defeat at the hands of West Coast Conference leaders Gonzaga in their second game of the week.

All good things must come to an end.

Charlisse Leger-Walker had begun her college career with 12 straight double figure scores, a feat that had helped her earn five Pac-12 Freshman of the Week Awards.

That run came to an abrupt halt against Stanford University. In back to back defeats against No 6 ranked Stanford Leger-Walker scored a total of eight points having averaged 20.3ppg in the previous 12 games. 

Krystal Leger-Walker fared a little better totaling 14 points and 8 assists across the two games as Washington State slipped to 6-6 in conference play.