LACEY LOWDOWN

Northern Colorado University Bears claimed the Big Sky Conference title today holding off Portland State to win 63-60. The Bears led 50-37 at three-quarter time but had to withstand a late charge from Portland State before securing its ninth straight win.

Freshman guard Tiarna Clarke scored 10 points (4/8FG), one of only two Bears in double figures, while Krystal Leger-Walker nabbed 4 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds and a block for NCU.

It is a history making victory for the Bears who claim their first Big Sky title having joined the conference at the beginning of the 2006-07 season.

The Bears boast a 14-3 record in conference play and have secured the title with one regular season game still to play. After their final game against Sacramento State on Saturday they will head to the Big Sky Tournament in Reno next week with confidence high.

In other Big Sky news Idaho State Bengals gave up a turnover in the final four seconds of the game to allow Montana State to make a game winning layup, taking the tie 61-60. Brooke Blair scored 6 points for the Bengals but it was a shooting night to forget for the Rangitoto College alumni who made just 3 from 13 from the floor. The Bengals (10-7) also have one regular season game to play.

It’s an interesting time of year in US College basketball with some conferences already into end of season championship tournaments and others in the last week of regular season games.

On Wednesday (NZ time) Fordham University Rams, with their trio of Kiwis, negotiated the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference play-offs with a comfortable 75-53 win against Rhode Island. All three Kiwis made a contribution with Cantabrian Mary Goulding (7 points, 6 rebounds and a career high 4 steals) leading the way. She was ably assisted by Zara Jillings (5 rebounds and 5 assists) and Kendell Heremaia (3 points and 3 rebounds).

The Rams will next face Saint Joseph’s in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

Saint Joseph’s progressed at the expense of Tera Reed and Virginia Commonwealth Rams defeating the Rams 72-63. Reed made 9 points, 2 rebounds and 2 steals – some consolation for the former Westlake guard is that she finished her freshman season as the leading scorer for VCU averaging 14 points per game.

It has been a tough year for senior forward Gus Riley and the Bryant University Bulldogs.

Entering their final game of the season the Bulldogs had won just one of their Northeast Conference games and Riley himself had been struggling for playing opportunity being afforded just 10 minutes per game on average.

However in the final game of the season the basketball gods shone favourably on Riley as, afforded his seventh start of the season, the Nayland College alumni scored a career high 25 points. Remarkably Riley scored all his points from beyond the arc (7/12 3PG) or from the free throw line (4 from 4).

His previous best was 18 points, scored against Siena in November 2015. Riley finishes his career at Monmouth with 244 points and 163 rebounds in 89 appearances.

Bryant went on to win the game beating Fairleigh Dickinson 87-83 but with just a 2-16 record failed to make the Northeast Conference Tournament with just the top eight teams qualifying.

Last year Riley represented New Zealand at the 2017 FIBA 3×3 World Cup in France.

Congratulations to Matt Freeman who followed Stella Beck in being named to a conference All-Academic team.

The Oklahoma Sooners forward was named to the All-Big 12 All-Academic team. To qualify, student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher and must have participated in 60 percent of their team’s scheduled contests.

Following her naming to the WCC All-Academic Team for the third straight year Beck scored a game high 24 points as St Mary’s Gaels clinched second seeding in the West Coast Conference with a 72-51 win at Santa Clara. The senior guard has tallied 26, 25, 20 and 24 points in her last four outings for the Gaels and heads to the WCC Tournament later this week in good touch.

Jack Salt made 6 points and had the same number of rebounds as Virginia Cavaliers defeated Georgia Tech 65-54. A couple of day’s later Virginia clinched their fourth Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title (third under coach Tony Bennett in the last five years) with a 66-37 drubbing of Pittsburgh.

The number one ranked NCAA Division I clinched the title with two conference games remaining.

Jacinta Beckley posted her first career double-double (15 points and 11 rebounds) as Seattle University Redhawks took down CSU Bakersfield 64-56 . The Redhawks are 8-5 in the Western Athletics Conference with one game remaining in the regular season.

With two games remaining, both at home, Idaho State Bengals are 10-6 in the Big Sky Conference after a narrow 66-64 loss at Eastern Washington. Brooke Blair scored a game high 19 points (7/10FG) for the Bengals who hold joint third spot on the Big Sky Conference ladder.

Tessa Boagni finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds, as Cal State Northridge Matadors were pipped 56-54 by Hawaii. The Matadors are 7-7 in the Big West Conference.

Northern Colorado Bears (13-3) are top of the table and need just one win from their final two games to clinch the Big Sky Conference regular season title. Krystal Leger-Walker filled the stats categories as the Bears beat North Dakota 51-45. The sophmore guard had 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals.

Conference titles and Academic All-Conference Awards feature in the latest wrap on former Harbour players shining in American college basketball.

Five performances of distinction this week with more in the pipeline.

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I recently caught up with former Westlake Girls and Junior Tall Ferns guard Tera Reed who is enjoying a stunning first year at Virginia Commonwealth University.

She leads VCU in scoring and rebounding – not bad for a freshman. She shares her thoughts on that achievement and much more.

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Four Saint Mary’s Gaels women’s basketball players student-athletes earned West Coast Conference All-Academic Team honours on Wednesday, including senior guard Stella Beck.

Beck is knowledgeable on and off the court with a 3.63 GPA in Psychology specialising in Neuroscience. She has the distinction of being named to the All-Academic first team for the third straight year.

The 22 year-old has started in all 27 games for Saint Mary’s this season and has scored in double-figures in 21 of those games. In seven outings Beck recorded 20 or more points.

Beck scored her 1,000th career point on November 24 and scored a career-high 31 points versus Pacific on January 20 while averaging 14.8 points per game.  In addition the former Hutt Valley High standout averages 5.8 rebounds per game, dishes out 3.2 assists and is second on the team shooting 59.7 percent from the field. Beck leads the team with 37 steals.

Last week she logged her third double-double of the season in the win against San Francisco (72-64) scoring a game-high 26 points and tying a season-high with 11 rebounds. She followed that up with a 25-point, nine-rebound performance in the win against Portland. Her 51 points across the two games moved her into 15th all-time on the Saint Mary’s career scoring list.

St Mary’s are 11-5 in West Coast Conference action and with two regular season games remaining look likely to carry second seeding into the WCC Tournament beginning March 1 in Las Vegas.

Stella Beck logged her third double-double of the year for St Mary’s Gaels in the win against San Francisco (72-64) on Thursday, scoring a game-high 26 points and tying a season-high with 11 rebounds. She followed that up with a 25-point, nine-rebound performance in the win against Portland on Saturday. The 51 points across the two games moved her into 15th all-time on the Saint Mary’s career scoring list.

St Mary’s are 11-5 in West Coast Conference action.

Jacinta Beckley produced 11 points and 9 rebounds but unfortunately Seattle Redhawks fell 69-67 in overtime at Texas-Rio Grande Valley. That was followed by a second road loss, 64-53 at New Mexico State, with Beckley scoring 10 points in that one. Despite the losses the Redhawks are still handily placed in the Western Athletic Conference with a 7-4 record.

Brooke Blair produced 13 points (5/11FG), 4 rebounds and 3 assists to help Idaho State Bengals to an 83-71 home win against Sacramento State mid week. She was also in double figures with 11 points in a 72-64 win against Portland State on Sunday. The Bengals are 9-5 in the Big Sky Conference with four games to play.

What a shooting performance from from Tessa Boagni. The Cal State Northridge Matadors centre shot 8 from 10 from the field and 10 out of 10 from the free throw line. Boagni finished with a game high 26 points (plus 9 rebounds) as the Matadors beat Cal Poly 86-66 and are now 7-6 in Pac 12 Conference play.

It was a big night for Penina Davidson on Saturday being recognised at the Cal Berkeley Bears seniors ceremony following the ‘Battle of the Bay’ against arch rivals Stanford.

Stanford, ranked number 17 nationally, and Cal, met twice in three days with Stanford prevailing 74-69 on Thursday but the Bears avenging that defeat with a 78-66 win two days later in front of 4,000 home fans. In her final home game Davidson snared 8 rebounds – 5 at the offensive end – plus 3 points, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal.

It’s been quite a week for 2016 Junior Tall Fern Tiarna Clarke. The former Westlake combo-guard enjoyed career nights in consecutive games to help Northern Colorado Bears (12-3 in the Big Sky Conference) to two wins. Clarke bettered her 19 points against Northern Arizona on Thursday by scoring 20 points against Southern Utah two days later.

Kendell Heremaia, another 2016 JTF had her most productive scoring game of the season scoring 11 points (3/5 3PG) in Fordham Rams 79-54 loss at Dayton- Fordham now 11-3 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

A third JTF Tera Reed snared a career best 16 rebounds to accompany 12 points but Virginia Commonwealth slipped to 3-11 in Atlantic 10 Conference games after a 59-54 loss at Richmond.

And the Men………….

Two former Harbour players met when Jack Salt and newly crowned No 1 ranked Virginia Cavaliers visited Sam Waardenburg and Miami Hurricanes. in an internationally televised encounter. It was Virginia’s first game carrying the top ranking in NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball since December 1982 and after losing their last outing – an overtime defeat at the hands of Virginia Tech – ensured their would be no upset and prevailed 59-50.

Salt finished with 2 points, an assist and a team high 7 rebounds whilst Waardenburg, who is enjoying increased court time for Miami, made 6 points (2/3 FG, 2/2 3PG) and claimed a steal.

Izayah Le’afa made all three of his three point attempts as he put up a stats stuffing 15 points, 3 rebounds a pair of steals and blocks plus an assist for Sacramento State Hornets. Unfortunately the Hornets, now 3-11 in the Big Sky Conference, slipped to a fifth straight loss going down 83-73 to Weber State.

Sam Timmins had 8 rebounds and 2 points in the game Washington Huskies retired the No 2 jersey of former Huskie, now Los Angeles Lakers star Isaiah Thomas on Saturday. The Huskies beat Colorado 82-59 and now sit 8-6 in the Pac 12 Conference.

Tiarna Clarke posted a career best twice in one week, Tera Reed did it twice plus double doubles from Katie Diakhaby, Alex Talma and Reed.

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In the latest chapter of Kiwi versus Kiwi Jack Salt scored the first field goal of the game for newly crowned No 1 ranked Virginia Cavaliers when they visited Sam Waardenburg and Miami Hurricanes on Tuesday (US time).

It was Virginia’s first game carrying the top ranking in NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball since December 1982 and after losing their last outing – an overtime defeat at the hands of Virginia Tech – ensured their would be no upset and prevailed 59-50.

Virginia made a strong start jumping out to an early 13-2 lead but helped by a Waardenburg triple, with his first shot of the game, Miami narrowed to 13-12.

Aided by a 10-0 run Virginia reached half-time with a 27-16 advantage keeping Miami to their lowest first half score this season.

Another Waardenbug three reduced the Virginia advantage to 38-34 with nine minutes to play but that would be as close as Miami would get to the Atlantic Coast Conference leaders. Virginia now 13-1 in conference play with Miami slipping to 7-6.

Salt finished with 2 points, an assist and a team high 7 rebounds whilst Waardenburg finished with 6 points (2/3 FG, 2/2 3PG) and a steal.

Could they meet again in the ACC Tournament next month?