Tai Wynyard courtesy of Kentucky Wildcats winning their conference and Jack Salt’s Virginia Cavaliers receiving an invitation look to be the only Kiwis heading into the 2017 NCAA Tournament beginning later this week.
For a full roundup of the conference tournaments played last week visit the BBNZ website
After more Division 1 College Conference play-off action on Saturday (NZ time) it is ironical that the two Kiwi international players left standing, Tai Wynyard and Jacinta Beckley, are unlikely to take the court for their teams for differing reasons.
Beckley fractured her hand in a game in early February and is still not cleared to suit up for the Seattle Redhawks who will face New Mexico State in the final on Sunday.
The Redhawks beat Utah Valley in the Western Athletic Conference semi-final at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas 61-60.
Wynyard has been unable to force his way into the Kentucky Wildcats playing rotation seeing little court time of late. Despite this Kentucky defeated Georgia 71-60 in the quarter-final of the Southeastern Conference Championships.
Katelin Noyer and Fresno State Bulldogs fell at the final hurdle of the Mountain West Conference Championships losing 66-53 to Boise State in the final on Saturday. It had been a dream run for the 7th ranked Bulldogs with a couple of wins against higher ranked opposition in the quarter’s and semi’s but they were comfortably beaten by 4th ranked Boise State.
Like fellow Tall Fern Krystal Leger-Walker earlier in the week, Tessa Boagni suffered the agony of a single point defeat as Cal State Northridge Matadors was beaten 61-60 by Long Beach State on Saturday. The loss was at the semi-final stage of the Big West Conference Tournament.
Trailing by eight late in the game, CSUN mounted a furious rally over the final four minutes of action but fell one point short in their comeback effort against the 49ers.
Boagni was excellent from the foul line converting all 7 of her attempts as she scored 11 points and added 4 rebounds, 2 assists, a block and an assist.
There were three Kiwi senior internationals in US college play-off action on Friday with a win and a pair of losses to report.
It was good news for Katelin Noyer. In a game that saw 13 lead changes and four ties Fresno State prevailed 53-51 as the seventh-seeded Bulldogs caused another upset. 48 hours after upsetting No 2 Wyoming on Wednesday they beat No 3 UNLV, in the semifinals of the 2017 Mountain West Women’s Basketball Championship.
Noyer, in her first season with Fresno, came off the bench to contribute 2 points and 2 rebounds. Fresno State will now prepare for the final against Boise State on Saturday.
It wasn’t such good news for the two Tall Blacks in action on Friday, both having relatively quiet games, as their two teams exited their respective conference championships.
Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’Afa scored just 5 points (1/4FG, 2/2FT) as
Sacramento State Hornets exited the Big Sky Conference Championships at the quarter-final stage beaten convincingly, 89-70, by Eastern Washington.
The Wellingtonian guard has had a fine first season but this wasn’t his or the Hornets day as they struggled against the more fancied (seeded No 2) Eastern Washington.
It was also a disappointing day for Jack Salt and the Virginia Cavaliers. The Cavs, ranked sixth in the Atlantic Coast Conference, were beaten by No3 Notre Dame 71-58 in a quarter-final tie in Brooklyn. The Kiwi centre didn’t score with his only shot in 11 minutes of action but did secure 4 rebounds.
It’s not all over for the Cavaliers as they will make their fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance later in the month.
There was plenty of action on Thursday involving Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns in NCAA Division 1 conference championships.
Tai Webster scored in double figures for the 30th time in 31 games this season but Nebraska Huskers seeded 12 in the Big Ten Conference went down in overtime to Penn, 76-67, in the first round of the conference championships. Webster finished with 12 points as the Huskers came from 10 points down with five minutes left to tie the game at 60 points apiece in regulation. Despite being thwarted in overtime Nebraska head coach Tim Miles was full of praise for his senior guard in the post match media conference.
“Tai has been a kid that I’m proud of because he never quit. He came as a much-heralded recruit, started on an NCAA tournament team, but wasn’t very productive. I think they called him the least productive Big Ten starter. That’s not a great reputation to start with, right?
“The next year he fell out of the rotation, then he fought back, had a pretty good year last year, averaged over 10 points a game, even more than that in the league. This year he’s been really good for us all year.
“It’s always the same thing with Tai. Guard their best player, score all our points, right? I have a lot of respect for him not quitting, just staying with it. A lot of times nowadays guys, if they’re not getting exactly what they want, they’ll go. Tai would never do that. Had every opportunity to. He had professional offers I believe at the end of almost every year. Back home, for sure. He turned them down, turned down a lot of money to stay with his college basketball career,” said Miles
For the record Webster finished with 528 points for the season and 1,116 career points for the Huskers in 127 games.
Jack Salt had to endure foul trouble as Virginia Cavaliers, who are seeded No 6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships beat Pitt 75-63 in the second round on Thursday. Salt picked up three fouls early and was restricted to 12 minutes court time. He did however put the exclamation mark score on proceedings throwing down a dunk in the closing seconds of the win. Virginia meets No 3 Notre Dame tomorrow in the quarters.
Cantabrian Tessa Boagni put in a dominating performance for Cal State Northridge Matadors as they beat University of Hawaii 71-64 in Long Beach at the Big West Tournament.
Boagni finished with 13 points (5/10FG) and a massive game high 13 rebounds, her fourth double double of the season.
The third seeded Matadors face No 2 Long Beach State in the semi on Saturday.
Katelin Noyer and Fresno State Bulldogs recorded a major upset at the Mountain West Conference Championships. The Bulldogs, seeded 7th, knocked off No 2 Wyoming winning 58-48 and meet UNLV in the semi’s tomorrow.
Freshman Noyer snared a rebound in 6 minutes of action.
Northern Colorado Bears suffered an agonising 60-59 defeat to Idaho State in the Big Sky Conference quarter-final. The Bears and Krystal Leger-Walker were 5 points up with 52 seconds to play but were thwarted by an opposition basket with three seconds to play.
Leger-Walker finished with 8 points, 2 assists, 2 steals and a rebound.
NCAA Conference Tournaments are in full swing this week.
On Wednesday (NZ time) Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’Afa, Katelin Noyer, and Stella Beck were in action.
Beck and St Mary’s Gaels were involved in the game of the day from a New Zealand perspective, the Gaels up against Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference Championship final.
Third seeded Saint Mary’s mounted a furious third-quarter rally but it was not enough, falling short in the championship game. SMC cut a 25-point deficit down to seven points in the third quarter, but No 1 ranked Gonzaga held off the Gaels to win 86-75.
Beck contributed a team high 5 assists to compliment 6 points, 3 rebounds and a brace of blocks.
The Gaels made their first WCC championship game appearance since 2011 and with another 20-win season, it is expected that they will make its eighth consecutive WNIT appearance. The WNIT field will be announced on March 13, with first round games will take place March 15-17.
Le’Afa contributed 8 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal as Sacramento State Hornets got its Big Sky Conference Championships campaign off on the right foot beating Idaho state 91-76. Next up for the Hornets is a quarter-final appointment with Eastern Washington on Friday.
Former Westlake Girls centre Katelin Noyer was 3 from 3 from the field, her 6 points helping propel Fresno State Bulldogs past Nevada, 62-57 in the opening round of the Mountain West Conference Championships on Tuesday.
On Wednesday the seventh ranked Bulldogs came up against Wyoming in the quarter-finals and upset the No 2 seeds winning 58-48. Noyer snared a rebound but the freshman, only required for 6 minutes, missed with her only shot.
Stella Beck drives to basket
The Saint Mary’s Gaels women’s basketball team used a big second half to defeat BYU Provo Cougars 59-49 and advance to the West Coast Conference Championship game for the first championship appearance since the 2010-11 season.
The output from the opposing two Tall Ferns in the contest was immense.
Stella Beck put together an impressive stats line for the victorious Gaels. The Gaels leading scorer this season collected 9 points, captured 7 rebounds, dished 4 assists and added 3 steals and a block in 32 minutes of non-stop action.
Senior Kalani Purcell was one of two BYU players in double figures scoring 15 points, the power forward also adding 9 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists and a block as the Cougars attempted in vain to return to the conference final.
The Gaels outscored BYU 39-22 in the second half and also out rebounded the Cougars 50-25 and kept BYU scoreless in the final period for more than the first five minutes.
Saint Mary’s will face top seeded Gonzaga in Tuesday’s conference final.
Most of our college based Tall Ferns and Tall Backs conclude regular season conference play this week. However three Tall Ferns are involved in championship action beginning on Friday (NZ time).
The West Coast Conference teams St Mary’s and Brigham Young Provo (BYU) take to the court at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
On the strength of edging St Mary’s Gaels for second spot in the regular season BYU benefit from the bye on Friday and will suit against the winners of the San Diego/Portland game on Saturday.
The 2017 WCC Defensive Player of the Year and All-WCC first team member Kalani Purcell will be a key player for the Cougars as her regular season numbers illustrate.
She led the conference with 2.7 steals per game and finished second with 1.5 blocked shots per game. The honour also highlights what has been another complete-game season by Purcell, the NCAA’s active leader in rebounds with 11.6 per game.
The senior forward contributed 13.1 points and 5.3 assists per contest and registered a league-best 10 double-doubles in 18 conference games.
Also named in the WCC first team was Stella Beck. She and St Mary’s Gaels face off against Santa Clara on Friday.
Beck has led St Mary’s in scoring nearly all season at 13.9 points per game, 14.2 in conference play. She’s posted double-figure scoring in 22 of 27 games played.
Beck boasts the best field-goal percentage in the entire conference at 55.6 percent and is among the WCC’s top-20 in scoring (eighth), rebounding (t-17th, 5.4 rpg), assists (12th, 3.2 apg) and steals (t-10th, 1.6 spg).
Penina Davidson and the University of California, Berkeley is also in championship mode but the Golden Bears have a tough draw in the Pac-12 tournament being held at KeyArena, Seattle.
Seeded 8th the Bears take on No 9 USC in the first round on Friday but the winners face top seed Oregon State 24 hours later.
Davidson starred with 17 points and 9 rebounds for Cal when the teams met in early February – Cal won 63-56.
Davidson has had a fine season averaging 5.7 rebounds per game (2nd best for Cal); she was also second in blocks (1.0 bpg) and averaged 7.1 points per outing during the regular season.
The American College season is closing in on Conference championship time. Some conferences wrapped up their regular season programmes this week – others will do the same next week.
Two of the teams wrapping up their regular seasons were West Coast Conference universities St Mary’s and Brigham Young Provo (BYU) and both recorded a pair of wins over the weekend.
On Friday Kalani Purcell marched to her 15th double double of the season – 19 points and 13 rebounds –as BYU Cougars beat Portland 73-60. She followed this with an equally impressive 21 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists in the 71-63 win against Gonzaga on Sunday.
BYU will now prepare to compete as the No. 2 seed in next week’s 2017 West Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Championships at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
One place back in the conference, in third spot, will be St Mary’s Gaels.
Stella Beck had the honour of being named in the West Coast Conference All- Academic team on Tuesday. She celebrated in style scoring a game high 17 points as the Gaels thumped Pepperdine 84-57 on Friday.
48 hours later she had 9 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists as the Gaels comfortably downed Santa Clara 73-58.
The University of California Berkeley have also wrapped up the regular season finishing 8th in the Pac-12 Conference after going down to league leaders Oregon State 71-56.
Penina Davidson had 8 points and 3 rebounds for the Bears that have a tough draw heading into the Pac-12 Championships beginning on Friday. If they get past 9th seed USC they have a rematch against Oregon State in the quarter-finals
Tessa Boagni demonstrated a good scoring touch as Cal State Northridge Matadors beat Cal State Fullerton 71-54 on Thursday. The Cantabrian centre tallied 14 points (7 from 10 from the field). A couple of days later Boagni had 8 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists as the Matadors improved to 10-4 in the Big West Conference with a ninth straight victory defeating UC Riverside 79-70.
Katelin Noyer has recently been rewarded with extended playing time for Fresno State. She responded with 4 points, 6 rebounds and a couple of blocks as the Bulldogs improved to 8-8 in the Mountain West Conference with two games remaining after defeating San Diego State 59-50.
On Tuesday former Hutt Valley player Stella Beck had the distinction of being named in the 2016-17 West Coast Conference (WCC) All-Academic team alongside St Mary’s team mates Devon Brookshire and Carly Turner.
Beck carries a 3.57 GPA in psychology: neuroscience and is the only junior (third year player) to make the All-Academic team. This is her second year earning WCC All-Academic team honours. The Tall Ferns guard leads the team in scoring at 14.3 points per game along with 5.9 rebounds per game. She has tallied 19 double-digit scoring games and scored her career-high of 28 in a comeback win against San Diego earlier this month. Beck recorded a career-high nine assists against Boise State in November and has flirted with a double-double on multiple occasions.
At the conclusion of each athletic season, the WCC selects an all-academic squad. To be considered, a student-athlete must maintain at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average, while also being a significant contributor to her team on the court.
Beck emphasised her value to the Gaels by scoring a game high 17 points as St Mary’s defeated Portland 73-60 on Thursday.
Plenty of action this week with three Tall Ferns still in contention for the WNBL title, fine performances from college players plus news of a Tall Fern excelling on court, in the pool and in the classroom.
American Colleges
Stella Beck led all scorers with 18 points (8/10FG) as St Mary’s Gaels won at Portland 75-65 on Friday.
The Gaels will rue a lost opportunity on Sunday after going down by a single point, 59-58, at West Coast Conference leaders Gonzaga. Beck was one of two St Mary’s players in double figures with 11 points but was guilty of committing 6 turnovers as the Gaels committed 22 in total compared with 8 by Gonzaga.
Despite the turnover count the Gaels looked to have sealed the win when Beck put her team ahead 58-57 inside the last minute but Gonzaga scored the go ahead basket in a game that had a staggering 19 lead changes.
Kalani Purcell had a game high 16 points to compliment 8 rebounds and 4 assists as BYU Cougars thumped Pepperdine 88-49 on Friday. BYU made it two from two over the weekend with a 72-61 victory against San Francisco on Sunday and are now 10-4 in West Coast Conference play. Purcell had 13 points and 7 assists as well as 8 rebounds in the second game. Purcell now has 678 rebounds in her career at BYU – she is now 10th all-time in rebounds in BYU history in just two seasons as a Cougar.
Seattle University Redhawks improved to 7-1 in Western Athletic Conference play with a resounding 82-53 win against Chicago State on Friday. Jacinta Beckley scored 15 points (7/10FG) for Seattle, the Paraparaumu College alumni is in good form for the Redhawks.
Tessa Boagni scored just 4 points but amassed 13 rebounds, including 7 off the offensive glass, as Cal State Northridge Matadors eased passed UC Santa Barbara 62-55 on Friday. The Matadors improved to 6-4 in the Big West Conference with a 70-67 overtime victory against UC Riverside 48 hours later. Again Boagni was in rebounding form with 9 boards – she also converted an important free throw in the additional period.
Penina Davidson had a team high 11 rebounds plus 4 points but couldn’t prevent Cal Berkeley Golden Bears slipping to a 64-59 home loss against Colorado on Sunday. The Bears are now 5-9 in Pac-12 Conference games.
Krystal Leger-Walker dished a game high 6 assists as Northern Colorado Bears went down 67-61 against Eastern Washington. Leger-Walker added 3 points and 5 rebounds in this the second loss of the season in Big Sky Conference play.
Australian WNBL
The WNBL play-off race is down to five teams with one round remaining next weekend.
It took overtime but Perth Lynx are certain of a play-offs spot after beating Melbourne Boomers 87-81 on Sunday and improving to 15-7. Toni Edmondson fouled out with 1:40 left in regulation after contributing 9 points, 3 rebounds and a steal to the Lynx cause.
Micaela Cocks also scored 9 points as Townsville Fire downed Dandenong Rangers for the second consecutive weekend although fellow Tall Fern Chev Paalvast didn’t take the floor. The victory means the Fire have a 2-1 winning split on Dandenong that may be enough, depending on the results of the final round of games next week, to carry them to third spot on the WNBL ladder.
However nothing is certain as fifth placed Canberra, who visit Townsville on Saturday, hold the series advantage over the defending champions.
Jess Bygate (Melbourne Boomers) and Jordan Hunter (Adelaide Lightning) will conclude their seasons next week with their teams filling the last two places on the ladder.
The WNBL ladder with just 1 round to play – teams play 24 regular season games and top 4 qualify for semi-finals;
Sydney University Flames 17-6
Perth Lynx 15-7
Townsville Fire 14-9
Dandenong Rangers 14-9
Canberra Capitals 12-10
Bendigo Spirit 11-11
Melbourne Boomers 5-18
Adelaide Lightning 2-20
Europe
It was third hosting first in the Italian League and despite a customary double-digit contribution from Jillian Harmon (16 points) it was third that prevailed but only just. Despite losing 60-58 at Venezia, ending a 14 game winning streak, Le Mura Lucca (15-2) still holds top spot on the ladder.
Other News
Many high school athletes excel in more than one sport, but very few can match the 2016 accomplishments of American based Junior Tall Fern McKenna Dale in the unusual pairing of swimming and basketball.
Her amazing feats during the 2016 calendar year have earned Dale the Hal Levy Female Athlete of the Year Award from the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance.
“I am definitely surprised; I had no idea I would stand out that much with all the talented athletes in Connecticut,” Dale said in a recent interview.
The lanky 6-footer, who didn’t start playing basketball until fifth grade, began the year by leading E.O. Smith to its first Central Connecticut Conference girls basketball tournament title, averaging 24.3 points per game, including 30 in an 81-68 win over South Windsor in the championship game.
In November at Southern Connecticut State University, Dale successfully defended her 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle titles at the Class L meet, posting a 23.17 time in the 50 freestyle that eclipsed not only her own class record, but also the state mark of 23.20, held since 1997.
Four days later at Yale University, Dale topped herself, shattering her own state record in the 50 freestyle and adding the 100 freestyle crown with a personal best.
Rather than rest, the dual citizen of New Zealand (father Darren is a former NZ 400m athletics record holder) and the United States immediately got into international basketball mode, traveling to Fiji to play at the FIBA Oceania U-18 Championships where she averaged 10.4 points per game for the Junior Tall Ferns.
A true scholar-athlete, Dale has committed to play Division I basketball at Brown University of the prestigious Ivy League later this year.
“Sometimes it’s hard to keep a good balance between athletics and academics, but academics has always been a high priority and will continue to be, going to an Ivy League school,” she said.
LACEY LOWDOWN 