This time it’s two blokes going head to head. Three months ago they were facing off in the Harbour Premier competition at North Shore Events Centre. At the weekend they squared off in a PacWest Conference game.
Read who got the win link
LACEY LOWDOWN
ALL THINGS NEW ZEALAND BASKETBALL
Category Archives: Kiwi’s Abroad
Davidson v Beckley and Boagni v Noyer amongst Kiwi v Kiwi encounters
With record numbers of Kiwis playing college basketball in the States instances of New Zealand players taking the floor in direct opposition are becoming more and more common.
In the last three days there have been four editions of Mate v Mate, Kiwi v Kiwi, with Penina Davidson involved in two encounters – in total six Tall Ferns were in action.
First up Davidson and the Cal Berkeley Bears proved too good for Jacinta Beckley and Seattle Redhawks winning 87-67.
Beckley was in good form for the Redhawks nailing 15 points despite fouling out in 23 minutes.
Davidson contributed 3 points, 6 rebounds and a brace of assists in Cal’s fourth win of the season.
In the second episode it took an overtime period for Krystal Leger-Walker and Tiarna Clarke to edge Shalae Salmon and BYU Cougars 79-74.
For the Bears Leger-Walker, the only senior NZ international amongst the trio in this encounter, dished a team high 5 assists to go with 2 points and 3 rebounds. Freshman guard Tiarna Clarke chipped in with 6 points in the win.
Salmon continued her outstanding start to her sophmore season at BYU with 11 points and 6 rebounds.
In the third match up Davidson and Cal Berkeley prevailed once again this time smothering Santa Clara Broncos 79-41.
Dru Toleafoa, after an injury plagued spell, is enjoying some productive minutes for the Broncos and had 7 points, 4 rebounds and a block in a game in which they gave Cal a 16-0 start and never recovered.
It wasn’t the best of outings for Davidson who fouled out in just 16 minutes although in that time the former Rangitoto College standout produced 4 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
In the battle of two Kiwi centres Tessa Boagni and Cal State Northridge Matadors proved too good for Katelin Noyer and Fresno State Bulldogs winning 85-71 in the Matadome.
Boagni was outstanding with a career high 5 blocks to add to 10 points, 8 rebounds plus 2 steals for good measure.
Noyer dealt mainly in pairs having 2 points, 2 assists and 2 blocks for the Bulldogs.
Australian WNBL log jam – three Tall Ferns involved
There is a three-way tie at the top of the Australian WNBL with three Tall Ferns players in the midst of the action. Townsville Fire, Melbourne Boomers and defending champions Sydney University Flames each have an 8-4 record just over halfway through the regular season.
One of those players is Micaela Cocks. Her Townsville Fire team got the better of Melbourne Boomers (73-66) but came unstuck in Perth on Sunday going down 73-66.
After a 17 points haul the previous weekend Cocks had to settle for just 7 points across the two games in this round.
Melbourne of course boasts two Kiwi internationals with Kalani Purcell and Rebecca Ott in their lineup. However they didn’t enjoy the best of weeks losing to both of their closest rivals.
The loss to Townsville was followed by defeat at home to Sydney, 101-89.
Ott has just returned after injury but did post 4 points against the Sydney.
Purcell is amongst the top 10 rebounders in the WNBL and demonstrated that fact by snaring a team high 11 rebounds in Townsville.
Averaging 7.2 rebounds per game Purcell came up with another 5 against Sydney to go with 9 points
Canberra Capitals now sit dead last on the ladder after going down 83-80 at home to Bendigo Spirit. Chevannah Paalvast failed to put any points on the board but did dish a season high 5 assists.
In Italy Napoli won again with an 84-60 win against Vigarano. Jillian Harmon produced her third double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds as well as 5 assists.
Napoli now has a 4-4 record. Harmon is third on the Italian League individual standings for both points scored (18.0) and rebounds (9.6) per game.
Kiwis in College – Fordham trio beat Northern Colorado duo
In a first for New Zealand basketball five Kiwi players featured in the same NCAA Division 1 basketball game as Fordham University Rams beat University of Northern Colorado Bears, that endured a horror shooting night, 48-33 in a low scoring non-conference game.
The hosts featured three Kiwis in their line up led by Cantabrian forward Mary Goulding. They also have the freshman pair of Kendell Heremaia and Zara Jillings on their roster.
Northern Colorado entered the fixture boasting a 4-1 record with sophmore guard Krystal Leger-Walker and freshman guard Tiarna Clarke in their lineup but had a shooting night to forget making just one of 26 three point attempts – that single triple make from Leger-Walker in the final two minutes of the game.
Played on the Rams home court in the Bronx, New York, the hosts led by as many as nine points in the first half but had to settle for just a 21-18 advantage at the interval – both teams shooting around the 33% mark from the field.
UNC closed to within two points (22-20) early in the second half but a 13 – 1 run from Fordham including an inside bucket from Goulding and a corner three from Jillings moved them to a 35-21 lead.
All three Kiwis were on the board for Fordham when Heremaia converted a left-handed drive to take the Rams to a formidable 40-23 three-quarter time advantage.
Little was going right for UNC and a late rally failed to materialize as Fordham eased to a second regular season win of the season and relegated the Bears to its second lowest score in programme history.
All five Kiwis enjoyed sizeable court time putting up the following numbers:
Fordham Rams 48
Goulding – 22 minutes, 6 points, 7 rebounds
Jillings – 24 mins, 5 pts, 2 rebs, 1 assist, I steal
Heremaia – 20 mins, 2 pts, 7 rebs, 3 assists
Northern Colorado Bears 33
Leger-Walker – 35 mins, 3 pts, 4 rebs, 2 assists, 1 steal
Clarke – 0 pts, 2 rebs, 1 assist
Mate v Mate as Kiwi Women make a little bit of history
In a first for New Zealand basketball five Kiwi players will feature in the same NCAA Division 1 basketball game as Fordham University Rams entertained Northern Colorado Bears.
Played on the Rams home court in the Bronx, New York the two teams will match up for the very first time on Saturday afternoon (NZ time).
The hosts feature three Kiwis in their line up led by Cantabrian forward Mary Goulding. They also have the freshman pair of Kendell Heremaia and Zara Jillings on their roster.
Northern Colorado head to the Big Apple boasting a 4-0 record with sophmore guard Krystal Leger-Walker and freshman guard Tiarna Clarke both in good form.
Leger-Walker’s distribution skills are key for the Bears and her 5.5 assists per game rank her first amongst Big Sky Conference players in that statistical category.
Adding a little more spice to the game is that Jillings and Clarke oppose each other after both were in the class of 2016 at Westlake Girls High and were on the same Harbour team that won the U19 National title in that year.
There is also a Waikato mate v mate scenario, as Heremaia and Leger-Walker played on successful Waikato representative and school teams together. The pair were the key performers in St Peter’s, Cambridge winning the 2015 NZ Secondary Schools National title.
Overseas based Tall Ferns in outstanding form
All four overseas based Tall Ferns currently in action performed with distinction last week.
Micaela Cocks was named in the Australian WNBL Team of the Week after her 17 points haul in Townsville Fire’s 101-78 win against Adelaide Lightning.
Cocks was hot from behind the three point arc hitting five of her seven attempts as the Fire moved to the top of the WNBL ladder with a 7-3 record.
Kalani Purcell once again demonstrated her rebounding prowess snaring a game high 12 rebounds as Melbourne Boomers beat Canberra Capitals 96-66 to improve to second behind Townsville with an 8-4 win-loss record.
Purcell finished with 5 points and 5 assists to go with the dozen boards.
For Canberra (2-9), who are languishing in seventh place on the eight team table, Chevannah Paalvast contributed 4 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, a block and a steal.
The only bad news for Melbourne is that star centre Liz Cambage has received a one game suspension for unduly rough play against Canberra import Mistie Bass. The suspension was reduced from two games after Cambage and Melbourne accepted an early guilty plea.
In Italy the week off whilst the European Championship Qualifying Tournament was on didn’t do Jillian Harmon any harm.
The Tall Ferns forward put together a formidable double-double of 30 points and 13 rebounds as Napoli thumped Broni 77-46.
Napoli sit mid table with a mediocre 3-4 record but Harmon is having a standout campaign in her first season with the club. She is second on the Italian League individual points standings averaging 8.4ppg, sits fourth on the rebounding list (9.4rpg) and is seventh for assists (3.4apg).
Davidson and Blair shine but plenty of other good Kiwi performers in American College games
Ahead of Thanksgiving celebrations there was plenty of success for our Tall Ferns and Tall Blacks playing college basketball in the States.
It is difficult to pick out a single standout performance but perhaps the double-double from Penina Davidson shades the efforts of another Rangitoto alumni Brooke Blair.
Davidson completed her second-double of the season as she collected a dozen rebounds to accompany 15 points as Cal Berkeley Bears accounted for Brown University 89-79.
Blair had a nice double dose of scoring as Idaho State Bengals mauled College of Idaho 89-32 and followed up by beating University of California Irvine 78-72. Blair scored 14 points in the College of Idaho saunter and 17 against Irvine – four straight wins for the Bengals and four straight double digit outings for the 2016 Tall Fern.
Stella Beck is just 3 points shy of 1,000 career points for St Mary’s Gaels after scoring 10 points in the comfortable 82-64 win against Cal Poly Mustangs.
Jacinta Beckley, made a crucial free throw in the dying seconds in Seattle Redhawks 65-62 win against Pepperdine. Beckley scored 9 points and pulled down 4 rebounds as Seattle improved to 2-2.
Cantabrian Tessa Boagni and Cal State Northridge are doing it tough at the moment slipping to 0-4 in the opening quartet of games. Boagni is certainly doing her bit to get the Matadors across the line coming up with 6 blocks and 14 points in the narrow 58-50 loss against New Orleans.
Krystal Leger-Walker was again dropping plenty of dimes coming up with 7 assists as University of Northern Colorado Bears defeated LSU 58-50. The combo guard followed that with a further 5 assists (plus 5 points and 7 rebounds) in the 73-60 win against San Francisco as the Bears improved to 4-0.
In addition to scoring 8 points Katelin Noyer snared 7 rebounds, including 4 at the offensive end, but Fresno State Bulldogs slipped to a 68-56 loss against UC Riverside.
Amongst players not yet capped at full international level Shalae Salmon takes the plaudits this week.
Salmon isn’t a Tall Fern yet but the new Tall Ferns coach (when appointed) will surely take a look at the BYU Provo centre out of Porirua. Salmon has played a major part in BYU’s start to the season averaging an impressive 9 points, 14.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks across the three games.
It was reasonably quiet on the men’s front with Sam Timmins the best performer this week.
Timmins came up with 3 blocks to go with 8 rebounds and 6 points in Washington Huskies 77-70 loss to Providence in New York.
Izayah Le’afa played 25 minutes off the bench for Sacramento State Hornets contributing 2 points, 2 rebounds and a steal in the 69-56 loss at San Francisco.
Jack Salt to go with 4 points and 4 rebounds as Virginia Cavaliers win at state rivals Virginia Commonwealth 76-67.
None of the above players were considered for Tall Blacks duty this week due to their college commitments.
Fotu and Ulm get the win
Tai Webster and Isaac Fotu are about to board a flight back to New Zealand to join up with their Tall Blacks teammates for the World Cup qualifying fixture against Korea on Thursday in Wellington and it will be Fotu who will be the happier as they settle in for the long haul from Frankfurt.
The Tall Blacks forward and his Ratiopharm Ulm team sprung something of a surprise beating the more fancied Frankfurt Skyliners, with Tai Webster at the helm, in their German Bundesliga encounter on Saturday night.
The Skyliners entered the game with a superior 6-3 record and actually led Ulm 59-58 entering the final quarter.
However a blistering last quarter from the visitors, won 31-16, propelled Ulm to the win and improved their record to 5-5. Fotu, with an efficient 10 points (5 from 7 from the field) was one of four of his team in double figures.
Webster scored just the four points but demonstrated his all court ability by leading the Skyliners’ rebounding with 7 boards and also dished 5 assists.
Both players have been in good form this season. In his first season in the professional ranks, since graduating from the University of Nebraska, Webster is averaging 13 points, 4.3 rebounds and a team high 4.3 assists per game.
Fotu, who moved to Ulm this season, after playing three years in the Spanish League, is averaging 9.2 points and 3.6 rebounds for the regular season defending champions.
The pair are expected to arrive in Auckland late Monday before linking with the rest of the Tall Blacks squad on Tuesday morning in Wellington.
Shalae Salmon posting huge numbers
During the last two seasons we were used to seeing Kalani Purcell put together ‘Stats Stuffing’ performances for Brigham Young University Cougars.
Purcell has of course now moved into the professional ranks playing for Melbourne Boomers in the Australian WNBL but it looks as if the Cougars have found another Kiwi forward to fill the void left by the Tall Ferns forward.
Shalae Salmon, the sophomore out of Porirua, posted astonishing numbers in the Cougars 75-67 overtime win against Southern Utah last weekend.
A 17 rebounds haul would be a good performance on any day but to supplement that effort with 12 points, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks was quite staggering – probably, based on statistics alone, one of the best ever performances by a New Zealand college player.
Salmon was something of a bit-part player last year, in her first year at BYU, averaging just a couple of points and rebounds per game.
However BYU head coach Jeff Judkins has entrusted Salmon with the starting centre berth and she has responded in style. A week earlier she recorded 10 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks in a pre season game against Colorado Mesa.
If that wasn’t enough, in BYU’s 80-72 loss to Washington today Salmon again snared a bucket full of rebounds – 15 in total – plus 8 points and another 3 blocks.
Three games – two double-doubles – 10.0 points per game – 14.3 rebounds per game – 2.0 steals per game– 2.7 blocks per game.
Watch this space!
Tall Blacks shine in Europe
Tai Webster and Isaac Fotu will share a flight back to New Zealand at the weekend as they look to assemble with their Tall Blacks teammates for the World Cup qualifying fixture against Korea.
Before boarding the flight in Frankfurt the pair will be on opposite sides as Webster’s Frankfurt Skyliners entertain Fotu’s Ratiopharm Ulm in a German Bundesliga game.
Last weekend the Skyliners lost their third game of the campaign going down 75-67 at Brose to slip to fifth on the league table with a 6-3 record.
Webster was once again in fine form top scoring in the game with 19 points to go with 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
Ulm (4-5) are up to tenth on the ladder after an 88-77 home win against Braunschweig with Fotu scoring 9 points on 4 from 8 shooting.
Good news also from Israel where Corey Webster led all scorers with 22 points as Ironi Nahariya defeated Maccabi Haifa 83-73 with Nahariya improving to 4-2 for the season.
In other news former Tall Blacks swingman Dion Prewster has also headed to Germany, signing with Uni Baskets Paderborn.
Paderborn competes in the Pro-A League, the equivalent of the German second division.
It was also announced recently that Prewster has signed for the Bay Hawks for the 2018 NZNBL season after playing for Nelson Giants in 2017.
LACEY LOWDOWN 