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
LACEY LOWDOWN 