December 12
Emme Shearer became the 28th Kiwi to play 100 NCAA Division I games when suiting up for the University of Portland in their 81-51 loss at #9 ranked Stanford.
Shearer top scored for Portland with 12 points taking her to 807 career points which moves her up to 21st on the Kiwi women’s all-time Division I scoring list. In addition her 77 starts place her 10th highest in that statistical category.
In the Men’s game Tafara Gapare enjoyed a breakout game as he helped Georgia Tech to an 82-81 overtime victory against Penn State. At the iconic Madison Square Garden the Wellingtonian scored 20 points, making 3 from 6 triples, while adding 6 rebounds.
Fellow Wellingtonian Ben Gold scored 8 points as Marquette closed non-conference play with an 84-79 win against St Thomas.
Back to the women and Kaylee Smiler scored a season high 17 points as BYU overcame a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to beat Idaho State 79-76 in an overtime thriller.
Held scoreless in the first half Charlisse Leger-Walker eventually finished with 11 points as Washington State went down 60-55 to local rivals Washington in the opening Pac-12 fixture of the season.
Leger-Walker now has 1,618 career points just 30 points away from taking the New Zealand all-time Division I scoring record away from Cantabrian Erin Rooney (Monmouth University Hawks, 2009-11/Fordham University Rams, 2012-14) who scored 1,647 points.
After averaging 10 points per game, on 75% shooting, Massachusetts forward Lilly Taulelei was named Atlantic-10 Conference Rookie of the Week.
Dani Bayes scored 8 points as Boise State defeated Rocky Mountain 67-46. NAIA school Rocky Mountain were led by former Waikato and St Peter’s School forward Dominique Stephens who put together an impressive double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds – her fourth double-double in eight games this season.
Leah Mafua came close to a double-double as Central Arkansas thumped Central Baptist 69-32. She finished with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists.
LACEY LOWDOWN 