Many Junior Colleges have begun the festive season break but there are still a few performances of note to report before the season gets back into full swing in early January.
Utah State Eastern, with Ella Bradley and Maclani Michael in the thick of the action, won an overtime game against Colorado Northwestern 98-88.
Bradley, the multiple NZ age-group championship winner, posted an impressive stat line of 16 points (4/5 3PG), 5 rebounds, 5 blocks and 4 assists. Michael was also handy from deep making 3-6 triples to record 10 points.
Williston State suffered two defeats at the hands of Mesa College at the weekend. But that didn’t stop Keeley Tinipiling up the numbers. She recorded a double-double in both games averaging a colossal 17.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.5 steals across the two fixtures.
Keeley has 225 points and 142 rebounds to her name this season – she sits 22nd on the Junior College Division I scoring list and 13th on the rebounding table.
Parehuia Delamere (Western Texas) and Te Araroa Sopaga (Cloud County) both appear in the national Top-20 for steals with 3.0 and 2.9 per game respectively.
Dawson College guard Samantha Jenkins is not far behind Tini’s scoring tally with 200 points already to her name.
Western Nebraska finished the first half of the season with a 72-57 win against Laramie County. Taranaki’s Izzy Cookscored 7 points (3/3FG) for the 14-1 Cougars ranked #10 in the nation.
Te Aroha’s Dejaan Schuler scored 5 points as #17 Casper College slipped to a 57-44 loss against Salt Lake.
The Kiwis were a little subdued in #8 Southern Idaho’s 63-49 win against Southern Nevada. Kyra Paniora had 2 points, 3 rebounds and a steal while Ashlee Strawbridge also had a steal to accompany 3 rebounds.
Central Maine pulled away in the final minutes to beat Southern Maine 54-48. Safena Te Nana-Williams added 8 points to 6 rebounds and a steal while sister Leata knocked down a couple of threes in her 7 points. Harata Coleman didn’t contribute points but did come up with 3 rebounds and a steal.
In men’s action Nico Hill scored 15 points and grabbed a team high 7 rebounds as Missouri State – West Plains defeated United Prep 95-94. Shooting the three-ball at a tidy 37% Hill is averaging 10.5ppg.
South Georgia Tech beat Chattahoochee Valley 69-60 with Nate Wilson contributing an active 3 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks and an assist.
LACEY LOWDOWN 