LACEY LOWDOWN

How’s this for some numbers?

49 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 blocks and 7 steals.

That’s what Charlisse Leger-Walker has rattled up in her first two NCAA Division I games for Washington State University.

Washington State have started the season in style defeating Washington 60-52 and Idaho 74-55 where Charlisse bagged 29 points.

Older sister Krystal hasn’t put up such eye watering numbers but a two-game tally of 14 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 6 steals and a block plus big minutes in the playmaking role were significant in the Cougars two victories. 

California State University Fullerton have unfortunately lost three straight games to begin the season but it hasn’t been through lack of effort from Amiee Book.

Now in her third season with the Titans, Book has scored 50 points across the three games (twice as many points as any other Titan) and is shooting the three-ball at a highly respectable 47% (7/15). The former Waimea College standout is also the second highest rebounder on the team with 16 boards to date.

Jade Kirisome scored a career high 18 points (4/9 3PG) and Tayla Dalton tallied 11 points (3/7 3PG) but it didn’t prevent St Mary’s College, California falling to a fourth straight loss, going down 90-71 at Fresno State.

Dalton’s former Harbour teammate, also a freshman, Emme Shearer scored 13 points (5/8FG) and racked up 5 steals as Portland University Pilots had little trouble navigating past Northwest winning 93-54.

It was a different story 48 hours later as Portland were defeated by Washington University Washington recovered from the defeat against Washington State to win 83-56 – Shearer scored 7 points in that one on 3 from 5 shooting.

Kaylee Smiler and Tegan Graham scored 9 points each as BYU eased past Montana State 72-58, the pair playing 20 minutes apiece off the bench as the Cougars improved to 3-1.

Tsubasa Nisbett scored 4 points and added 3 rebounds as Georgia Southern pasted Coastal Georgia 118-48 to improve to 2-2 on the season.

Wofford College couldn’t quite make it three road wins on the bounce going down 70-64 in Cincinnati to Xavier University.

Helen Matthews has started all five games for Wofford (3-2) producing 4 points, a brace of rebounds, two assists and a steal in 21 minutes.  

Taranaki guard Eva Langton and Texas A&M International have made a good start to Lone Star Conference in NCAA Division II play with a brace of wins against Oklahoma Christian. Across the two games she tallied 13 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and a pair of steals.

In NAIA action Michelle Nicholls is going well for the 5-3 Central Methodist University. With seven starts under her belt the former Waitakere rep is averaging 11.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.

As reported last week Quinn Clinton’s star is on the rise at St Mary’s College Gaels.  

In the win against University of Texas at El Paso (73-61) he looked very comfortable shooting 3 from 4 for 8 points adding 5 rebounds and a pair of steals. 

A couple of days later it was Dan Fotu’s turn to shine for the Gaels. The Tall Black forward put together his first college double-double (15 points and 10 rebounds) in a 96-61 win against San Jose State.

Flynn Cameron put together a 6 points, 4 rebounds and game high 5 assists as University of California Riverside comfortably beat Northern Arizona 74-50.

Sam Mennenga helped Davidson College to an easy 77-45 win against Georgia Southern University. The former Westlake man posted 7 points, 4 rebounds and a block.

Anzac Rissetto had 4 points, a block and a rebound as North Carolina Charlotte 49ers were defeated 61-57 by Appalachian State. The 49ers led 49-42 with 9 minutes to play but were outscored 19-8 in the closing minutes.

James Moors made a quiet, efficient start to his Colorado State University career. Moors grabbed a couple of rebounds and made his only shot as the Rams beat Colorado State-Pueblo 89-77.

Kruz Perrott-Hunt and South Dakota will be thankful to get a win on the board after five straight losses. Perrott-Hunt didn’t score but he did contribute 4 assists and 3 rebounds as the Yotes defeated South Dakota State 91-78.

University of St Francis made it three straight wins in getting the better of Missouri Baptist, 82-75. Reihana Maxwell-Topia was again busy for the Fighting Saints filling the stats line with 2 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists and a steal.

Another former Rosmini College forward got his season off to a good start. Dallas Baptist University big man Will Heather had a productive game as DBU secured the double over Angelo State winning 93-86. Heather finished with 16 points (5/9FG, 4/4FT), 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks.

It’s been a while coming but finally we got to see Krystal and Charlisse Leger-Walker make their Washington State University debuts.

Covid has wreaked havoc with many college basketball programmes but the Cougars schedule has been hit harder than many.

Multiple pre-season games were cancelled. Then last week scheduled meetings with Cal Berkeley and Stanford were called off making Friday’s (local time) meeting with cross-state rival Washington the latest start to a WSU season in 44 years.

The game began with both L-W’s in the Washington State starting five – Charlisse needed a couple of early sighters before her first NCAA points came courtesy of an And-1 play.

She had 9 points in the opening quarter with Krystal a busy 4 rebounds and 2 assists as WSU opened up a 19-8 lead.

Krystal finished with 8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists a block and a steal in 35 minutes. Younger sister Charlisse finished with a game high 20 points (5/17FG), 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks as the Cougars began their Pac-12 programme with a 60-52 win against Washington.

Krystal stepped onto the court for the first time for the Cougs having sat out last season, in accordance with NCAA rules, having transferred from Northern Colorado University Bears.

In her three seasons with the Bears she started 87 games, scoring 564 career points and 378 career assists. She helped guide the Bears to the Big Sky Tournament Conference title and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018.

Krystal once again links up with Coach Kamie Ethridge who was her mentor at Northern Colorado.

The Cougars play in the tough Pac-12 Conference and will be delighted with the win given the team had not have played a game before Friday’s fixture – CL-W will surelty be a front runner for Pac-12 Rookie of the Week.

The strong showing from Charlisse follows on from the fine Div I debuts enjoyed by Tayla Dalton (St Mary’s College, California), Helen Matthews (Wofford University) and Emme Shearer (University of Portland) last month.

Is Quinn Clinton finally finding his mojo at St Mary’s College, California?

Or it may be more accurate to ask, are the Gaels coaching staff finally giving the classy shooting guard appropriate court time to display his talent?

Clinton got reasonable minutes in St Mary’s 73-50 win against Nicholls State University. The Cantabrian sored 6 points (2/3 3PG) in 17 minutes – in the same game Dan Fotu posted 10 points and 5 rebounds.  

In the 82-70 win against Texas Southern Clinton scored 15 points (4/8 3PG), dished 3 assists and snared 4 rebounds, playing 30 minutes. All are career highs at the Gaels which is hardly surprising given he hardly played in his freshman year and redshirted the 2019-20 season. 

Hopefully this good form is a sign of things to come.

Kruz Perrott-Hunt made his third start for South Dakota (0-3) tallying 8 points and 4 rebounds in 33 minutes.

Flynn Cameron, a former Junior Tall Black colleague of Perrott-Hunt, transferred from De Paul University in the off-season. He came up with 9 points and  rebounds as University of California Riverside proved too good for Denver winning 83-63.

Thomas Webley played 33 minutes in his first outing for University of Hartford and has started all five games for the Hawks.

The freshman is averaging 5.4 points and 4.6 rebounds across his first five collegiate games.

Takki Fahrensohn scored 7 points (3/3FG) as Portland overcame Northeastern 74-69.

Anzac Rissetto tallied 4 points and 2 rebounds as North Carolina Charlotte 49ersbeat Georgia State 76-65. Next week Anzac and the 49ers will take on Sam Mennenga’s Davidson University.

Reihana Maxwell-Topia’s first taste of college basketball was a double-overtime loss. Playing for St Francis, Illinois, the Fighting Saints went down 77-71 to Bellevue University with RM-T scoring 5 points on debut.

The former Rosmini College standout followed that with an enterprising stats line (8 points/5rebounds/1assist/1block/1steal) in a 77-68 victory over East-West University.

California State University Fullerton dropped their home opener to University of Nevada Las Vegas going down 81-67. Amiee Book, in her third season with the Titans, top scored for Fullerton with 16 points on 6 from 13 shooting.

Having missed three games due to injury Akienne Tera-Reed made a welcome return for Virginia Commonwealth University but couldn’t prevent the Rams going down 81-76 to Old Dominion University. Reed totaled 15 points (4/11FG) and 4 rebounds in just her second game of the season. 

Already into conference play is Charlotte Whittaker and the Colorado University Buffaloes, the Buffs dropping Pac-12 games to Oregon and Oregon State. 

Both opponents are ranked Top-20 in NCAA Division I with Whittaker putting together handy performances against both – 10 points versus Oregon and nine against Oregon State.

Brigham Young University (BYU) have begun their season with a win and loss. Graduate transfer, from Colgate University, Tegan Graham posted 7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in the season opening win against LSU. The following day BYU were well beaten by Washington (77-48) with Graham scoring 8 points (2/5 3PG) and Kaylee Smiler scoring 7.

St Mary’s College, California dropped a third straight game going down 62-53 against Arizona State. 2019 Tall Fern Amy West added 5 rebounds to her 9 points (4/5FG). Tayla Dalton was 2 from 3 from the field for her 4 points.

Kendell Heremaia was troubled by the foul count as Fordham University went down 62-58 to Quinnipiac. Heremaia fouled out in just 17 minutes finishing with a quiet 5 points and a couple of steals.

Washington State University’s season opener has been deferred to December 11. The much anticipated debut of Charlisse Leger-Walker, playing alongside sister Krystal, has twice been pushed back due to Covid with games against Cal and Stanford postponed.

In contrast Helen Matthews and Wofford University (3-1) have already played four games with their latest victory against UNC Asheville 76-50. Matthews, a freshman, has started in all four games averaging 29 minutes, 8 points and 4 rebounds.

Lauryn Mapusa, in her first year at Central Arkansas after a successful two years at Hutchinson Community College, tallied 5 points and 6 rebounds as the Bears beat Arkansas – Pine Bluff 74-70. It was the second start of the season for Mapusa.

Covid continues to wreak havoc with American college basketball. Numerous programmes won’t start until January and others have closed down completely for the 2020-21 season.

However there is some good news as many universities have kick started their seasons this week allowing a number if Kiwis to show their worth.

Hats off to NCAA Division I freshmen Tayla Dalton, Helen Matthews (pictured), Emme Shearer and Sam Mennenga in particular.

Here is the wrap on the major happenings in the last couple of days:

https://nz.basketball/at-a-glance-kiwi-debutants-impress-in-us/