At a Glance | March Madness #4

As March Madness ramps up we will endeavor to keep you up to date with the progress of the teams that feature Kiwi players. More than 30 NCAA Division I and II players will be looking to go deep in conference tournament play in the coming days.

Played this afternoon NZ time, newly crowned Pac 12 Freshman of the Year and current Sky Sport Tall Fern Charlisse Leger-Walker top scored as #7 Washington State University Cougars beat #10 Utah 57-48 at the Pac 12 Tournament in Vegas. The Pac 12’s leading scorer finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds while sister Krystal tabbed 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

Washington State will play #2 Arizona featuring Tara Manumaleuga, a former New Zealand U17 teammate of Charlisse, in a quarter-final tie on Friday (NZ time).

Also in the Pac 12, Charlotte Whittaker and #6 Colorado University Buffaloes were upset by #11 Washington. The Buffaloes, coming off a four game winning streak to close out the regular season fell behind early and never recovered. Charlotte had one assist in nine minutes of action.

In NCAA Division II action Will Heather was one point shy of a career high as Dallas Baptist University progressed to the semi-final of the Lone Star Conference Tournament with a convincing 76-55 win against Midwestern State. Heather finished with 18 points, making 8 from 11 from the field, including 2 of 2 from beyond the arc. DBU play next on Friday.

Ouachita Baptist Tigers recorded an exciting 70-69 win against Arkansas Tech in the first round of the Great American Conference play-offs, but faced much stiffer opposition in the quarter-final.

Coming off a career high 13 points, that included 4 from 4 from beyond the arc in that game, Marvin Williams-Dunn and the Tigers couldn’t find a repeat result against #1 Oklahoma Baptist. Williams-Dunn tallied 3 points (1/2FG), 4 rebounds and a steal in a 97-78 defeat.

Commiserations to Wilfred Dickson. In an unfortunate turn of events South Dakota Mines were prevented from participating in the Rocky Mountain Conference Tournament due to Covid issues. Mines finished the season 9-9 in conference play.

Starting all 18 games Wilfred finished the season as the leading scorer for Mines averaging 12.8ppg and was second on the rebounding list (4.4rpg). In his four year career the former Napier Boys High guard has played 105 games totaling 704 points.

In the next 48 hours Sam Mennenga (Davidson), Taki Fahrensohn (Portland), Tayla Dalton, Jade Kirisome, Amy West (all St Mary’s, California), Helen Matthews (Wofford), Emme Shearer (Portland), Tsubasa Nisbett (Georgia Southern) and Pareunora Pene (Tennessee Chattanooga) will all commence sudden-death tournament play.