March Madness Update – 21 March 2022
Men’s NCAA Division I National Championship, Second Round
Dan Fotu and St Mary’s College Gaels were defeated 72-56 by UCLA Bruins. The West Coast Conference runners-up had few answers for the superior Bruins in the second half, outscored 36-27. In his 120th and final collegiate game, Fotu had a single rebound.
Also bundled out in the second round were Yuat Alok and New Mexico State Aggies edged by Arkansas 53-48. The former Rangitoto College forward claimed a rebound and a free throw for the Aggies.
Miami (Sam Waardenburg) and Texas Christian (Harrison Young) are yet to play their second round games.
In the first round Miami Hurricanes scraped past USC Trojans 68-66, with Waardenburg adding 4 points and 3 rebounds to a career-high 4 blocks. It needed two free-throws, with three seconds left on the clock, for the Hurricanes to seal the win and book themselves a second round match-up against second seed Auburn.
Harrison Young and TCU Horned Frogs comfortably beat Seton Hall 69-42.
Sam Mennenga made 3 from 5 from beyond the arc in totalling 15 points, but Davidson Wildcats came up just short against Michigan State downed 74-73. Mennenga also tallied 5 rebounds, an assist and a block for the Atlantic-10 regular season champions.
Women’s NCAA Division I National Championship
New Zealand’s interest in the Women’s NCAA Tournament ended abruptly with first round defeats for both Washington State and Brigham Young (BYU), despite the best efforts of their Kiwi connections.
Tegan Graham had 11 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists, while Kaylee Smiler scored with her only shot as BYU were pipped 61-57 by Villanova. Tegan’s final tally of 153 games is a New Zealand record for the number of NCAA Division I appearances.
Krystal and Charlisse Leger-Walker carried a heavy load for Washington State University (WSU) as the Cougars went down 50-40 against Kansas State – the Waikato duo scoring all but eleven of the Cougars points. Krystal finished with 9 points and 5 rebounds whilst Charlisse scored a game high 20 points, setting a WSU record for the most points in an NCAA Tournament game in the process.
In what turned out to be her final collegiate game Krystal, in a rarity for her, had zero assists. That meant her amazing sequence of making an assist in every game she had played since January 2018 came to an end – the streak finishing at 94 games!
Women’s NAIA
The quest of Rocky Mountain College to secure a semi-final berth at the NAIA National Championships came up agonisingly short as they were edged 60-58 by Thomas More University. Former Waikato and St Peter’s School, Cambridge forward Dominique Stephens scored 9 points and added 4 rebounds.
Freshman Stephens played her part in the historic run of Rocky Mountain. They won their first ever NAIA Tournament games, won their first share of the Frontier Conference regular season title and their first Frontier Conference Tournament Championship, since 1988. Stephens played all 32 games for Rocky leading the team in blocks (36) while scoring 168 points at 5.3ppg.
Women’s Basketball Invitational (WNIT)
The curtain has come down on the collegiate career of Kendell Heremaia after Fordham University were defeated 71-64 by Bucknell in the first round. Heremaia had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists in the defeat. The former Waikato and St Peter’s School, Cambridge standout finishes her time at Fordham with 1,291 points and 796 rebounds in 145 appearances – 117 of those as a starter.
Emme Shearer and Portland Pilots got the better of Jess Moors and Colorado State in the battle between two former Harbour and Westlake teammates. Shearer had a game high 3 steals along with 2 points, 4 rebounds and a block.
UCLA were too good for UC Irvine winning 61-48. Olivia Williams tallied 4 points, 2 rebounds an assist and a steal for Irvine.
Women’s Basketball Invitational
St Mary’s College Gaels have reached the final of the Women’s Basketball Invitational after defeating Bowling Green University 76-67 in the semi-finals. Tayla Dalton added 2 assists and a block to 10 points (4/6FG) while Amy West snared a season high 11 rebounds to go with a couple of points.
NJCAA (Junior College) National Championships
Izzy Cook, Rashaan Smith and Western Nebraska College are through to the Final Four of the Junior College National Championships after Western Nebraska claimed a 63-51 quarter-final victory over South Plains.
Western Nebraska will meet Tyler College in the Championship semi-final tomorrow.
It wasn’t such good news for Southern Idaho as they were defeated 75-49 by Trinity Valley. Kyra Paniora had deuces in points, rebounds and assists with Ashlee Strawbridge severely hampered by foul trouble finishing with a rebound and an assist.
Strawbridge will now prepare for her imminent move to NCAA Division I school, University of Missouri-Kansas City.
In other news, Angus McWilliam has entered the transfer portal moving on from University California Riverside after three years with the Highlanders.
