LACEY LOWDOWN

November 22

A triple-double from Charlisse Leger-Walker, her first since her championship winning days back in Cambridge at St Peter’s School, headlines the Kiwi performances over the busy Thanksgiving period in American college hoops.

Charlisse posted 11 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists as Washington State University trumped Maryland 87-67 at the Cancun Challenge in Mexico on Thanksgiving Day. 

The full details here:

https://wsucougars.com/news/2023/11/23/womens-basketball-cougs-stuff-box-score-record-book-in-thanksgiving-day-win-over-maryland.aspx

Despite WSU going down 59-48 to Green Bay on the final day of the Cancun Challenge Leger-Walker was still named Tournament MVP after totalling 39 points, 28 rebounds and 17 assists in three games.

The University of Massachusetts didn’t enjoy the same degree of success in the Cancun Challenge although freshman Lilly Taulelei had the satisfaction of scoring a career high 14 points, on 6 from 8 from the field, in the 92-63 loss to Maryland.

There were also career highs from Leah Mafua and Emme Shearer over the weekend.

Mafua, with 19 points (3/6 3PG, 4/5FT), top scored for the University of Central Arkansas as they won 90-84 at Denver. She followed that with 12 points in the narrow 67-65 loss to Nevada.

Shearer equaled her career high in scoring 21 points (7/11FG, 2/2 3PG) although Portland were pipped at the buzzer by Northern Arizona going down 66-65.

Tayla Dalton top scored for St Mary’s College (3-4) with 11 points as the Gaels slipped to a 62-51 home defeat at the hands of Illinois State.

Kaylee Smiler added a season high 7 assists to 8 points as BYU made it a 6-0 start to the season with a comfortable 74-58 win against Loyola Marymount.

Scoring 9 points, Dani Bayes passed 300 career points as Boise State beat Rutgers 68-65.

Lilly Parke also posted 9 points, to go with a team high 8 rebounds, as Fairleigh Dickinson (1-5) gained their first win of the season, defeating Rider 64-59. Parke leads the team in rebounding over the first six games averaging 5.3 boards per game.

In men’s Division I action Ben Gold (6 points) sunk a couple of dagger threes as Marquette, ranked #4 in the country, downed #1 Kansas in the semi-final of the prestigious Allstate Maui Invitational Tournament in Honolulu.

Marquette would go on to lose the final to #2 Purdue (78-75) but demonstrated they have the capacity to take on the very best teams this season.

Ahmed Essahatay made 3 from 5 triples in his 11 points as Long Island defeated A&M Corpus Christi 83-68.

Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones had 10 points and 5 rebounds but couldn’t prevent San Diego (4-3) going down 79-67 to Seattle.

Nov 21

Maia Jones scored a team high 12 points as St Mary’s College, California slipped to a 73-62 loss at Rice. In just her fourth game for St Mary’s Jones made 4 from 5 from the field including 2 from 3 from deep.

Also for St Mary’s Tayla Dalton contributed a team high 4 assists to go with 6 points and is now just two points shy of 700 career points.

Another freshman with a season high was Lilly Taulelei. She scored 8 points off the bench for Massachusetts but the Minutewomen were defeated 74-62 at Monmouth.

At the other end of her collegiate career Charlisse Leger-Walker top scored with 17 points as #23 Washington State comfortably defeated Prairie View 81-43 for a fifth straight win. WSU now head to Mexico for the Cancun challenge over Thanksgiving weekend.

Kaylee Smiler, a former Waikato rep alongside CL-W, was a perfect 3 from 3 from beyond the arc as BYU made it four wins on the bounce to open the season with a comfortable 67-44 win against Wake Forrest in the sunny climes of Hawaii. Smiler finished with 10 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, a block and a rebound.

Tall Fern guard Grace Hunter also filled the stats line as Cal State Bakersfield accounted for Fresno State in a tight one, 65-63. Hunter added a game high 7 assists to 7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.

Lilly Parke maintained her season average with 11 points in Fairleigh Dickinson’s 60-45 loss to Georgetown.

In Men’s Division I play Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones continued his fine start to his Division I career with 19 points as UC San Diego sailed past Navy to win 73-55 and improve to 4-0 on the season. Jones collected his points on an efficient 7 from 8 from the field plus 5 from 8 at the foul line while also pulling down 6 rebounds.

Charlisse Leger-Walker and Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones produced the two standout performances by Kiwis in NCAA Division I basketball over the weekend. 

After scoring 26 points in Washington State’s 77-72 overtime win against Gonzaga, Leger-Walker moved to within three of 1500 career points as she tied Megan Compain’s 1,497 career points at St Joseph’s (1993-97).

With 6 points in the 64-47 win against Idaho State on Sunday, Leger-Walker passed the 1,500 points mark and in the process moved to third on the all-time list of NZ scorers in NCAA basketball. Only Tera Reed (1,624 points) and Erin Rooney (1,647) are ahead of KL-W.

Meanwhile Tait-Jones followed up his near triple double performance on his UC San Diego debut to register 21 points and 8 rebounds in his second game as the Tritons edged the local derby against San Diego 69-63.

Incidentally Tait-Jones is putting up significant numbers. Having scored 1,061 points at Hawaii at Hilo (NCAA Division II) he is now up to 1,096 career collegiate points.

Back to the women’s game and fellow Wellingtonian Grace Hunter top scored for Cal State Bakersfield in their 67-54 loss to Pacific. The Tokomanawa Queens and Tall Ferns guard posted 15 points and 3 assists.

Lilly Parke followed up her 11-point effort on debut for Fairleigh Dickinson with 15 points in the 71-63 loss to Army West Point.

Vitolia Tuilave, in just her second collegiate game, scored 14 points and pulled down 8 rebounds as Wofford College defeated Erskine 85-47.

Leah Mafua led the Central Arkansas scoring with 15 points but the Purples were pipped 65-62 by Samford.

Playing her 107^th game for BYU Kaylee Smiler scored 10 points (4/6FG) including 2 from 3 from beyond the arc. A renowned defender she also snared 6 rebounds and tied her career high of 4 blocks.

On her first appearance for Portland, after redshirting the 2022-23 season, Flo Dallow scored 9 points in the 64-42 loss to Villanova. 

Another freshman Hunter Adam, in his third game for Davidson College, scored 9 points in their narrow 68-65 loss to Clemson.