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:
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.
LACEY LOWDOWN 
Enjoying the updates! Saves me time keeping track of all the young talent in the states.
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