LACEY LOWDOWN

November 26

In a week of impressive Kiwi performances the Kiwi NCAA Division I performance of the week was claimed, narrowly, by University of Hawaii freshman Ritorya Tamilo with Maia Jones, Leah Mafua and Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones falling into the highly recommended category.

At the Bank of Hawaii Classic in Honolulu Tamilo came up big for Hawaii in the 69-64 win against Louisiana-Monroe. In just her third collegiate game Tamilo finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks and 3 steals!

Also at the Bank of Hawaii Classic Maia Jones and St Mary’s College squeezed past Eastern Washington and Breeje Schuler 59-57.

Schuler had 10 points and 6 rebounds for EWU while Jones scored 9 points and dished 3 assists for the Saints.

Rounding out news from the Classic Jones continued her good early season form with a team 19 points – including 5 from 8 from beyond the arc – and 6 assists as St Mary’s defeated Louisiana Monroe 68-61.

Central Arkansas thumped Central Baptist 120-47 with Leah Mafua making a big impression in the win. The former Hutt Valley standout dished a career best 9 assists to go with season highs in points (17) and steals (6).

Emme Shearer scored a team high 18 points, making three triples in the process, as Portland won 85-66 against California Baptist. It was Shearer’s 127^th appearance moving her to 9^th on the all-time list of games played by a Kiwi in Women’s NCAA Division I basketball. She now has the likes of Penina Davidson (131), Tera Reed (135) and Krystal Leger-Walker (142) firmly in her sights.

In the loss freshman Shawnessy Nordstrom, in just her fifth collegiate game, scored 12 points (2/4 3PG) for Cal Baptist.

Helen Matthews, working her way back to full fitness after missing last season due to injury, scored a season high 17 points as Wofford College overcame High Point 71-65

Mackenzie Chatfield was a perfect 4 from 4, including 2 made threes, for 10 points as Western Kentucky beat North Dakota 74-69.

Dani Bayes scored 10 points as Boise State scraped a 59-57 win against San Francisco.

Lilly Parke scored 9 points as Fairleigh Dickinson got back to winning ways with a 67-50 victory against St Peter’s.

University of California Irvine beat Pennsylvania 72-68 in overtime after the scores had been locked at 63 points apiece in regulation. Olivia Williams scored 8 points for Irvine.

MEN

Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones made 13 free throws on his way to a game high 21 points as UC San Diego beat James Maddison 73-67 and followed that with 19 points – making 8 from 10 from the field – as San Diego crushed Toledo 80-45 to take out the Boardwalk Battle Championship at Daytona Beach, Florida.

Ben Gold scored 11 points as #15 Marquette posted a significant 76-58 home win against #6 Purdue. He followed that with 14 points (making 4 from 9 threes) and 6 rebounds in an 80-69 win against Georgia.

Maryland strolled to a 108-37 win against Canisius with Tafara Gapare swallowing up a season high 9 rebounds to accompany 4 points.

November 19

The Kiwi NCAA Division I performance of the week went the way of Maia Jones with Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones the best of the men.

Women

Maia Jones amassed 28 points as St Mary’s Gaels won in double overtime on the road overcoming San Diego State 74-65. The combo guard hardly missed a shot making 10 from 11 from the field and all but one of her 8 free-throws. In case you are wondering her career high is 31 points.

A couple of days later the Gaels were facing UC Irvine which meant Jones was facing fellow Kiwi Olivia Williams – the pair having attended the Tall Ferns Selection Camp at Irvine earlier in the year.

Irvine eventually prevailed 64-61 with Williams making 4 from 6 threes for 14 points while Jones had 9 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists. The points from Williams took her past 300 career points.

Emilee Tahata scored a career high 16 points to go with 7 rebounds despite Rider University losing 62-54 to Bryant.

Lilly Parke made 4 from 7 threes on her way to 14 points and 5 rebounds as Fairleigh Dickinson were beaten 77-58 at Syracuse. The defeat comes after four straight wins by FDU to start the season.

Leah Mafua dropped 11 points and added 4 rebounds and a couple of blocks as Central Arkansas overcame UT Martin 87-67.

Boise State made it three wins from as many games after a 72-57 win against UC Riverside – Danni Bayes with 10 points for Boise.

Freshman Hannah Richardson, in just her third game for St Bonaventure, scored 9 points in a 92-41 loss to Bowling Green.

Emme Shearer had 8 points and 4 rebounds as Portland, now 3-0 at the start of the season, won 74-62 at Eastern Washington.

Waiata Jennings, after a record setting junior college career at Collin College scored her first NCAA Division I points as Baylor beat Texas A&M 104-55. The Rotorua local made both of her field goal attempts for 5 points.

Men

Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones lit up the stats line with a game high 21 points to accompany 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals as UC San Diego defeated Sacramento State 64-54.

Tait-Jones passed 500 career points at UCSD and becomes the 20^th Kiwi to pass 500 NCAA Division I career points.

Now with 535 points after scoring another 20 in an 84-71 loss to Seattle he moved past Matt Freeman (531 points) and looks set to overtake Sean Marks (557) and Yanni Wetzell (560) in the very near future.

Tom Beattie made a critical 4 from 6 free throws in overtime as Hawaii defeated Pacific 73-68. Beattie scored 10 points, his fourth successive double figure score, while also adding 6 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block.

Hunter Adam passed 100 career points as Davidson edged East Tennessee State 76-70. The former Canterbury standout had a nice double of 8 points (3/4FG) and 8 rebounds.

There have been plenty of good performances by Kiwis in the opening week of the 2024-25 NCAA Division I season. Here is a run-down on the highlight efforts including a couple of career high’s.

Mackenzie Chatfield (Sophomore at Western Kentucky) made 5 from 9 threes on her way to a career high 19 points against Indiana State. Given limited opportunities in her freshman year Chatfield only scored 19 points in the whole of last season! Chatfield followed that with 7 points and 6 steals in the 104-49 win against Kentucky State.

Leah Mafua (Senior at Central Arkansas) 17 points 5 rebound & 2 blocks in 63-44 win v Samford.

Lilly Parke (Junior at Fairleigh Dickinson) had a team high 17 points (3/5 3PG) plus 7 rebounds in the 63-59 win against Mount St Mary’s.

Emme Shearer (Senior at Portland) 15 points in 76-65 home win against Hawaii. The 13^th Kiwi to pass 1,100 points in NCAA Women’s Division I hoops.

Helen Matthews (Senior at Wofford) 15 points in 75-56 defeat of NC Central. Her first basket of the game carried her past 600 career points at Wofford.

Olivia Williams (Sophomore at UC Irvine) made 3 from 5 threes as she also carved out 15 points to go with 7 rebounds as UCI beat William & Mary 72-55.

Izzy Pugh (Freshman at Wisconsin, Milwauke)

After posting 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 84-81 overtime loss at St Thomas the former Westlake Girls forward came up big in game two of the season with 14 points (6 from 8FG), 4 rebs and 1 block in a 74-49 win over Carroll.

Maia Jones (Sophomore at St Mary’s) had a stats stuffing 13 points, 8 assists, 3 steals and 3 rebounds in 69-64 home win against Denver.

Kaitlin Burgess (Senior at Weber State) 12 points in 94-41 win v Park Gilbert

Made 4 from 6 from deep in her first game for Weber State since transferring from Boise State.

Dani Bayes (Junior at Boise State) 12 points in the 87-57 win against Eastern Oregon.

In her 50^th game for Boise the junior guard passed 500 career points.

Ritorya Tamilo (Freshman at Hawaii) scored 10 points in each of her first two games – a 76-65 loss to Portland followed by a 72-50 win against Portland State.

Breeje Schuler (Eastern Washington) 8 points and 4 rebounds in an 83-82 overtime loss at Charlisse Leger-Walker’s former school, Washington State.

NCAA Division I Men

Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (Senior at UC San Diego) is closing in on 500 career points at UC San Diego after posting 25 points on 9 from 11 shooting as the Tritons outscored Pepperdine 94-76. The Wellingtonian is currently sitting on 494 points at 14.1ppg.

Nic Book (Freshman at South Carolina Upstate) shooting a perfect 7 from 7 from the field scored 14 points to accompany 9 rebounds in a 103-70 win against Piedmont. That after 10 points (4/8FG) and 8 rebounds in the 97-66 loss to North Carolina State on debut.

Tom Beattie (Sophomore at Hawaii) scored 13 points on 6 from 8 shooting in 96-61 win against LIFE Pacific.

Isaiah Chappell (Freshman at UC Davis) 10pts, 7rebs, 1blk v Washington, lost 79-73 on debut. The 6’9” forward is the son of former Breakers import Mike Chappell.

Ben Gold (Junior at Marquette) 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks in 82-63 win against George Mason.

Fourteen New Zealand freshmen (9 women and 4 men) have begun their NCAA Division I collegiate careers and the majority have seen court time this week.

Below we list their performances and as you can see it has been Nic Book (South Carolina Upstate), Isaiah Chappell (UC Davis) Ritorya Tamilo (Hawaii) and Izzy Pugh (Wisconsin, Milwauke) that have made the greatest impression in the opening days of the season.

Women

Izzy Pugh (Wisconsin, Milwauke) 14 points (6 from 8FG), 4 rebs and 1 block in a 74-49 win over Carroll.

After posting 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 84-81 overtime loss at St Thomas the former Westlake Girls forward came up big in game two of the season.

Ritorya Tamilo (Hawaii) 10pts (3/5FG, 4/4FT), 2rebs, 2stls, 1blk in 76-65 defeat at Portland.

Shawnessy Nordstrom (California Baptist) 5pts, 3rebs and 3 assists in 93-63 loss to Oregon.

Zoe Richardson (Siena) 3rebs and 1 assist as Siena College went under to Army West Point 66-56.

Men

Nic Book (South Carolina Upstate) shooting a perfect 7 from 7 from the field scored 14 points to accompany 9 rebounds in a 103-70 win against Piedmont. That after 10 points (4/8FG) and 8 rebounds in the 97-66 loss to North Carolina State a couple of days earlier.

Isaiah Chappell (UC Davis) 10pts, 7rebs, 1blk v Washington, lost 79-73 on debut. The 6’9” forward is the son of former Breakers import Mike Chappell.

Will Shortt (Niagara) 5 points and 6 rebounds in 100-65 win v Houghton on debut.

Julius Halaifonua (Georgetown) 5pts and 2 rebounds, won 85-77 v Lehigh.

Kaia Berridge (Evansville) 3pts and 1 steal in 80-63 loss at North Texas.