March Madness #2 – 8 March 2022
More good news has emerged from the States in the last 24-hours, with further New Zealand representation confirmed at collegiate National Championships.
NCAA Div II
The NCAA Division II National Championships will have the former North Harbour duo of Hannah Wentworth and William Heather flying the Kiwi flag at the Women’s and Men’s Tournaments.
Wentworth and Eckerd College Tritons will play Florida Southern in the First Round on Friday after earning an at-large bid, while Heather and Dallas Baptist University earned an at-large bid for the Men’s Tournament.
NJCAA
Western Nebraska College Cougars are headed to the NJCAA National Tournament after receiving an at-large selection – meaning that three women’s teams with a Kiwi connection will be headed to the Women’s Junior College National Champs.
Cougars Rashaan Smith and Izzy Cook are joined by Dejaan Schuler (Casper College T-Birds) and the Southern Idaho Golden Eagles Ashlee Strawbridge and Kyra Paniora – the Eagles and T Birds having won Regional Tournaments to clip their qualifying tickets.
NCAA Div I
A busy week of NCAA Division I Conference play is underway.
Kruz Perrott-Hunt, recently named to the All-Summit League Second Team, scored 11 points in South Dakota’s Summit League quarter-final tie with Kansas City. South Dakota held a narrow 61-60 lead with five minutes to play but gave up just one more point to pull away for a 74-61 win. The reward is a semi-final tie against #1 South Dakota State.
Fourth seeded Hartford University Hawks beat Albany 61-49 in the America East Conference quarter-finals, Tom Webley with a defensive block in the dying minutes. Hartford progress to the semi-finals on Wednesday.
Having secured Conference Regular Season titles Davidson University Wildcats and New Mexico State have bought themselves early round byes in their respective tournaments.
Sam Mennenga notched 14 points even though Davidson dropped their final Atlantic 10 Conference game to Dayton 82-76. Despite the loss Davidson, with a programme best 15-3 record claimed the A-10 regular season title.
The Westlake Boys alumnus has been an integral part of the team’s success playing all 30 games (starting 29) and averaging 7.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
Yuat Alok scored 7 points (3/4FG) as New Mexico State claimed the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) regular season title with a resounding 62-46 win at Utah State. With direct passage into the WAC semi-finals Alok, the former Rangitoto College forward, is just two wins away from an NCAA National Championship appearance.
Jessica Moors secured a couple of rebounds as #6 Colorado State eased past #11 San Jose State in the Mountain West Conference Championship First Round.
Brother James Moors is a sophomore on the men’s team at Colorado State and he will be in action on Friday when the number 2 ranked Rams take to the floor for a quarter-final fixture.
Looking ahead, we’ll be reporting on two big West Coast Conference semi-finals with Kiwi interest.
Top seeded BYU, featuring Tegan Graham, Arielle Mackey-Williams and Kaylee Smiler match up with Emme Shearer and Portland University Pilots in the Women’s final four while Dan Fotu suits up for #2 ranked Saint Mary’s against Santa Clara.
