Category Archives: College Hoops

Nov 13 2017
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College Hoops, Tall Blacks, Tall Ferns

Kiwis in College – some strong performances as regular season commences

 

Beck v Davidson

Beck (21) facing Davidson (centre in gold)

The American College basketball regular season swung into action at the weekend with multiple games involving Kiwis taking place. Below is a roundup of the action from Friday and Saturday.

A number of Tall Ferns put in some stirring performances most notably Stella Beck.

Beck knocked down 22 points for St Mary’s Gaels (3/6 3PG) and added 8 rebounds and 4 assists. However it wasn’t enough for the win as Cal Berkeley Golden Bears pipped the Gaels 87-80.

Penina Davidson, making her 100th appearance for the Bears, recorded the second double-double of her college career with 10 points (5/9FG) and a game high 12 rebounds.

In another Mate v Mate clash Brooke Blair emerged with the honours against Jacinta Beckley.

Blair top scored for Idaho State with 16 points (3/5 3PG) as the Bengals beat Seattle Redhawks 74-69. Blair also nabbed a game high 3 steals to accompany 3 rebounds and 4 assists.

Beckley was one of just three Seattle players in double figures scoring 10 points.

Krystal Leger-Walker was also impressive – the combo-guard played 38 minutes and contributed 8 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists as University of Northern Colorado defeated top 25 touted DePaul 94-88 in one of the most significant wins in UNC’s history. It is the Bears first win over a Top 25 rated team since gaining Division 1 status in 2006.

Freshman guard Tiarna Clarke earned the wrath of the referees fouling out in 13 minutes after a mixed bag of 3 points, 4 assists and 3 turnovers.

Tessa Boagni and Cal State Northridge Matadors found the going tough against No 11 ranked Oregon getting whacked 91-43. Boagni finished with 6 points, 5 rebounds and a block.

Kendell Heremaia‪ (2p/5r/4a/2st) and Zara Jillings (4p/5r/1a/1st) played 26mins apiece on their regular season debuts as Fordham University Rams accounted for UMBC 55-46

Dru Toleafoa couldn’t find her scoring touch for Santa Clara finishing with 2 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists as Santa Clara lost 73-69 to Cal state Fullerton.

Katelin Noyer had 4 points, 4 rebounds, a block and a steal as Fresno State Bulldogs beat Eastern Washington 81-56.

News from the Men’s Division 1 scene is that Taki Fahrensohn will redshirt the 2017-18 season. The University of Portland Freshman recently required further surgery on a troublesome knee and although expected back on the training court next month a sensible, cautious approach has been chosen.

On the court Matt Freeman enjoyed a fine opener as the Oklahoma Sooners beat Omaha – that’s the university not the beach – 108-89. Freeman had his perimeter shot going in this one landing all three of his efforts from deep and finishing with 13 points (5/6FG).

 Jack Salt played 29 minutes as Virginia beat UNC Greensboro 60-48 in their season opener. Salt finished with 6 points and 4 rebounds.

Nov 11 2017
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College Hoops, Tall Ferns

Davidson and Blair beat Beckley and Beck

 

 

PeninaIt sounds like the result of a doubles tennis match but it was in fact the first game of the regular season in US college basketball and featured Tall Ferns match-ups. The honours went to the former Rangitoto College duo of Penina Davidson and Brooke Blair.

Davidson, making her 100th appearance for Cal Berkeley Bears recorded the second double double of her college career as the Bears beat St Mary’s Gaels 87-80.

Davidson emerged from a close encounter with 10 points (5/9FG) and a game high 12 rebounds while Stella Beck knocked down 22 points for the Gaels (3/6 3PG) and added 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

Blair top scored for Idaho State with 16 points (3/5 3PG) as the Bengals beat Seattle Redhawks 74-69. Blair also nabbed a game high 3 steals to accompany 3 rebounds and 4 assists.

Jacinta Beckley was one of just three Seattle players in double figures scoring 10 points.

All four Kiwis were busy, Beckley’s 24 minutes the least amount of time on court with Blair and Beck required for over 30 minutes apiece.

Nov 08 2017
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College Hoops, Kiwi's Abroad, Tall Ferns

Kiwi women warming up nicely in USA college pre-season games

 

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It’s only been pre-season games for our Kiwi players in colleges in the USA or as the Americans like to call then – Exhibition Games.

The real thing begins next week but it’s worth highlighting a few notable performances during ‘Exhibition’ time.

Firstly a big shout out to Brooke Blair who scored 17 points for Idaho State Bengals who went down 95-87 against Northwest Nazarine. The 2016 Tall Fern will be mightily relieved as it was her first game back since incurring a season ending ACL injury in the opening game of last season.

In the first game of the regular season this coming weekend Idaho State will visit Seattle which will pitch Blair up against Jacinta Beckley. Seattle warmed up with an easy 104-57 win against Central Washington with Beckley easing to 15 points and 5 rebounds.

Katelin Noyer is striving to nail down the starting centre role at Fresno State and did her chances no harm with 15 points and 6 rebounds as the Bulldogs beat Fresno pacific 93-58.

A couple of more established players Penina Davidson and Tessa Boagni also put in strong performances.

 

 

(Raul Martinez /The Sundial)

Boagni claimed 14 points and 7 rebounds as Cal State Northridge Matadors took care of The Masters University 83-65 and Davidson recorded similar numbers (17pts and 7rebs) in Cal Berkeley’s 71-52 against Vanguard.

Vanguard was well served by former Counties Manukau forward Tania Uluheua – who suited for Harbour Breeze in the 2017 WBC. Uluheua scored 13 points on 6 from 9 shooting.

Zara jillings and Kendell Heremaia have both debuted for Fordham University Rams in the last few days. Heremaia was her normal busy self with 6 points, 4 boards, 2 steals and an assist as Fordham cruised past Post University 83-33. Jillings had a game high 5 steals to add to 6 points and a trio of rebounds and assists.

Krystal Leger-Walker contributed five points, as did debutant Tiarna Clarke, in University of Northern Colorado’s 68-51 win against CSU Pueblo.

2014 Tall Fern Dru Toleafoa opened with 10 points and 6 rebounds as Santa Clara easily dispatched Santa Cruz 71-32.

Plenty to look forward to in the upcoming season and we will do our best to keep you updated here on the Laceylowdown

We have a couple of games of special interest this coming week where Kiwi Tall Ferns will go head to head.

Stella Beck and St Mary’s Gaels will go up against Penina Davidson and Cal Berkeley Bears. Also, as mentioned previously, Brooke Blair and the Idaho State Bengals travel to Seattle to take on Jacinta Beckley and the Seattle Redhawks.

Nov 03 2017
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College Hoops, Kiwi's Abroad

Harbour’s Sweet Sixteen

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Led by Senior Brooke Blair there are a lot of talented Harbour players playing US College basketball this season.

One senior, four Juniors, four Sophmores and a bunch of Freshmen.

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Oct 12 2017
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College Hoops

Brayden Inger the latest Kiwi to commit to an American Div 1 University

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I had the pleasure of chatting with Brayden Inger the latest New Zealand player to secure a scholarship in the States.

Brayden becomes the latest in a line of Rangitoto alumni that have headed to Division 1 schools.

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Sep 29 2017
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College Hoops, School Basketball, Tall Blacks, Womens Basketball

The Fotu’s have something special going on

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At some stage in mid 2018 Daniel Fotu will head to San Francisco to link up with the players and coaching staff at St Mary’s College.

The St Mary’s play in the NCAA Division 1 West Coast Conference and the Rangitoto College senior this week signed a letter of intent to suit up for the Randy Bennett coached Gaels for the 2018-19 season and beyond.

There is nothing new of course about Kiwi’s heading to college in the States, after all over thirty young New Zealand players are at Division 1 universities heading into the new season that begins at the end of October.

However what may be unique is that three siblings from the same family have gained basketball scholarships to the USA.

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The first Fotu to dip his toes in the US was Isaac who headed to the University of Hawaii in 2012 playing two seasons with the Warriors before turning pro.

The 23-year-old Tall Black regular has recently signed with leading German club Ratiopharm Ulm for the 2017-18 European season. The power forward has spent the last three seasons playing in Spain firstly for La Bruixa d’Or Manresa and for the past two seasons CAI Zaragoza.

Sister Gabriella (Ella) had a less than happy time at Boise State in 2015-16 but enjoyed a successful 2016-17 campaign at Hawaii Pacific. The 21-year-old guard averaged 7.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists last season for the Sharks earning an honourable mention in the All-PacWest Conference. Ella scored a season high 19 points at Notre Dame de Namur in January.

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18 year-old Daniel, was a member of the Junior Tall Blacks team that recorded an historic win against Australia at the 2016 Oceania Championships in Fiji last December. Dan averaged 7.5 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in the tournament but injury ruled him out of the subsequent 2017 U19 World Cup in Cairo last July

All three Fotu’s have attended Rangitoto College on Auckland’s north shore. A school that has produced, in addition to Isaac, full internationals Penina Davidson, Brooke Blair, Tai Wynyard and most famously Sean Marks.

Dan already has two Schick New Zealand Secondary Schools National Championships winner’s medals to his name and heads to Palmerston North next week hoping to make it a trifecta.

Neither Ella nor Isaac enjoyed the thrill of winning a Secondary Schools championship but both picked up national titles playing for North Harbour. In fact the pair received the unusual distinction of claiming the MVP title at the same tournament – the Under 23 National Championships in Tauranga in 2013. Ella led Harbour to the Women’s title against Waikato and Isaac the men’s as they defeated Counties Manukau to claim gold.

 

All three have turned out for Harbour whenever possible, with Ella giving up part of her recent summer break from Hawaii to play for Harbour Breeze in the Women’s Basketball Championship. She made an immediate impact on her return averaging a team high 18 points per game as the Breeze clinched the Plate title in Christchurch back in July.

Perhaps basketball in New Zealand can bottle the genetics of the Fotu seniors Manu and Jenny because whatever they have seems to be a potent potion.

Oh, and the Fotu’s may not be finished yet – 13 year old Jacob, a budding hoopster, is in year 9 at Rangitoto – watch this space.

Aug 30 2017
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Age Group NZ Teams, College Hoops, Tall Blacks

Isaac Letoa reflects on sensational past twelve months

 

Isaac Letoa

The teenage Tall Black has had a year he will never forget. He reflects on his full international debut, epic campaign with the Junior Tall Blacks and of course securing a scholarship at prestigious Ivy League School, Dartmouth College. I spoke with Isaac before he left for the USA.

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Aug 16 2017
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College Hoops, NBA

31 points from Abercrombie but Wisconsin defeat Breakers Select

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The New Zealand Breakers Select, after leading with six minutes to play, were defeated 85-75 by Wisconsin University Badgers at Atlas Place on Tuesday.

Kirk Penney, the tenth leading scorer in Wisconsin history and a member of the UW Athletics Hall of Fame, didn’t suit up for the game but received a warm round of applause from the travelling Wisconsin supporters when he entered the gym.

The Breakers featured just two contracted players Mika Vukona and Tom Abercrombie.

The pair boast a collective 568 appearances for the club and used that experience to good effect in the opening exchanges. Abercrombie converted an And-1 play on the opening possession and Vukona scored inside.

Abercrombie proceeded to dominate the back end of the quarter scoring with a dunk, another And-1 play and a brace of threes on four consecutive possessions as the hosts carved out a 24-15 quarter time lead.

D’Mitrik Trice, brother of Brisbane Bullets point guard Travis Trice, got things moving for the Badgers with a couple of triples as they wrestled the lead away from the Breakers. Despite a couple of jumpers from Academy player Kruz Perrott-Hunt the Badgers led 44-42 at half-time.

Super City Rangers forward Hyrum Harris impressed in the third stanza for the Breakers notching eight points in the period with a succession of left handed moves. Cantabrian point guard Taylor Britt scored with a slashing drive to tie the game up at 57 points apiece at three-quarter time.

Things looked promising for the hosts during the opening exchanges of the final quarter. Britt, with his jump shot in rhythm, made four baskets in four minutes and with Harris and Dan Fotu chiming in with scores the Breakers led 69-63 with 5:50 to play.

The Badgers, led by sophomore guard Brevin Pritzl (28 points including 7 from 9 from 3-point range) responded with a 14-0 run to take the game away from the Breakers.

Tom Abercrombie connected with his fifth triple of the night to narrow the advantage to 81-74 with 2:10 to play but it was the Badgers that had the final say in front of a substantial number of travelling fans.

Wisconsin’s five game tour resumes on Thursday when the Badgers play in Tauranga in their second game against Breakers Select before heading to Australia for games against Sydney Kings and Melbourne Tigers.

Breakers Select 75 – Abercrombie 31, Britt 17, Harris 13, Vukona 4, Fotu 4, Perrott-Hunt 4, Barrow 2

Wisconsin 85 – Pritzl 28, Happ 17, Davison 13

Aug 14 2017
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College Hoops, WBC, Womens Basketball

Cal Berkeley and NZ Premiers thrill large crowd

Cal and Premiers

Photo courtesy of Mollie McClure

The University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears and New Zealand Premiers put on a cracking exhibition of women’s basketball at North Shore Events Centre on Sunday.

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Aug 10 2017
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College Hoops, Kiwi's Abroad, Womens Basketball

Penina Davidson retuning to NSEC on Sunday

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Penina Davidson is relishing the opportunity to play in front of family and friends for the first time since 2013.

“To get to come back now as a senior and play in my hometown for the first time since high school is pretty cool,” said the former Rangitoto College standout.

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