LACEY LOWDOWN

Nate Wilson and South Georgia Tech Jets are bound for the Junior College (NJCCA) National Championships. In the Grand-Final of the Region 17 Tournament the Jets won an overtime thriller 87-84 to book their ticket. The former Mt Albert Grammar forward scored 7 points on a perfect three-from-three from the floor, corralled 4 rebounds, a steal and a block.

Dejaan Schuler and Casper College are also National Championship bound. Schuler scored 11 points as Casper defeated Laramie County 69-52 in the semi-final of the Region 9 Tournament. Casper followed that with a 71-57 success against Eastern Wyoming in the Grand Final (scorers from that game were not published at the time of posting this story).

The NJCAA Championship Selection Show will be held tomorrow. With Southern Idaho (featuring Ashlee Strawbridge and Kyra Paniora) having booked a spot earlier in the week Western Nebraska (featuring Izzy Cook and Rashaan Smith) will be hoping the Selection Committee looks favourably on their strong regular season performances.

Men’s NCAA Division I 

Callum McRae scored 14 points (5/7FG, 4/4FT) and Flynn Cameron 7 points as UC Riverside were pipped 73-72 at Long Beach State. McRae pulled down 10 rebounds to give him his 8^th double-double of the season and 4^th in the last 5 games ahead of the Big West Tournament.

Sam Mennenga also notched 14 points as Davidson University Wildcats dropped their final Atlantic 10 Conference game to Dayton 82-76. Mennenga also came up with 3 rebounds and a block at the defensive end. Davidson, with a 15-3 record are guaranteed at least a share of the A-10 regular season title.

Yuat Alok had 7 points (3/4FG) as New Mexico State ensured at least a share of the Western Athletic Conference regular season title with a 62-46 win at Utah State.

Sam Waardeburg and Miami University Hurricanes finished off the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season in style beating Syracuse 75-72. Ahead of the ACC Tournament Waaardenburg had 6 points, 5 rebounds, a block and a steal.

Colorado State 71 (James Moors 2 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal) Boise State 68

Abilene Christian 61 (Tobias Cameron 5 points, 2 rebounds 2 assists) Tarleton State 56 

Fordham 70 (Zach Riley 2 points) Goeorge Washington 66

In women’s Division I action Lauryn Mapusua had 6 points (2/3 3PG) and 3 rebounds as Houston Baptist defeated McNeese to finish a lofty 12-2 in Southland Conference play.

The win gives the Huskies its first ever Southland Conference regular season title. Queensland educated Mapusua played for New Zealand at the 2017 FIBA U18 Oceania Championship in Guam.

Emme Shearer and Portland University Pilots overwhelmed Loyola Marymount 69-44 in quarter-final action at the West Coast Conference Championship. Portland will now take on top-ranked BYU, boasting Kiwis Tegan Graham, Kaylee Miler and Arielle Mackey-Williams, in the semi-final.

Florida International 72 (Grace Hunter 1reb, 2 assists) Florida Atlantic 56

St Peter’s,New Jersey 43 (Victoria Ikenasio 4 points, 6 rebounds) Fairfield 56

UC Irvine 67 (Olivia Williams 2 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist) CSU Bakersfield 52

NCAA Division II 

In the East Coast Conference semi-final St Thomas Aquinas were well beaten by Molloy 71-49. Chanel Brodeur-Muirhad 4 rebounds, 3 assists, a block and 2 points in the loss.

Eva Langton and Texas A&M International were beaten 75-56 by top seeded West Texas A&M in the Lone Star Conference quarters. The Taranaki wing dealt in triples with threes in points, rebounds and assists in the defeat.

#2 Wofford advanced at the Southern Conference Championship with a 66-54 victory against East Tennessee State. Helen Matthews had 4 points and 7 rebounds for Wofford who face a semi-final clash with Furman tomorrow.

It wasn’t such good news for Washington State as they were knocked out in the quarter-finals at the Pac-12 Conference Tournament defeated 70-59 by Utah. It was a night when the shots wouldn’t drop for Washington State. Krystal Leger-Walker finished with 4 points, 4 steals, 3 assists and 2 rebounds while Charlisse L-W had 6 points, 7 assists and 2 rebounds.

UC Irvine 67 (Olivia Williams, 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal) Cal Poly

In NCAA Division II play Hannah Wentworth was one of three Eckerd College players to score in double figures as the Tritons were defeated 58-46 by Florida Southern in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament semi-final. Wentworth scored 11 points making 3 from 6 from beyond the 3-point arc.

In Men’s Division I action Tom Webley had 4 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocks as Hartford Hawks were defeated 83-73 by UMass Lowell.

Hartford will line up against Albany in the America East Conference Tournament beginning Sunday.

Flynn Cameron knocked down 4 of 8 three-pointers on his way to 14 points, with 6 rebounds, as UC Riverside won its penultimate regular season game against Cal State Fullerton (75-72). Callum McRae chipped in with 8 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for the victors.

Abilene Christian 80 (Tobias Cameron 3 points,2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal) Dixie State 64.

NCAA Division II

Hawaii at Hilo small forward Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones was named to the All-PacWest First Team ahead of the Hawaii at Hilo (#7) Conference Tournament clash with #2 Azusa Pacific.

Impressively, this season Tait-Jones has led Hilo in points (17.4ppg), rebounds (8.1rpg), steals (1.6spg) and blocked shots, his achievements also earning him PacWest Freshman of the Year honours.

Unfortunately the former St Pat’s Town standout couldn’t get going against Azusa finishing with 5 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

“Very special for our programme to be here. We are going to get back to it and we will be here again, commented Tait-Jones on Hilo’s very first appearance at PacWest Tournament.

In Women’s Division II play-off action Chanel Brodeur-Muir had a tidy double of 6 points and 6 rebounds as St Thomas Aquinas College pulled away from District Columbia to win their East Coast Conference Tournament First Round tie 63-49. 

NCAA Division I

Miami University strengthened its hold on an Atlantic Coast Conference top-4 spot with an 81-70 win at Boston College. Sam Waardenburg was in fine form with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 pair of steals. The former Rangitoto College standout went 3 from 5 from beyond the arc and 3 from 3 from the charity stripe.

Zach Riley, playing just his tenth game for the Fordham University Rams since joining them mid-season, scored a season high 8 points (3/4FG) as the Rams were tipped 81-73 by Massachusetts in Atlantic-10 play.

Also in the Atlantic-10 Sam Mennenga tallied 9 points and 6 rebounds as Davidson maintained top spot on the conference ladder with a 73-62 win against George Mason – Davidson with a 15-2 record.

The outstanding Division I career of Tera Reed has come to an end after the University of Southern California were bundled out of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament in the first round by UCLA (73-60). Reed finishes her outstanding collegiate career with 1,623 points from 135 games and a remarkable 131 starts.

Number 14 ranked Virginia University Cavaliers fell at the first hurdle at the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament beaten 61-53 by #11 Wake Forest. McKenna Dale had a strong game for Virginia, the former Junior Tall Fern filled the stats line with 7 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

At the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Tsubasa Nisbett and Georgia Southern booked a spot in the next round with an 88-79 victory.

The games below are regular season results.

Grace Hunter scored in double figures for the 11^th time in the last 14 games as Florida International beat Florida Atlantic 73-55 in a Conference-USA local derby. The Wellingtonian finished with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

Amiee Book and Fresno State rounded out Mountain West Conference regular season play with a 96-90 overtime loss at Utah State. Book finished with 8 points, 4 rebounds and a steal in the loss.

Houston Baptist 56 (Lauryn Mapusua 5 points) New Orleans 47

Houston remain top of the Southland Conference with an 11-2 record.

Review of games played on March 1 in the States:

NAIA Division I 

Dominique Stephens and Rocky Mountain College Battlin Bears are the Frontier Conference champions after a nail-biting 59-56 win against Carroll. The former St Peter’s School, Cambridge standout scored 3 points in the win, a victory that sees Rocky Mountain progress to the NAIA National Championships in Stephens’ first season at Rocky.

Jackson Smythe and Southern Oregon University were comfortably beaten by College of Idaho in the Cascade Conference Final. Smythe, a freshman who played for the Auckland  Huskies in 2021 has featured regularly for Southern Oregon

NCAA Division I

Mason Whittaker and 10^th seeded American University defeated #7 Holy Cross in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament. American are in action again on Friday.

NCAA Division II

Cantabrian Josh Lowe and #3 ranked Lee University ousted #6 West Florida 72-67 in the quarter-finals of the Gulf South Conference Championship.

Former Auckland Grammar forward Conor Flanagan had 7 points (3/4FG), 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists for West Florida.

Another Cantabrian, Mac Stodart contributed 9 points (4/7FG) and 5 rebounds as Colorado Springs edged Colorado School of Mines 74-71 in the quarter-final of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament.

Hannah Wentworth converted all three of her 3-point attempts as her 9 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists helped Eckerd College defeat Nova Southeastern in the quarter-finals of the Sunshine State Conference Championship. 

Wentworth sits third on the conference 3-point shooting list having made 44 from 103 at 42.7%.

Next up for number 3 ranked Eckerd is a semi-final clash with #2 Florida Southern on Friday.

Junior College

Jenna-Rose Mafua posted 11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal and an assist but Dodge City were beaten 72-52 by Hutchinson in the Region 6 quarter-finals.

Nate Wilson and South Georgia Tech are through to the semi-finals of the Region 17 play-offs after an 89-76 victory over Southern Crescent Tech.

Kiani Saxon and Louisiana State Eunice won an overtime thriller against East Mississippi 76-63 at the Region 23 Tournament.

NB The box scores for the two men’s games were unavailable at the time of posting this story.

College of Southern Idaho beat Snow 63-57 to win the Region 18 Championship on Saturday and advance to the NJCAA (Junior College) National Tournament.

Ashlee Strawbridge finished with a team high 7 rebounds to accompany 4 points and 2 steals while Kyra Panioracontributed 2 points and 2 rebounds.

In Friday’s semi-final no fewer than five Kiwis were in action with Utah State Eastern’s trio of Ella Bradley, Maclani Michael and Brooklyn Pouwhare facing Strawbridge and Paniora.

It was top seed Southern Idaho that prevailed 67-53 with Strawbridge contributing 9 points and 4 rebounds backed up by 6 points and a couple of assists from Paniora.

For Utah State Eastern Bradley had 7 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists with Michael adding a couple of points and Pouwhare a rebound. 

Central Maine Community College Mustangs point guard Safena Te Nana-Williams, named to the Yankee Small College All-Conference team earlier in the week, had 8 points, 4 steals and 3 rebounds as her team beat Southern Maine 57-50 to win the Conference Final. Sister Leata Te Nana-Williams finished with 10 points and deuces in rebounds and steals. Taranaki’s Harata Coleman was also a member of the championship winning Mustangs.

In Junior College Region XIII quarter-finals Molly Cockburn scored 12 points, to go with 5 rebounds and 3 steals, but couldn’t prevent Miles being eliminated 71-48 by Dawson. Samantha Jenkins tallied 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a couple of points for Dawson.

Jenkins scored 3 points as Dawson were beaten 76-60 by North Dakota State College of Science in the regional semi-finals.

In another Region XIII quarter-final Keeley Tini was prominent as Williston State advanced with a comfortable 73-46 victory against Lake Region State. Tini finished with 10 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

The former Harbour Breeze forward was even more influential in the 64-61 semi-final win over Bismarck. Tini posted a massive double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds.

Jenna Rose Mafua had 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists as Dodge City defeated Cloudy County 70-62 in the opening round of the Region 6 play-offs – another contest with plenty of New Zealand involvement.

Cloud County boast three Kiwis – Kay-Hauata Phillips and Te Araroa Sopoaga both scored 12 points, with Phillips adding 7 rebounds and 2 assists while Sopoaga had 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Te Oriwa Tuipolotu is the third Kiwi on the Cloud team.

Yzabelle Tevao captured 6 points and rebounds as McCook gained a 55-43 victory at Lamar in the first round of the Region 9 play-offs. Next up for Tevao and McCook are highly fancied Casper College with Dejaan Schuler in their lineup.

Western Texas wrapped up their season with a 53-42 defeat of Cisco. Jordyn Maddix finished with 9 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists while Parehuia Delamere climbed into 10 rebounds, 3 steals, 6 points and a couple of assists.

Marshalltown completed their season on a high defeating Ellsworth 74-56. Waiaaria Rogers starred in the win with 16 points (5/10FG, 5/6FT), 4 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals.

In Men’s Junior College action Dallas Clayton scored 10 points (4/5FG) as fourth seeded Missouri State-West Plains were defeated 96-53 by State Fair in the Junior College Region 16 play-offs.

Nate Wilson dropped 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks in 15 minutes as South Georgia Tech beat Andrew College 88-59.

Ollie Hayward had 6 points and 3 rebounds as Midland College brought down the curtain on their season with a 94-62 loss to South Plains.

Ezrah Vaigafa had 6 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists as Neosho County won an exciting encounter with Labette 85-83

In Men’s NCAA Division I play an And-1 play from Calum McRae carried UC Riverside to overtime after they trailed UC Santa Barbara 71-68 with under 30 seconds to play. Despite Riverside eventually losing 97-90 in double OT McRae went on to post a career high 32 points to accompany 11 rebounds. Flynn Cameron finished with 14 points and 5 rebounds.

Sam Mennenga top scored with 17 points as Davidson proved too good for Fordham winning 66-45. In a strong all-round performance Mennenga grabbed 5 offensive rebounds in an overall tally of 9 and made 9 from 10 free-throws.

Zach Riley had 3 points and an assist for Fordham.

Tobias Cameron had 10 points and 6 rebounds as Abilene Christian came up just short against Stephen F Austin losing 73-71.

Sam Waardenburg had 10 points and a trio of rebounds and assists but Miami were pipped at the post by Virginia Tech 71-70 to fall to 12-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. 

Kruz Perrott-Hunt tucked away a pair of free-throws in the closing seconds of the game to ice a 92-87 South Dakota win against Oral Roberts in Summit League play. Perrott-Hunt finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

In Women’s NCAA Division I action BYU wrapped up the West Coast Conference (WCC) regular season title with an 82-52 thumping of Pacific. Playing her 149^th NCAA Division I game Tegan Graham finished with 12 points and 5 assists, Arielle Mackey-Williams scored seven and Kaylee Smiler 4 points for the champions.

Also in the WCC Tayla Dalton improved her career mark for the second time in three days. After 20 points against Pacific, she scored to 22 points as St Mary’s won 92-88 in overtime at San Francisco. Dalton, who had 5 of her points in the overtime period, also totaled 6 rebounds and a couple of steals.  Amy West secured 7 rebounds to accompany 3 assists and 2 points in the win.

Washington State led by 21 points with under five minutes to play but had to withstand a late run by California before prevailing 73-67.

Charlisse Leger-Walker led the scoring with 21 points, passing 900 career points in the process, and also notched 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists and a pair of blocks.

Krystal Leger-Walker only had the one point but did dish a season high 9 assists.

Kendell Heremaia’s 9 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists helped Fordham get past Davidson 68-57 to improve to 8-6 in the Atlantic-10 Conference.

Emme Shearer handed 5 assists, scored 4 points and added 3 steals as Portland enjoyed a comfortable 85-49 win to finish the West Coast Conference regular season 12-4.

Amiee Book made 4 from 5 from deep as Fresno State flew past Air Force 75-67. Book finished with 12 points and 4 rebounds. 

Having missed the last couple of games Helen Matthews returned to the Wofford lineup and registered 6 points and a brace of steals and rebounds in the 84-75 defeat of Tennessee Chattanooga. The win gives Wofford an 11-3 Southern Conference record and number two seeding at the upcoming championship tournament.

Pare Pene and Chattanooga finish the regular season with a 5-9 record.

Tera Reed had a team high 7 rebounds to go with 6 points and 4 assists as Southern California were defeated 68-59 by Arizona.

UC Irvine 70 (Olivia Williams, 2 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) Long Beach State 47

Houston Baptist 58 (Lauryn Mapusua 8 points, 2 rebounds) A&M Corpus Christi 54

Florida International 69 (Grace Hunter 4 points, 3 rebounds) Old Dominion 81

Texas Christian 42 (Tara Manumaleuga 7 points, 3 steals) Texas 77

In other news Central Maine Community College Mustangs point guard Safena Te Nana-Williams, named to the Yankee Small College All-Conference team earlier in the week, had 8 points, 4 steals and 3 rebounds as her team beat Southern Maine 57-50 to win the Conference Final. Sister Leata Te Nana-Williams finished with 10 points and deuces in rebounds and steals.

In NAIA action former St Peter’s School, Cambridge forward Dominique Stephens posted 13 points and 4 rebounds in the semi-final of the Frontier Conference Tournament. Her contribution helped Rocky Mountain overcome Montana Tech 71-39.

Despite a massive double-double from Corey Le’aupepe Menlo College were defeated 84-78 by William Jessup University in NAIA play-off action. Le’aupepe produced a game high 21 points (7/11FG, 7/7FT) and a team high 10 rebounds in the loss.

Earlier in the week the former St Pat’s Town forward was named to the Golden State Athletic All-Conference Team after averaging 13.5 points per game, shooting 60.3% from the field in the process, during the regular season.

The Milligan University Buffaloes also fell at the first hurdle of NAIA play-off action, defeated 81-73 by Truett McConnell despite a team high 20 points from Finn McClure (4/9 3PG). 

He didn’t appear in the above contest but Piripi Korent was named to the Appalachian Conference All-Freshman Team after averaging 8.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists in his first season with Milligan.

In the NCAA Division I UC Riverside (UCR) centre Callum McRae was named Big West Conference Player of the Week after averaging 15 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists across a pair of games. To celebrate McRae posted a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds to lead UCR to a 79-57 win against CSU Northridge. Flynn Cameron was also busy with 13 points and 4 assists.

Kruz Perrott-Hunt’s run of games scoring double figure points came to an end at fourteen consecutive as South Dakota were defeated 72-63 by Kansas City. It was a close thing however as the former Rosmini College standout posted 9 points to go with 5 rebounds and a couple of assists.

Tobias Cameron was another former Junior Tall Black with 9 points as Abilene Christian dominated Lamar 77-42. Cameron also snared 3 steals and 4 rebounds.

St Mary’s 60 (Dan Fotu 6 points, 2 rebounds) San Diego 47

Grace Hunter and Tayla Dalton were in career best form in women’s NCAA Division I play.

Hunter  scored a career high 23 points, topping 200 points for the season, as Florida International fell 65-55 to Charlotte.

Dalton ran up 20 points (4/7 3PG) as St Mary’s California accounted for Pacific 83-67. Amy West had a couple of blocks to go with 4 points and 4 rebounds in the West Coast Conference (WCC) win.

Tegan Graham equalled her career high in assists with 8 as BYU thumped Santa Clara 103-66. Graham scored 9 points and Kaylee Smiler chipped in with seven as BYU remained top of the WCC standings at 14-1.

Washington State gave it a decent nudge at #2 Stanford before going down 61-54. Charlisse Leger-Walker scored a game high 17 points plus 4 rebounds and a couple of steals while Krystal L-W had an industrious 9 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

Tera Reed also scored 17 points, including three baskets in the final two minutes, as University of Southern California scored a triple on the buzzer to beat Arizona State 60-58. Reed was a highly efficient 7 from 9 from the field including 2 from 2 from beyond the arc.

The Tall Fern wing now has 1,611 Division I career points and closing in on Erin Rooney’s 1,647 all-time record.

Portland 53 (Emme Shearer 8 points, 3 steals, 4 rebounds) San Diego 61 

UC Irvine 54 (Olivia Williams 7pts, 2 rebs, 2 assists, 1 steal) California State Fullerton 51

Virginia 57 (McKenna Dale 5 points, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assists) North Carolina 68

Georgia Southern 83 (Tsubasa Nisbett 3 points, 5 rebounds) Louisiana Monroe 68