LACEY LOWDOWN

Amiee Book scored a season high 20 points as Fresno State squeezed past New Mexico 71-70 to improve to 6-9 in Mountain West Conference play. The Nelsonian wing was 6 from 11 from 3-point range.

Fordham University trailed Richmond by 30 points midway through the third period fighting back before going down 79-69 with Kendell Heremaia scoring 10 points to accompany 3 steals, 2 blocks, an assists and 2 rebounds as she once again filled the stats line.

Heremaia, now with 304 career assists (11th-most all-time for Fordham), is one of just two Rams to reach 1,000 career points, 700 career rebounds, 300 dimes, and 100 steals – she also has 143 steals over 141 career appearances and 113 starts, the latter two numbers ranking solo 2nd and T-3rd all-time.

Texas Christian 57 (Tara Manumaleuga 5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal) Oklahoma 92

Davidson College remain top of the Atlantic-10 Conference table after a 74-50 win at Duquesne. Sam Mennengatabled 12 points (5/6FG), 2 blocks and 5 rebounds. 

Colorado State 61 (James Moors 2pts, 3rebs, 1 assist, 1 block) Wyoming 55

Hartford 85 (Tom Webley 2 points, 3 rebounds) UMBC 92

Central Maine point guard Safena Te Nana-Williams was named to the Yankee Small College All-Conference Second Team after averaging 10 points, 5.2 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 3.8 steals per game in the regular season. Safena sat out the one-sided 93-39 win against Paul Smith’s College although sister Leata was on show making 7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in the conference semi-final.

The Grand Final will take place this coming weekend.

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.

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.

Utah State Eastern defeated Southern Nevada 67-61 in the Region 18 quarters. For Utah State Eastern Maclani Michaelscored 5 points and claimed 5 boards, Ella Bradley 4 and 3 plus 2 assists and Brooklyn Pouwhare grabbed 4 rebounds.

There will be plenty of interest in Friday’s semi-final with Utah State Eastern facing Ashlee Strawbridge, Kyra Paniora and Southern Idaho.

Miami moved up to third spot on the Atlantic Coast Conference ladder with a resounding 85-64 win against Pittsburgh. All the Miami starters scored in double figures with Sam Waardenburg making 3 from 5 from beyond the arc as he accumulated 12 points, 3 rebounds an assists and a steal.

Hartford 74 (Thomas Webley 1 points, 1 rebound, 2 blocks) Stony Brook 70

Portland University Pilots (7-6) snapped a three game losing streak with an 89-84 win at St Mary’s (7-9) and in the process moved up to 4^th spot on the West Coast Conference ladder.

In a game that featured 22 lead changes Emme Shearer, in her 50^th game for Portland, had 4 points, 4 rebounds and a game high 4 steals. Tall Ferns forward Amy West scored 8 points for St Mary’s, all in the fourth quarter, while Tayla Dalton mustered 12 points plus a pair of rebounds and assists.

St Mary’s guard Jade Kirisome will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Grace Hunter scored 8 points and snared 3 rebounds as Florida International slipped to 4-10 in Conference-USA play after being beaten 53-39 by Charlotte.

Kael Robinson finished with 2 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds as Rocky Mountain went down 74-67 to MSU-Northern Northern in the NAIA Frontier Conference quarter-final.

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.

Waiaaria Rogers led Marshalltown to an exciting 65-64 defeat of Southeastern. The former Rangitoto College guard top scored in the game with a season high 18 points (7/15FG).

Keeley Tini had a good week scoring 19 points in Williston State’s win against United Tribes and 12 points in the loss to North Dakota SCS.

Te Araroa Sopoaga scored 15 points and Kay-Hauata Phillips 11 points as Cloud breezed past Cowley 77-63. Sopoaga secured 10 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season while Phillips had a couple of blocks to go with 5 rebounds.

Ashlee Strawbridge peppered Salt Lake for 15 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists as Southern Idaho won 66-60. Southern Idaho will head to the Region 18 Tournament as top seeds with a 17-1 conference record.

That single loss came against Utah State Eastern that ended the regular season with a 3-12 record after demolishing Colorado Northwestern 63-31.

Ella Bradley top scored with 14 points, Brooklyn Pouwhare scored 7 points and Maclani Michael 5 points for the victors.

Jenna Rose Mafua scored 14 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and dished 4 assists as Dodge City beat Independence, the top team in the Jayhawk Conference, 60-55.

Ella Paleaae-Cook scored 14 points and Molly Cockburn 11 points, plus a team high 7 rebounds, as Miles came up just short against Dawson going down 78-76. Samantha Jenkins had 6 rebounds and 2 points for Dawson.

Dejaan Schuler was equal top scorer with 13 points (4/7FG) as Casper College completed an 81-61 defeat of Western Wyoming to win the Region North regular season championship with a 10-0 record.

Yzabelle Tevao had 9 points and 3 rebounds to help McCook secure a nail-biting 65-64 win against Otero.

Fourth ranked Western Nebraska have won 20 games straight. Izzy Cook grabbed a team high 7 rebounds to go with 3 assists and 2 points in the comfortable 85-51 victory against Northeastern. Rashaan Smith scored 8 points and secured 5 rebounds in the win.

Jordyn Maddix scored 8 points as Western Texas lost 57-51 to South Plains. Parehuia Delamere dished a game high 6 assists to accompany 5 rebounds and 3 points.

Weatherford went down 69-58 to Grayson with Briarley Rogers scoring 5 points.

Central Maine featuring Harata Coleman, Safena Te Nana-Williams and Leata Te Nana-Williams are seeded number one heading into the Yankee Conference Tournament. 

In men’s Junior college action Daniel Christensen scored 19 points, making 6 from 9 threes, as Barstow were defeated 107-72 at San Bernardino Valley.

Oliver Hayward had a team high 18 points as well as 7 rebounds and 2 steals as Midland College secured a 66-62 home win against New Mexico Military Institute 66-62.

Missouri State – West Plains secured 4^th seed in the upcoming regional play-offs after a high scoring 105-99 victory over State Fair. Dallas Clayton, in his first start of the season, tallied 4 points, 2 rebounds and a steal.

Nate Wilson scored 8 points as South Georgia Tech beat Georgia Highlands 102-87.

Ezrah Vaigafa came up with 6 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals as Neosho County were trumped 74-61 by Johnson County.

Double figure outings from both Charlisse and Krystal Leger-Walker ensured Washington State University (WSU secured a notable 72-67 win against Arizona ranked #8 in the nation.

Krystal finished with 12 points (4/8FG), 5 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal while Charlisse amassed 15 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and a block.

In the process Krystal brought up 1,000 career points – the 15^th Kiwi to reach this milestone in NCAA Division I women’s basketball.

Charlisse also registered a milestone playing her 50^th game for Washington State – each one of them as a starter.

The win improves the WSU Pac-12 record to 10-4 which ties the record for most Pac-12 wins in programme history.

Another Tall Fern Tera Reed dished 3 assists and also scored 9 points, including 5 from 5 from the free-throw-line, as Southern California slipped to a 67-54 Pac-12 home loss to Colorado. Reed is now just 6 points shy of 1,600 career points and 53 behind Erin Rooney’s New Zealand all-time collegiate record of 1,647 points.

McKenna Dale produced a season best performance to help Virginia to a 74-65 victory over Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The former Junior Tall Fern finished with 8 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 4 blocks in a highly productive 30 minutes. The 4 blocks and 8 rebounds (3 on the offensive glass) were both season highs for Dale who needs just a single point to bring up 500 career points – 432 of those points scored at Brown University before she transferred to Virginia at the beginning of this season.

In addition to a double-double (his fifth of the season) of 15 points (6/11 FG) and 10 rebounds Callum McCrae also had 7 assists as UC Riverside defeated Cal Poly 78-58. Flynn Cameron tabled 10 points bringing up 500 career points.

Kruz Perrott-Hunt rang-up 18 points as South Dakota defeated Western Illinois 78-65 to move to 10-6 in the Summit League with two regular season games remaining. That’s 400 points this season for the former Rosmini standout and 14-straight games in double figures.

Sam Waardenburg finished with 6 points and a team high 7 rebounds but Miami lost at home (74-71) to Virginia – both teams now have 11 wins in the Atlantic Coast Conference and are amongst four teams tied for third spot on the ladder.

Davidson 79 (Sam Mennenga 1 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist) Saint Louis 58

New Mexico State 82 (Yuat Alok 2 points, 1 rebound) Grand Canyon 66

Grace Hunter scored a game high, and season best, 19 points (8/15FG) but Florida International came up just short against Rice losing 73-67. The Porirua guard added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals for good measure.

In front of a record crowd of 6,300 BYU all but wrapped up the West Coast Conference regular season title with an emphatic  63-39 win against second placed Gonzaga. Tegan Graham had 6 points, 5 assists and 3 steals in the game while Kaylee Smiler had a rebound and an assist.

Fordham almost beat Atlantic-10 Conference leaders Dayton but a fourth quarter revival fell just short at 47-48. Kendell Heremaia had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals in the loss.

St Mary’s 79 (Tayla Dalton 7 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) San Diego 67

Fresno State 69 (Amiee Book 5 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound) San Diego State 77

St Peter’s 44 (Victotia Ikenasio 4 points, 4 rebounds) Iona 63

Georgia Southern 70 (Tsubasa Nisbett 1 point, 2 rebounds) Troy 82

UC Irvine 57 (Olivia Williams 2 points) Hawaii 67

Kruz Perrott-Hunt ran up 19 points, making 3 from 6 from beyond the arc, as South Dakota earned an 81-60 win against St Thomas. Perrott-Hunt is averaging 17 points a game at home during Summit League play and went two better in this one, moving past 600 career points in the process. South Dakota 9-6 in league play with three regular season games remaining. 

Also in double figures was Callum McRae as UC Riverside beat CSU Bakersfield 79-69. The former Palmerston North Boys High standout finished with an outstanding stat line of 16 points (7/11FG), 7 assists and 7 rebounds.

Sam Waardenburg was the cornerstone of Miami’s defence as the Hurricanes moved to 11-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 70-63 win at Louisville. Waardenburg had team high’s in rebounds (9) and blocks (3) along with 8 points.

Tobias Cameron had a productive 12 points, 7 rebounds and a pair of assists as Abilene Christian lost 75-71 in overtime to Sam Houston. 

St Mary’s 69 (Dan Fotu 6 points, 1 rebound, 1 block) San Francisco 64

Colorado State 83 (James Moors 4 points, 5 rebounds) New Mexico 68

New Mexico State 75 (Yuat Alok 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 block) Dixie State 64

After 14 straight losses Virginia Cavaliers gained their first Atlantic Coast Conference win beating Duke 67-54. McKenna Dale had 5 points, and one each in blocks, steals, rebounds and assists in the win.

BYU 77 (Tegan Graham 5pts, 4rebs, 2a, 1stl, Kaylee Smiler 3a, 2rebs, 1stl, Arielle Mackey-Williams 2pts, 1a, 1stl)Loyola Marymount 54

Florida International 49 (Grace Hunter 5 points, 2 assists) Middle Tennessee 63

Portland 72 (Emme Shearer 7 points, 2 assists) San Francisco 80

Georgia Southern 68 (Tsubasa Nisbett 6 points, 2 rebounds) South Alabama 56

Fresno State 59 (Amiee Book 3 points, 2 steals) Nevada, Las Vegas 69

Kendell Heremaia has produced one of the finest individual scoring performances by a Kiwi in NCAA Division I women’s basketball this season – possibly ever.

The former Waikato and St Peter’s School, Cambridge forward scored 35 points but couldn’t prevent Fordham University going down 60-57 at Massachusetts to slip to 7-4 in the Atlantic-10 Conference. 

Those 35 points included 11 made threes from 19 attempts (58%) – a new programme record for 3-pointers made in a single game in Fordham Rams women’s basketball. The previous record of 9 made threes was set back in 1994.

She finished the contest with 11 rebounds, her third double-double of the season (13^th of her career), and 3 steals, playing 37 minutes.

Heremaia now has 1,224 career points moving ahead of Micaela Cocks (1,195 points for Oregon Ducks, 2006-10) and up to 6^th spot on the all-time list of Kiwi points scorers in NCAA Division I women’s basketball.

She now has impressive career numbers of 766 rebounds, 303 assists and 137 steals in 139 games (with 111 starts) to add to her points haul. 

Just a few games to report from the early part of the week:

Charlisse Leger-Walker scored 20 points as Washington State edged USC 57-54 on Sunday – her 9^th 20-point game of the season. In the process she passed Brooke Blair (837 points for Idaho State University, 2015-18) to move up to 18^th on the NZ all-time list of scorers in women’s NCAA Division I basketball.

Charlisse also tallied 6 rebounds and deuces in assists and steals. Krystal L-W had just a single point but did post a game high 5 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal.

For USC Tera Reed tallied 3 rebounds and 2 assists.

UC Irvine (10-3) moved up to second on the Big West Conference league table after a 67-50 victory against UC San Diego. Freshman guard Olivia Williams finished with 9 points, 6 rebounds and an assist.

Fresno State 68 (Amiee Book 3 points) Nevada 72

Fordham 43 (Kendell Heremaia 5pts, 4rebs, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block) Rhode Island 58

James Moors was a perfect 9 from 9 from the field as Colorado State moved to 10-3 in the Mountain West Conference (MWC) after defeating Fresno State 65-50. Moors finished with 11 points in 18 minutes of action bringing up 100 points for the season in the 65-50 win against Fresno State and 8 points in the 77-74 success against Boise State.

The win against Boise (10-2) was significant as Colorado are only one win behind the second placed team in the MWC.

Sam Mennenga and Davidson College returned to winning ways with a 71-62 victory over Duquesne. The former Westlake Boys big man finished with 7 points, passing 300 career points in the process, 7 rebounds and a brace of assists. Davidson 11-2 in the Atlantic-10 Conference and two games clear at the top of the table.

Zach Riley enjoyed a significant amount of playing time in Fordham’s 66-61 loss to Victoria Commonwealth. The freshman guard who only joined the Rams shortly before Xmas played 20 minutes accumulating 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 points in only his fifth collegiate game.

Oliver Hayward scored a career high 24 points as Midland College went down 82-64 against Odessa – that’s ten straight games in double figures for the consistent Hayward who has accumulated 241 points this season.

Nate Wilson filled the stats line as South Georgia Tech beat Gordon State 85-59. The former MAGS man bagged 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block to go with 8 points.

Also keeping the statisticians busy was Ezrah Vaigafa as Neosho County went down 71-64 to Allen County. The Wellingtonian had 4 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in the loss.

In women’s action Ella Bradley added 6 assists to a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, as Utah State Eastern downed Southern Nevada 75-60. Brooklyn Pouwhare came up with 3 points and 5 rebounds while Maclani Michaelmade 3 points.

Marshalltown suffered consecutive losses this week but Waiaaria Rogers can hold her head high having scored 14 points in the 61-46 defeat at Iowa Central and 13 in the Northeast defeat (64-38).

Jordyn Maddix scored 11 points (3/53PG) but Western Texas were defeated 61-44 by New Mexico. 4 steals in the game from Parehuia Delamere took her tally to 64 for the season and in the top 30 in women’s junior college basketball for that stat.

Also Top-30 in the nation in that statistical category is Te Araroa Sopoaga and she had 3 more, along with 7 rebounds and 8 points, in Cloud County’s 67-57 loss to Dodge City.

Kay-Hauata Phillips scored 6 points in this one and Te Oriwa Tuipolotu 4 points.

Jenna Rose Mafua was outstanding for Dodge City in the win, coming up with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals.

Keeley Tini, with 357 points for Williston State, has the most points by a Kiwi in Junior College basketball this season – she also has the most rebounds (234). Te Araroa Sopoaga is the second best scorer with 324 points, while Sam Jenkins, with 301 points, is the third New Zealander with a triple ton.

Jenkins scored 9 points in her most recent outing when Dawson were sunk by Bismarck 85-71.

Rashaan Smith grabbed 6 rebounds as Western Nebraska accounted for Trinidad Stated 78-64. The former Birkenhead College standout also scored 7 points. Western Nebraska now ranked a heady #4 as they boast a 21-1 record – the highest ranked team with a Kiwi connection.

Next best are #10 College of Southern Idaho with a 25-2 record. Ashlee Strawbridge, Kyra Paniora and their team, clinched the Scenic West Athletic Conference regular season championship with a 92-50 demolition of Colorado Northwestern.

Casper College are ranked #15 – Dejaan Schuler scored 6 points in their recent win against Laramie County (73-59).

Molly Cockburn scored 8 points and Ella Paleaae-Cook 7 as Miles accounted for Lake Region State 62-50.

Briarley Rogers scored 6 points and dished 5 assists as Weatherford defeated Collin 85-77.Central Maine topped the Yankee Conference ahead of the play-offs after defeating Southern Maine 70-61. Harata Coleman scored 3 points while Leata Te Nana-Williams grabbed 7 boards to go with 3 points and 7 assists