Mar 09 2017
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College Hoops, Tall Blacks, Tall Ferns

Webster and Leger-Walker exit but Noyer, Salt, and Boagni advance

There was plenty of action on Thursday involving Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns in NCAA Division 1 conference championships.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Mar 08 2017
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College Hoops, Kiwi's Abroad, Tall Blacks, Tall Ferns

Beck bows out, Noyer and Le’Afa advance

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Mar 08 2017
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Kiwi's Abroad, Tall Blacks, Tall Ferns

Mixed results in Europe for Kiwis last week

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Zaragoza suffered a third consecutive loss going down 93-80 at Fuenlabrada despite a strong showing from Isaac Fotu. The power forward contributed 13 points at a highly efficient 6 from 7 shooting and added a quartet of rebounds and assists.

Zaragoza are now 7-15 for the season and 13th on the 17 team Liga Endesa points table.

Also in Spain Sammic ISB entertained the extravagantly named Aceitunas Fragata Moron in the Spanish third division.

Mike Karena scored 8 points (4/9FG) and grabbed 6 rebounds as Sammic recovered from a four points deficit at half time to win 83-75 and remain top of the standings with a 17-6 record.

In his second game in Turkey Thomas Abercrombie came off the bench as his club Demir IBB went down 78-67 at Gaziantep. The Tall Blacks forward is searching for his scoring touch failing to score from the field in six attempts. He made a pair of freebies finishing with 2 points, 2 rebounds and a steal in 16 minutes.

Erin Rooney also played 16 minutes in a loss as Artego Bydgoszcz lost 71-64 at Wisla in the Polish League. Rooney put up just a couple of shots finishing with 2 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists against top of the table Wisla as Artego slip to 6th on the standings (13-9).

In Italy Le Mura Lucca had a comfortable 77-50 win at Battipaglia to improve to 17-2 on the season. Jillian Harmon recorded 18 points and 10 rebounds, her third double double in the past five games. Next week Lucca have a top of the table clash with Familia Schio, the team that defeated them in the Italian Cup final last week.

Mar 07 2017
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College Hoops, Kiwi's Abroad, Tall Ferns

Beck and St Mary’s advance to conference final

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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.

 

Mar 05 2017
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Kiwi's Abroad, Tall Blacks, Tall Ferns, Uncategorized

Kenny and ‘Cats’ keep title

Jarrod Kenny was the last Kiwi standing in Australia after Perth Wildcats emphasised their play-off supremacy to sweep Illawarra Hawks 3-0 in the best of five NBL Grand Final series. Perth retained its title with a 95-86 victory on Sunday on the back of a stunning 45 points from import Bryce Cotton. The win extends Perth’s record number of championships to eight.

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Kenny joins a select band of Kiwis that have won two Australian NBL titles. The former Westlake Boys stand out doesn’t produce stunning numbers for the Wildcats, he scored just two points in game three, but he fills his role as back up to captain Damian Martin in style. An unselfish facilitator and resilient defender Kenny is the perfect foil to the ‘Cats’ talisman and has played a significant part in Perth’s success over the past two seasons.

Perth Lynx were unable to duplicate the men’s success as they exited the Women’s National Basketball League play-offs at the semi-final stage in a tie also played on Sunday

Having levelled the three game series in Perth on Friday the Lynx were looking to return to the final having finished runners-up last season. It was not to be as they were defeated 81-63 by Dandenong Rangers.

Tall Ferns guard Toni Edmondson again had the ice cold shooting hand, going zero from four – having shot 2 of 12 on Friday. The Cantabrian did accumulate 6 rebounds but the Lynx will now have to lick their wounds and prepare for the 2017/18 season, as Dandenong go on the face Sydney University Flames in the Grand Final.

Mar 04 2017
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Kiwi's Abroad, Tall Blacks, Tall Ferns

Now there are two

Just two Kiwis remain active in the Australian Men’s and Women’s National Basketball Leagues and they are both wearing the red of Perth.

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Jarrod Kenny and the Perth Wildcats look certain to retain their NBL title having gone 2-0 up in the five game Grand Final series against Illawarra Hawks and Toni Edmondson and Perth Lynx are one win away from returning to the WNBL Grand Final.

The Wildcats produced a composed performance in Wollongong on Wednesday winning 89-77, the same score line that decided game one.

Kenny played his part in marshalling the scoring threat of Hawks shooting guard Rotnei Clarke whilst also managing 4 points, 4 assists and 2 steals in game two.

Game three is back in Perth on Sunday.

 The Lynx will also return to the court on Sunday to play the deciding semi-final game against Dandenong Rangers. On Friday the Lynx tied the best of three series at one apiece with a 91-71 victory on their home court.

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Edmondson had a shooting night to forget converting just 2 from 12 scoring attempts but her length and athleticism aided the Lynx defence that restricted Dandenong to just 10 points in the final frame. Lynx led 63-61 at the three-quarter mark but powered away in the fourth. Edmondson finished with 4 points, 3 rebounds and a pair of steals.

 On the Eastern coast Townsville Fire was defeated 76-61 by Sydney University Flames. The defeat means, for Micaela Cocks and Chevannah Paalvast, their dream of a three-peat is over. Having won the last two WNBL championships the Fire were no match for the Flames beaten convincingly in both semi-final contests.

It wasn’t a night to remember for the Kiwi pair with Paalvast not taking to the floor and Cocks failing to score for the only time this season. She did manage three rebounds and a steal but the season has ended on a disappointing note for the two Tall Ferns guards.

Mar 02 2017
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College Hoops, Tall Ferns

College conference championships begin for three Tall Ferns

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.

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

Feb 28 2017
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Uncategorized

Harmon goes down in Italian Cup Final and Abercrombie debuts in Turkey

 

A day after arriving in Turkey Thomas Abercrombie took the court for his new club Demir IBB – which is a lot quicker to write than Demir Insaat Buyukcekmece Basketball club. The Tall Blacks and Breakers swingman shook off some of his jet lag by coming off the bench to score 7 points (3/4FG) in 13 minutes of action but Demir, 13th on the Turkish League ladder, were comfortably beaten by 4th placed Banvit BK 89-65.

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Also beaten at home by higher placed opposition was Zaragoza in the Spanish League. Isaac Fotu produced his third double double of the season and his highest rebound tally – 17 points / 12 rebounds – but it wasn’t enough to prevent Zaragoza going down 99-88 to Baskonia. Zaragoza with a 7-14 record is slipping towards a relegation battle after this latest defeat.

In the Spanish third division Sammic ISB jumped back to the top of the table with a 72-67 victory against Zamorano. Canterbury Rams forward Mike Karena continued his good form with 12 points and 9 rebounds for Sammic that now boast a 16-6 record.

In Italy Le Mura Lucca was defeated by rivals Famila Schio 88-60 in the Italian Women’s Cup Final played in Venice at the weekend.

Lucca trailed by just a point at half-time 31-30 and the same margin at the end of the third (53-52) but with free scoring Tall Ferns forward Jillian Harmon held to just 6 points it was blitzed 35-8 in the last quarter.

The two teams meet again in a fortnight in league action.

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Erin Rooney has averaged 20 minutes a game across her first 7 appearances for Artego Bydgoszcz in the Polish League. Artego are 6-1 since the Cantabrian’s arrival in early January and now sit 5th on the league table with a 13-7 record after their latest victory, a nail biting 85-83 win against close rivals Gorzow Wielkopoiski. Artego dished an impressive 22 assists in the encounter with Rooney contributing 4 of those as well as 4 points.

Feb 28 2017
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Age Group NZ Teams, Womens Basketball

New Zealand U16 Girls teams named

The New Zealand Under 16 girls basketball team, and the New Zealand Select Under 16 girls team have been named. These teams will travel to Australia in June and July to take on some of Australia’s top junior teams.

Head Coach of the New Zealand Under 16 Girls team, Natalie Visger says, “the wider squad is a very athletic and passionate group with a bright basketball future.”

For a full report go to;

http://www.basketball.org.nz/News/new-under-16-girls-basketball-teams-named

 

Feb 27 2017
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Tall Blacks

And still there are four

And still there are four!

Four Kiwis remain active in the Australian Men’s and Women’s National Basketball leagues – but only just with the three Tall Ferns representatives in the WNBL just one defeat away from elimination.

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Jarrod Kenny and the Perth Wildcats are striving to retain their NBL title in a five game Grand Final series against surprise finalists Illawarra Hawks.

Perth swept their semi-final series against Cairns 2-0 but Illawarra had to come from one game down to defeat the 36ers in the deciding game 106-98, in Adelaide last Thursday.

In the opening game of the Grand-Final series Perth took care of business on their home court winning 89-77. Kenny was his reliable self in his back up role behind captain Damian Martin knocking down his only shot – a three in the opening stanza.

Game two is in Wollongong on Wednesday night.

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Micaela Cocks, Townsville Fire point guard

 Also looking to retain their crown is the Townsville Fire. In fact the Fire, with Micaela Cocks and Chevannah Paalvast in their line up, are going for a three-peat having won the last two WNBL championships.

The Fire played the first of their three game semi-final series on Saturday night against Sydney University Flames and was annihilated 111-69 by the regular season champions. Sydney won every quarter including a dominating third 38-14 as the Fire could find few answers. Cocks contributed 6 points, 2 dimes and 3 steals and Paalvast chipped in with a couple of rebounds and an assist but it looks like the Flames are going to be too hot for the Fire

Basketball - Tall Ferns v Japan, 27 August 2009

Also on Saturday night Toni Edmondson was in action as Perth Lynx visited Dandenong Rangers in the other semi-final. Perth endured a horror first half trailing 45-23 at the break and despite a brave fight back went down 73-66. Edmondson produced 4 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal for the Reds.

Game two of both semi-finals is on Friday.

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