Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones became the first Kiwi to pass 200 points in NCAA Division I basketball this season when he scored 20 points for UC San Diego in its 75-73 win at the previously unbeaten Utah State. That was followed by 17 points and a season best 6 assists in a 77-71 local derby win against San Diego.
Taine Murray scored a season high 14 points as Virginia fell 64-62 at home to Memphis and then 13 points, on 3 from 4 from beyond the arc, in a bounce back win against Mason Whittaker and American (63-58).
Ben Gold passed 100 points for the season as he made a perfect 4 from 4 from the field for his 9 points as #9 Marquette opened its Big East Conference fixtures with an 80-70 home win against Dayton. That was followed by an 11-point outing in an exciting 72-70 victory at Xavier.
Tafara Gapare made 9 points to compliment 8 rebounds as Maryland demolished St Francis 111-57 to move to 9-2 this season.
Zach Riley came up with 7 points and 5 rebounds as Fordham got the better of Albany winning 87-83.
Another Wellingtonian Ahmed Essahaty enjoyed his most profitable outing of the season as Southeastern Louisiana beat Loyola New Orleans 96-62. Essahaty finished with 6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a brace of steals.
Women
An efficient shooting performance from Emme Shearer helped Portland open West Coast Conference (WCC) play with a win. Shearer top scored with 17 points (4/6FG, 3/3 3PG, 6/7FT) in the 83-48 win at Loyola Marymount.
She followed that with 22 points and 11 rebounds in the 66-59 win against San Diego. Shearer now has 1,304 career points and in so doing becomes just the 6th Kiwi to pass 1,300 career points in NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball.
Ahead of her are:
| 1,743 | Charlisse Leger-Walker, present, (Washington State/UCLA) |
| 1,647 | Erin Rooney, 2009-14, (Monmouth University/Fordham University) |
| 1,624 | Tera Reed, 2017-22, (Virginia Commonwealth/USC) |
| 1,497 | Megan Compain, 1993-97, (St Joseph’s University) |
| 1,439 | Stella Beck, 2014-18, (St Mary’s College, California) |
St Mary’s also began its WCC programme with a pair of wins although it needed overtime before seeing off Santa Clara 64-56. Maia Jones came up with a career high 4 blocks to compliment 3 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Jones then had 10 points (4/7FG) in the 59-54 win against LMU.
Passing 600 career points Dani Bayes made three triples from 6 attempts in scoring a season best 19 points as Boise State overcame Furman 74-65.
With all her points coming in the second half Mackenzie Chatfield scored 14 (3 from 5 three-pointers) as Western Kentucky went down 80-58 to Oregon State at the Maui Classic, Hawaii – the fourth double digit outing of the season for the former Junior Tall Fern.
Leah Mafua, with 12 points, top scored for Central Arkansas in its narrow 55-53 loss to Alabama A&M at the Tulane Holiday Tournament in New Orleans.
Another to top score in a close loss was Helen Matthews. She scored 17 points as Wofford went down 69-64 to Lehigh.
Ahead of Big 12 Conference play Waiata Jennings, in her first season at Baylor University (10-2), enjoyed her most productive outing yet for the Bears as they steamrolled Utah Tech 97-34. The former Rotorua and Waikato standout posted season highs in points (11) and steals (4).
Emilee Tahata scored 10 points as Rider were defeated 70-62 by Quinnipiac in the opening skirmish of the Eastern Colleges Athletics Conference.
Freshman Hanna Richardson, in just her ninth collegiate game, was handed her first starting berth for Saint Bonaventure. Richardson posted a season high 7 rebounds to go with 6 points as the Bonnies defeated local rivals Niagara 76-68.
Finally, it’s nice to see Tayla Dalton back on the court after battling a stress fracture injury for the past few months. Having transferred from St Mary’s, California to Gonzaga in the off season Dalton didn’t disappoint on debut for the Zags in its 66-59 win at San Diego – she finished with 5 points, a trio of rebounds and assists plus a game high 4 steals.
LACEY LOWDOWN 