Monthly Archives: November 2022

Nov 29 2022
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College Hoops

Latest NCAA news including Thanksgiving weekend wrap

November 29

One appearance after playing NCAA game number 100 Amiee Book, with her second triple in Fresno State’s 68-49 loss to Penn State, completed the unique double of 1,000 points and 100 appearances in Women’s NCAA Division I basketball. The Graduate Senior, daughter of former Tall Black Ed Book, is just the 17th New Zealand player to complete the double. 

Kaylee Smiler continued her good form as BYU were edged 61-56 by Ball State. The Waikato guard scored 17 points (7/12FG) to go with 3 assists and 2 rebounds. Arielle Mackey-Williams scored a couple of points in the defeat.

Charlisse Leger-Walker scored in double figures for the 53rd time in her collegiate career as Washington State defeated South Dakota State 61-41. Playing all 40 minutes Leger-Walker finished with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal

Ashlee Strawbridge scored 11 points (5/10FG), grabbed 6 rebounds and blocked 2 shots in New Mexico State’s 60-51 loss to Denver.

McKenna Dale had a highly productive 10 points (3/3 3PG), 8 rebounds plus an assist, block and steal as Virginia eased to a 72—50 win against East Carolina.

Helen Matthews pulled down 9 boards (6 offensive) to equal her career best haul of rebounds and added 7 points as Wofford cruised past Southern Wesleyan 70-51.

Emme Shearer scored 8 points and snared a game high 3 steals as Portland had a comfortable 67-41 win against Northeastern. Melika Samia scored 2 points in the win.

Dani Bayes scored 7 points as Boise State were pipped 55-54 in overtime by Milwaukee. 

All three Kiwis playing at St Mary’s got on the scoresheet but it didn’t prevent the Gaels going down 73-53 to Kansas. Jade Kirisone scored 5 points, Amy West 4 and Tayla Dalton 3

Other Women’s Scores 

Cal State Northridge 89 (Rochelle Fourie 3 points, 1 rebound) Antelope Valley 59

In Men’s NCAA Division I play Kruz Perrott-Hunt made 4 from 7 threes on his way to a team high 17 points in South Dakota’s 66-59 loss to Coastal Carolina. KP-H also posted 4 rebounds and 4 assists in the loss. He followed that with 10 points as South Dakota “Kruzed” past Mount Marty 97-58.

Sacramento State were defeated 91-87 by Southern Utah in double overtime. Kiwi centre Callum McRae, in career game number 99,  had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks – he has posted double figures in points or rebounds in every game bar one this season.

Abilene Christian University snapped a three game losing streak to beat Northern Arizona 92-82. It was a 99th win in ACU colours for Tobias Cameron who posted 13 points, 5 rebounds and a couple of assists. 

James Moors added 4 rebounds and a brace of steals to 7 points (3/4FG) as Colorado State comfortably beat Mississippi Valley State 88-45.

Other Men’s Scores

Hartford 50 (Tom Webley 4 points) Delaware 78

Marquette 82 (Ben Gold 4 points) Chicago State 68

Nov 28 2022
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ANBL, Breakers by Numbers

Breakers at the double

The Sky Sport Breakers have continued their winning ways with another impressive pair of victories in Round 8 of the Australian NBL.

The 116-79 home win against Brisbane takes the Breakers to 10-3 overall while the 82-71 victory in Cairns on Friday night was a sixth straight road win. That’s a record that has only been bettered on two occasions in the Breakers history.

The 116 points against Brisbane was the highest score posted by the Breakers since they put a colossal 130 on Illawarra Hawks back in February 2019. It was the highest score posted by any team in the NBL this season and also produced the largest winning margin. 

Their shooting percentages were the best of the season across all three major categories – 60% (44/73) from the field, 51% (17/33) from 3-point land and 84% (11/13) from the charity stripe.

It mattered little on the night but in a tighter contest the Breakers might have been a little bemused by the foul count. The home team were pinged on 29 occasions, the Bullets incurring the wrath of the officials just 14 times. Certainly Tom Abercrombie was not a happy chappie picking up four fouls in under ten minutes to spend almost the entire second half cheering on from the bench. 

There were no such issues in Cairns as the Breakers extended their run of away wins to six on the bounce. The current run of 6 consecutive away victories has only been bettered twice:

In 2008-09 the club enjoyed a 7 game winning streak on the road while the team of 2012-13 put together a run of 8 straight road wins – that was the championship winning season when they only lost 4 games all season.

Here are the key numbers from the two games:

Beat Cairns Taipans 82-71 (away) on Friday

Tom Abercrombie secured 8 rebounds – the most the Breakers swingman has pulled down in a single game since December 2019.

Derek Pardon recorded his third consecutive double-double (15 points and 11 rebounds) and his fourth in the last five games. The last player to produce three consecutive double-doubles for the Breakers was Shawn Long in February 2019.

Kiwi Sam Waardenburg, a former Rangitoto College and Harbour Basketball teammate of Dan Fotu, was outstanding for the Taipans. He finished with 15 points (5/6FG) 6 rebounds, 2 blocks and an assist. Yet to play for the Tall Blacks, after a fine career at the University of Miami, you imagine he is climbing up the pecking order on Pero Cameron’s Tall Blacks long list.

Beat Brisbane Bullets 116-79 at Spark Arena on Sunday

Jarrell Brantley and Izayah Le’afa posted season high points. Brantley was a beast in the low post accumulating 29 points on 13 from 19 shooting.

Le’afa scored all his 21 points in the first half on 7 from 10 shooting including 4 from 6 from deep. 

Cam Gliddon, with 3 rebounds, secured his 1,000th career rebound.

Upcoming

Gliddon needs just 2 points for 3,000 career points. With 2,998 career points he sits 12th on the scoring list of active players which is headed by Adelaide 36ers forward Daniel Johnson with 5,971 points.

Tom Abercrombie (4,204 points) is third on the active players scoring list.

Izayah Le’afa needs 12 points for 600 career points and Tom Vodanovich a single point for 400 career points.

Tom Abercrombie, with I more steal will become the 4th Breaker to pinch 250 steals.

The Breakers top five “Stealers”:

288 Boucher

278 Jackson

252 Vukona

249 Abercrombie

209 Henare

Talking of steals Will McDowell-White needs to pinch 3 more possessions for 50 steals in Breakers colours. 

In addition WM-W is only 3 assists shy of becoming the 11th Breaker to dish 250 assists.

The Breakers are next in action on Thursday entertaining South East Melbourne Phoenix at Christchurch Arena – tip-off 7.30pm followed by a Saturday evening encounter with Perth Wildcats at Vector Arena.

Nov 26 2022
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College Hoops, Tall Ferns

Book close to ton number two plus the Black Friday roundup

Amiee Book played NCAA game number 100 as Fresno State won a tight tussle with Delaware 53-49 at the Daytona Beach Invitational on Black Friday.

Book added 6 rebounds, 3 steals, a block and an assists to 4 points and is now just 6 points shy of the unique double of 1,000 points and 100 appearances in Women’s NCAA Division I basketball. It’s a double only achieved previously by 16 New Zealand players. 

Amy West, enjoyed her first outing of the season since recovering from a shoulder injury, as hosts St Mary’s beat Niagara 73-59 in the St Mary’s Thanksgiving Classic. The former Tall Fern finished with 6 points, 8 rebounds and a block in just 8 minutes. Tayla Dalton had a quartet of points and rebounds in the win.

Emme Shearer had 7 points, 5 rebounds and an assist as Portland enjoyed a come from behind 66-60 win against Houston at the St Pete Showcase in Florida.

Olivia Williams added triples of steals and rebounds to 8 points as UC Irvine defeated Long Island 65-56.

Other Women’s Results

New Mexico State 65 (Ashlee Strawbridge 5pts, 2rebs, 1assist, 1steal, 1 block) Yale 73

In Men’s Division I play Sam Mennenga was a highly efficient 7 from 8 from the field making 15 points, 4 rebounds and a couple of steals as Davidson College accounted for San Francisco 89-80.

At the North Shore Classic in Hawaii Sacramento State went down 74-61 to hosts Hawaii. Despite being on the losing team Callum McRae still produced an 11 points and 8 rebounds double.

Other Men’s Results

Hartford 55 (Tom Webley 4pts, 4rebs, 3 assists) Pennsylvania 75

Nov 24 2022
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College Hoops, Tall Blacks

Cameron brothers go head to head – one posts career high

November 24

The Cameron brothers Flynn and Tobias were in opposition for the first time in their long NCAA careers as Abilene Christian University took on the University of California Riverside UCR)  at the Vegas 4 Tournament in Las Vegas on Thursday (NZT). Younger brother Flynn, the Riverside combo-guard, took the opportunity to pour in a career high 26 points to carry UCR to a 76-65 victory.

Tobias tallied 4 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and a steal in response but it was a game when Flynn grabbed the plaudits. He made 7 from 12 threes, all three freebies and also grabbed a team high 8 rebounds to go with 2 assists, 2 steals and a block. Nailing seven triples he became the first Highlander to achieve that feat for four seasons. 

Both Cameron’s are fifth year seniors having first played their freshman years back in 2018-19. Tobias has played all five years at Abilene Christian while Flynn played two years at De Paul University before transferring to Riverside.

The game in Vegas was the 118th career game for Tobias while for Flynn, capped by the Tall Blacks for the first time earlier this year at the FIBA Asia Cup, it was game number 96.

When game number 100 ticks over for Flynn he will become the 16th kiwi to play a century of Men’s NCAA Division I games – the duo the first New Zealand brothers to reach the notable milestone and also the first to play against each other at Division I level. Tall Blacks head coach Pero Cameron you imagine has been watching the careers of his sons unfold with immense pride.

Callum McRae played on the same Junior Tall Blacks team as the Cameron’s at the 2017 FIBA U19 World Cup. In his latest outing he was within a point of a double-double grabbing 10 boards to go with 9 points as Sacramento State went down 82-71 to UC Davis. Those 9 points took McRae past 900 career points and up to 4th on the all-time list of New Zealand scorers in Men’ NCAA Division I basketball.

Hartford University Hawks had a comfortable 82-45 win against FDU Florham with Tom Webley claiming 8 points (4/6FG) and 4 rebounds.

Akiva McBirney-Griffin scored a season best 6 points as UC Irvine pounded Life Pacific 116-54.

In women’s NCAA Division I play Helen Matthews helped Wofford to the narrowest of wins, a 67-66 triumph against UNC Wilmington. The Cantabrian combo guard tallied 14 points, one shy of her season best 15, and added 4 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal.

Amiee Book is on the verge of the double of 100 games and 1,000 points in NCAA Division I basketball. In her 99thappearance she scored 9 points as Fresno State won a one sided contest against UC Merced 71-28. Book has now scored 990 career points.

Barring injury that 100th game will be on Saturday (NZT) when Fresno play Delaware at the Daytona Beach Invitational.

BYU had little problem overcoming Carroll College recording a 71-47 win. Kaylee Smiler made 3 from 5 threes to equal her season high of 12 points with Arielle Mackey-Williams scored sored 7 points on 2 from 4 from the field.

Mckenna Dale took just the one shot, that missed, but she did pull down a team high 8 rebounds and garnered a couple of steals as Virginia defeated Campbell 62-41.

Tara Manumaleuga scored 3 points and had a brace each of rebounds, assists and steals as Texas Christian slipped to a 62-54 loss to Sam Houston.

Nov 22 2022
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College Hoops

Latest college news with Callum McRae and Kaylee Smiler amongst the grinners

November 18

At the North Shore Showcase in Hawaii a couple of former Waikato rep standouts Charlisse Leger-Walker and Kaylee Smiler were in opposition as Washington State University (WSU) took on BYU. Given BYU were 0-3 entering the contest and Washington unbeaten it was expected that the Cougars of Washington would be too good for the Cougars of Brigham Young. CL-W once again top scored for Washington with 21 points but it was Smiler (7 points and 2 assists) with the grin as BYU prevailed 67-57.  Arielle Mackey-Williams also chipped in with a valuable 9 points for BYU.

BYU couldn’t quite repeat that success 24 hours later going down to Troy 68-62 with Smiler nabbing 5 points and a couple of rebounds.

When WSU took their turn to play Troy they took care of business winning 87-72. CL-W settling for a quiet 14 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists!

Olivia Williams scored a team high 16 points, making 4 from 8 threes, as UC Irvine edged Seattle 54-53 to improve to 3-1 this season.

Portland Pilots were beaten 55-53 by a San Diego buzzer beater. Emme Shearer made a couple of threes on her way to 13 points to sit alongside a couple of rebounds an assist and a steal for Portland.

Southern Methodist defeated Texas A&M Commerce 86-57 with freshman guard Ella Brow scoring a season best 12 points.

Also producing a season best was Helen Matthews who was one rebound away from a double-double as Wofford triumphed 88-79 at High Point. The Cantabrian guard tallied 15 points and 9 rebounds.

Boise State beat Portland State 71-61 with freshman Danni Bayes posting 13 points (5/8FG), 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

Grace Hunter was immediately thrust into the starting point guard spot in her first outing of the season for California State University Bakersfield. The Wellingtonian guard connected with her first two jump shots and added a block, assist and rebound but unfortunately succumbed to injury after just 5 minutes. Bakersfield struggled without Hunter and went down 74-42 to UNLV.

McKenna Dale scored 6 points on 3 from 4 shooting, as well as securing 5 rebounds as Virginia won 74-60 on the road at American.

In Men’s Division I play…..

Tafara Gapare scored his first collegiate points – a made three – as UMass defeated Murray State 71-69.

Sacramento State improved to 3-1 winning their home opener 58-43 against UC Merced with Callum McRae again in excellent form. The Manawatu forward produced a big double-double of 14 points (7/14FG) and 14 rebounds – 6 offensive boards a highlight. 

At the Charleston Classic James Moors followed up his career high 24 points against South Carolina with 6 points and 3 rebounds in a 74-64 loss to Charleston.

Also at the Classic Sam Mennenga scored 23 points as Davidson College saw off Old Dominion 66-61. It was quite a weekend for the Tall Blacks forward in the three games at the Classic he tallied also 57 points, and was named to the Charleston Classic Tournament Team. That’s now 500 Division I career points for the former Westlake and Harbour player.

Tom Webley scored 9 points, and added 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a block as Hartford University pummeled Houghton 98-32.

UC Riverside flogged Occidental 106-30 with Flynn Cameron adding 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals and a block to half a dozen points.

Other Results:

Fresno State 47 (Amiee Book 3pts, 2rebs) Cal Poly 48

St Mary’s 66 (Tayla Dalton 2pts, 3rebs, 1 steal) University of California 69

Nov 21 2022
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Breakers by Numbers, NZ Breakers

Late nights no problems for the Sky Sport Breakers.

21 November

The 2022 edition of the Sky Sport Breakers seem to thrive on adversity.

Not for the first time this season the team and staff faced minimal recovery time, due to flight cancellations and delays, before taking the court against well rested opponents.

On this occasion, having beaten the Tasmania Jack Jumpers on Friday night in Launceston, the Breakers had to overcome a chaotic return journey before eventually arriving in Auckland just over 12 hours ahead of the Sunday afternoon fixture against the Adelaide 36ers at Trusts Arena.

It was a game in which the Breakers trailed 80-78 with under three minutes to play, a situation where you would have thought the travel weary Breakers might fold. Instead it was the Auckland based club that found another gear outscoring the 36ers 11-3 in the closing minutes to close out an impressive weekend’s work and improve to 8-3 on the season – clear second behind the Sydney Kings (8-2) on the NBL ladder.

Barry Brown Jr scored 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter but it was Breakers big man Derek Pardon that was the major influence on proceedings. 

Fast becoming a fan favourite Pardon recorded a 19 points/10 rebounds double-double for the second consecutive game while also snaring 3 steals and swatting 3 blocked shots in a 35 minutes high energy performance.

There were other notable contributors to Sunday’s win with Jarrell Brantley posting his first double-double of the season – 17 points and 10 rebounds while Will McDowell-White was also influential with 13 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds.  

It wasn’t the happiest return to Auckland for former Breakers great CJ Bruton who was back in New Zealand for the first time since taking on the head coach role with the 36ers.

It was also a return of sorts for kiwi Hyrum Harris (6 points and 3 rebounds) and Mitch McCarron (8 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals). The 36ers duo played plenty of games at Trusts Arena during their time in the NZNBL with the James Blond Super City Rangers a few years ago.

Won 89-83 v Adelaide 36’ers at Trusts Arena on Sunday

McDowell-White became the fifth Breaker to score 100 points this season as he notched 13 points. 

The Breakers centurion points scorers are:

Brown 162

Brantley 149

Pardon 137

Le’afa 131

McDowell-White 105

Won 84-76 v Tasmania Jack Jumpers (away) on Friday

Derek Pardon posted 19 points and 10 rebounds, the exact numbers he posted on Sunday.

Izayah Le’afa dropped 4 from 7 threes on his way to a season high 17 points, he now has 550 NBL career points.

Tom Vodanovich scored his 100th point for the Breakers.

Upcoming

Cam Gliddon needs just 3 rebounds to bring up 1,000 career rebounds and 11 points for 3,000 career points.

Izayah Le’afa requires just 1 assist for 150 career dimes.

Will McDowell-White is 3 assists shy of becoming the 11th Breaker to dish 250 assists.

Tom Abercrombie, with I more steal will become the 4th Breaker to pinch 250 steals.

The Breakers top five “Stealers”:

288 Boucher

278 Jackson

252 Vukona

249 Abercrombie

209 Henare

The Breakers are in Cairns on Friday to face the Taipans before facing yet another quick turnaround to take on Brisbane Bullets at Vector Arena at 4pm on Sunday.

Nov 18 2022
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College Hoops

James Moors, Callum McRae and Kaylee Smiler set career marks

November 18

In our NCAA Division I midweek roundup the headlines go the way of former New Zealand age-group internationals James Moors, Callum McRae and Kaylee Smiler. 

James Moors posted a career high 24 points, on 10 from 12 shooting (2/2 3PG), as Colorado State accounted for South Carolina 85-53 to improve to 4-0 this season. The former Junior Tall Black also grabbed 9 rebounds in the Charleston Classic victory.

Also at the Charleston Classic are Sam Mennenga and Davidson College but they didn’t meet with the same success as Colorado State – beaten 89-66 by hosts Charleston.

However Mennenga posted numbers not far short of Moors, his former Westlake and Harbour teammate, he finished with 19 points and 8 rebounds.

Callum McRae enjoyed his most productive outing of the season as Sacramento State won 73-69 at Denver. The former Junior Tall Black centre, in just his third game for Sacramento since transferring from California Riverside, scored a game high 20 points (9/14 FG) along with 8 rebounds, 7 assists and a block – he is now just 19 points short of 900 career points.

Abilene Christian guard Tobias Cameron filled the stats line in the 104-46 demolition of McMurry – he posted 11 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and a steal.

In women’s action Kaylee Smiler, in her first collegiate start, posted 11 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists as BYU fell to a third straight loss – defeated77-66 by Oklahoma. The former Waikato representative had previously played 72 games for BYU without ever previously named to the starting five.

Ashlee Strawbridge played a major role as New Mexico State won the rivalry game against New Mexico, in overtime, 73-63. Strawbridge finished with a team high 8 rebounds to go with 9 points while playing a team high 33 minutes.

Amiee Book knocked down her first two 3-point attempts and eventually finished with 3 from 5 for 9 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals as Fresno State defeated UC Riverside 54-40.

Dejaan Schuler filled the stats line in Stetson’s one sided 92-22 win against Johnson. The Te Aroha native scored 6 points (2/5 3PG) and claimed 4 rebounds as well as an assist, steal and block.

Former Massey High School standout Yzabelle Tevao scored a season best 6 points, along with 3 rebounds, in Chicago State’s 87-62 loss at University of Illinois Chicago. 

Other Results – Men

University of California Riverside 51 (Flynn Cameron 4pts, 2rebs, 2 assists) Creighton 80

South Dakota 42 Kruz Perrott-Hunt (5pts, 5 assists, 3 rebs) Mississippi State 79

Marquette 95 (Ben Gold 3pts, 2 blocks, 1reb, 1 assists) LIU 58

Fordham 79 (Zach Riley 3pts, 1 assist) New Hampshire 61

Hartford 66 (Tom Webley 4pts, 3 steals, 1 rebound) Boston 102

Other Results – Women

Colorado 73 (Charlotte Whittaker 2pts, 1reb, 1 assist) Louisiana 43

Chicago State 57 (Yzabelle Tevao 2pts, 3rebs, 1 block) Evansville 82

Wofford 84 (Helen Matthews 4pts, 4rebs, 1assist, I steal, I block) Coastal Carolina 69 

University of California Irvine 60 (Olivia Williams 4pts, 2rebs, 1 steal) Washington 62 2xOT

Nov 14 2022
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College Hoops, Tall Ferns

Leger-Walker scores her 1,000th point; moves into elite company

Charlisse Leger-Walker moved into elite New Zealand women’s basketball company as Washington State University defeated Prairie View A&M 89-61 (on Monday morning NZT). Leger-Walker scored 24 points in the contest, her fourteenth point taking her to 1,000 career points – the 16th Kiwi to hit that mark in Women’s NCAA Division I college hoops.

By the end of the game the Tall Fern guard had overtaken Chev Paalvast (1,110 points) to move to fifteenth overall and only 22 points shy of sister Krystal’s mark of 1032.

CL-W has reached the milestone just three games into her junior (third) year, at Washington State in just 57 appearances – all of them starts.

The all-time record is held by Cantabrian Erin Rooney who scored 1,647 points in 131 games over four seasons – Monmouth University (2009-11) and Fordham University (2012-14).

Leger-Walker is currently averaging 17.7 points per game meaning, at her current rate of scoring, she would need to play 90 odd games to become the all-time leader. Barring major injuries one would imagine the record is well withing her grasp.

Worth noting from the list below is that Amiee Book, in her senior year at Fresno State University, is within 31 points of becoming the 17th player to join the illustrious group.

The full list of New Zealand women on the 1,000 NCAA Division I points list:

        1,647 Erin Rooney (Monmouth University Hawks, 2009-11/Fordham University Rams, 2012-14)
        1,624 Akiene-Tera Reed (Virginia Commonwealth 2017-21, USC 2021-22)
        1,497 Megan Compain (St Joseph’s University Hawks, 1993-97)
        1,439 Stella Beck (St Mary’s College Gaels 2014-18)
        1,291 Kendell Heremaia (Fordham University 2017-22)
        1,262 Rhaiah Spooner-Knight (Monmouth 17-18, Utah Valley 13-16)
        1,209 Tegan Graham (Colgate Uni 2016-20, BYU 2020-22)
        1,195 Micaela Cocks (University of Oregon Ducks, 2006-10)
        1,167 Ashleigh Karaitiana (University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine, 2012-16)
        1,144 Margaret Johns (Utah State University, 1979-83)
        1,096 Jillian Harmon (Stanford University Cardinals, 2005-09)
        1,089 Tessa Boagni (California State University, Northridge Matadors 2014-18)
        1,081 Josie Stockill (Colgate University Raiders, 2012-16)
        1,032 Krystal Leger-Walker (Washington State 2020-22, Northern Colorado 2015-18)
        1,110 Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State University 2020-present)
        1,006 Chevannah Paalvast (Monmouth University Hawks, 2010-14)
            969 Amiee Book (CSU Fullerton 2018-21, Fresno State University 2021-present)

In other news Dani Bayes filled the stats line as Boise State beat Weber State 63-52. The 2021 Tall Ferns trialist made 16 points (7/15FG) and added 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block in 33 minutes.

Tayla Dalton scored 10 points (2/3 3PG) to help St Mary’s College to an 88-81 win at California Baptist. She also tallied 4 rebounds and 2 assists while Jade Kirisome dished 5 assists to go along with 4 points as the Gaels made a 2-0 start to the season. 

Olivia Williams scored 8 points as UC Irvine edged a thriller against Sacramento State winning 60-58.

Kaylee Smiler made 3 from 3 from beyond the arc on her way to 12 points and Arielle Mackey-Williams added 7 points but BYU slipped to a 69-60 home defeat to Montana State.

Portland University Pilots found the going a little tough against Stanford, the second ranked team in Women’s Division I basketball, going down 87-47. Emme Shearer scored 9 points and Melika Samia 4 points in Portland’s first loss of the season.

In Men’s action South Dakota scored an 82-64 home win against Dakota State with Kruz Perrott-Hunt scoring 15 points to move to 717 career points – up to 10th spot amongst Kiwi points scorers in NCAA Division I Men’s basketball passing Sam Waardenburg (711 points).

Sam Mennenga continued his good early season form with 10 points, 6 rebounds and a couple of steals as Davidson College won a third straight game holding off Virginia Military Institute to win 75-71.

Other Results:

Sacramento State (Callum McRae 2pts, 6rebs, 4 assists)

Hartford 53 (Tom Webley 6pts, 4rebs, 1stl, 1 assist) St Francis 77

Nov 12 2022
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College Hoops, Tall Ferns

Charlisse Leger-Walker scores a career high

November 12

Charlisse Leger-Walker is closing in on 1,000 NCAA points after she scored a career high 35 points (11/26 FG, 9/10FT) in Washington State’s 65-59 come from behind win at San Francisco.

WSU overcame a 15-point deficit to claim their second win in as many outings, with CL-W now just 14 points shy of joining the 1000 points club. It’s the 24th time she has scored 20 points or more in 56 career games. She also had 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and a block in the game.

Washington State have a quick turnaround and play Prairie View A&M on Sunday November 13 (Monday morning NZ time) and one imagines the 1,000 points mark will be under threat in that contest.

Leger-Walker will become the 16th Kiwi to score 1,000 points in Women’s NCAA Division I college hoops joining such luminaries as Micaela Cocks, Megan Compain, Stella Beck, Tessa Boagni, and more recently Krystal Leger-Walker, the older sister of Charlisse.

In other games in the States on Friday (Saturday here) freshman Dani Bayes scored 12 points and grabbed 5 boards along with an assist and steal as Boise State were defeated 83-74 by Eastern Washington.

In Men’s Div I hoops James Moors was a perfect 5 from 5 from the field – including a made triple – as Colorado State beat Southeastern Louisiana 80-69. The junior forward filled the stats line with 11 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, an assist and a block in 18 productive minutes

Virginia were far too strong for Monmouth winning 89-42 with Taine Murray scoring 7 points on 3 from 6 shooting.

Tobias Cameron also scored 7 points to add to 4 steals, plus a trio of assists and rebounds, in Abilene Christian’s 77-58 loss to Texas A&M.

Other Results:

Southern Methodist 74 (Ella Brow 2pts, 3rebs, 1 assist) Oklahoma 97

Cal State Bakersfield 56  Fresno State 53 (Amiee Book 6rebs, 1 assist, 1 steal)

Fordham 48 (Zach Riley 1 reb, 1 assist) Arkansas 74 

Nov 11 2022
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College Hoops, Tall Blacks

Latest Div I College news – Perrott-Hunt passes significant milestone.

Four young Tall Blacks have been in action in college hoops in the last couple of days and the quartet all posted double figures with Kruz Perrott-Hunt passing a significant milestone.

Perrott-Hunt had just the 5 points in South Dakota’s 85-77 come from behind win against Lipscomb. However it was enough to carry him past 700 career points in his 80th appearance for the Coyotes. Perrott-Hunt is just the 11th Kiwi to score over 700 points in Division I Men’s basketball.

It took double overtime to separate Davidson College and Wright State before the Wildcats edged to a 102-97 victory. Following on from a double-double in the opening game Sam Mennenga posted 16 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists as Davidson overcame a 21-points first half deficit to record a second straight win to open the season.

Ben Gold scored his first collegiate points, in just his second game, as Marquette defeated Central Michigan 97-73. Gold tallied 11 points (4/9FG) and also added a couple of rebounds and steals. 

Flynn Cameron and UC Riverside worked their way back from a 20-point first half deficit to pip Loyola Marymount 81-79. Cameron finished with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

Tom Webley was a perfect 4 from 4 from the field for his 8 points as Hartford recorded a dominant 85-43 victory over Northern Vermont-Lyndon.

In women’s NCAA Division I play sophomore guard Arielle Mackey-Williams drained a long three to open the BYU scoring for the 2022-23 season. Mackey-Williams, making her first ever start for BYU, went on to score a collegiate best 18 points (6/11FG, 4/7 3 PG) but there was little joy for the Cougars as they went down 82-62 to Colorado State.

Olivia Williams also scored a collegiate best as UC Irvine thumped Whittier College 98-33 in a one sided affair. Williams finished with 14 points along with 5 rebounds and a couple of steals.

Ashlee Strawbridge was a perfect 2 from 2 from both the field and the foul line for 6 points  as New Mexico State overpowered New Mexico Highlands 80-39.

Emme Shearer also scored half a dozen as Portland defeated University of Hawaii 70-54. Shearer added a couple of steals while freshman Melika Samia was a perfect 2 from 2 for her 4 points.

McKenna Dale also scored 6 points as Virginia dominated University of Maryland, Baltimore County to win 101-46. Dale also had 4 rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Helen Matthews grabbed a team high 7 rebounds to accompany 4 assists and 3 points but couldn’t prevent Wofford falling to a 79-68 loss at Clemson.

Other Women’s Results:

Chicago State 57 (Yzabelle Tevao 2pts, 2rebs, 1 steal) Butler 84.

Stanford 104 California State University Northridge 40 (Rochelle Fourie 1pt, 1reb)

Stetson 56 (Dejaan Schuler 1 assist) Miami 80

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