Weekly Wrap - Agony for the Tall Ferns
The Tall Ferns suffered an agonising 69-67 loss to Puerto Rico at an Olympic Qualifying Tournament in China over the weekend. The result, along with defeats to the hosts and France meant the Tall Ferns missed out on a berth at the Paris Olympics later in the year. Akiene Tera Reed scored 10 points against China while Tayla Dalton scored 7 and against Puerto Rico, Tera had 7 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
Tera missed the third game against the impressive French team, a contest in which Tayla excelled against world class opposition – she played the most minutes (32), scored 9 points and added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal.
Post-game Tayla said, “We came here with one goal and that was to qualify for the Olympics, so it’s a hard one heading home without receiving that ticket. But we got a lot of experience from this tournament and now it’s time to put out heads down and get to work for future tournaments to come.”
NCAA Division I
Emme Shearer scored seven of her 13 points in the final quarter to drive Portland to a 58-52 come from behind victory against Loyola Marymount. Emme, leading the steals count in the West Coast Conference with 2.7 per game, snared another five in the contest.
Freshman Tom Beattie had his second double figure outing of the season to help Hawaii to an 87-70 home win against UC Davis. Tom scored 11 points (2/3 3PG, 3/3FT) plus 3 assists and 2 rebounds.
NCAA Division II
Sean Murphy added 7 rebounds to 14 points as Nebraska Kearney went down 87-68 to Central Oklahoma. Those 14 points carried Sean past 400 career points in his 73rd game for the University of Nebraska at Kearney Lopers.
Charlie Dalton was a rebound shy of a double-double as Concordia Irvine were pipped 66-64 at Chaminade. Charlie finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds in the loss. Charlie followed that with a team high 15 points but couldn’t prevent Concordia slipping to a fourth straight PacWest Conference loss as they were defeated 66-56 by Hawaii Hilo.
Jess Moors scored 9 points (4/6FG) to help Nova Southeastern (14-1) edge Embry-Riddle 63-61 and remain top of the Sunshine State Conference standings.
Tessa Talo-Tomokino also posted 9 points (plus 6 rebounds) as Northeastern State, with a 23-5 fourth quarter outburst, accounted for Rogers State 61-47.
Junior College
Boston Caldwell again top scored for Central Maine as they got the better of Maine Fort Kent winning 86-70. Boston made 10 from 17 from the field for his 23 points while also snaring 4 steals.
Zaaliyah Kailahi-Fulu put in a big performance as Chipola College won a tight encounter against Gulf Coast State 86-80. In addition to a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds Zaaliyah also came up with 4 steals, a block and a pair of assists.
Professional Players
Sam Waardenburg was just a couple of points short of his season best score for the Cairns Taipans in their 117-88 mauling at the hands of the Perth Wildcats. Sam finished with 19 points while Tai Webster slotted 8 points as the Wildcats confirmed a top two finish in the Australian National Basketball League. Cairns, with one regular season game remaining, can start planning for 2024-25 with play-off basketball now out of reach.
There are another couple of wins to report for Isaac Fotu and his Japanese club Tochigi Brex. Brex posted a pair of wins against Nagasaki to improve their record to 32-7 with Isaac scoring 14 points and 10 points respectively in two 20-point victories.
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