The opening couple of days of the NCAA Division I basketball season has seen some good performances by New Zealand players, of note being the efforts of Division I debutants Aniwania Tait-Jones, Lilly Parke and Leah Mafua.
See summary below.
Washington State 78 Cal Poly 61
Charlisse Leger-Walker had 6 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds and 3 steals in the Cougars win – the 9 assists one shy of her career best.
Boise State 77 College of Idaho 35
Dani Bayes 10 points, Kaitlin Burgess 2 points on return after missing the bulk of last season due to injury.
Portland 72 San Diego State 58
Emme Shearer top scored for Portland with 17 points and added 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Fairleigh Dickinson 46 #3 Iowa 102
On debut, and against the number three ranked Iowa, Lilly Parke top scored for Fairleigh Dickinson with 11 points. Last season’s Women’s College player of the Year led the way for Iowa with 28 points.
Southern Methodist 78 UC Riverside 55
Ella Brow 10 points and 5 rebounds.
CSU Bakersfield 56 Cal Berkeley 89
Grace Hunter 8 points
Central Arkansas 85 Hendrix 25
Leah Mafua 8 points and 8 rebounds on debut for Central Arkansas. Also on debut sister Jenna Rose had 5 steals and 4 rebounds.
Western Kentucky 70 Mercer 64
Mackenzie Chatfield (3 points) – made her first shot, a three-pointer – on her WKU debut.
La Salle 73 Coppin State 68
Emilee Tahata 8 points for La Salle.
Massachusetts 56 St Peter’s 44
Lilly Taulelei 6 points on debut for UMass.
Colorado 97 Le Moyne 38
Charlotte Whittaker 9 points (4/7FG) for Colorado.
NCAA Division I Men
UC San Diego 95 Denver 87
Aniwania Tait-Jones impressed on debut for UCSD with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals and a block.
Marquette 92 Northern Illinois 70
Ben Gold passed 100 career points with his 9 points – the Tall Back also added 7 rebounds.
Davidson 86 Washington & Lee 63
Hunter Adam scored 3 points on his Davidson debut.
Georgia Tech 84 Georgia Southern 62
Tafara Gapare 3 points and 3 blocks on his Georgia Tech debut.
LACEY LOWDOWN 