The NCAA Tournaments are heading towards exciting finales but the curtain has come down on a busy and successful season for Harbour players in the States.

Neither Georgia Perrott-Hunt nor Olivia Bell could post points for North Dakota Wildcats who were undone by sharpshooting Walters State in first round of the NJCAA (Junior College) Division I Women’s National Championship – the Big Dance of junior college basketball.

Walters State, seeded 10^th, hit 10 of 19 threes as they eased to an 80-43 win against No 21 North Dakota. Olivia finished with 4 rebounds and Georgia 3 rebounds and a pair of steals.

It was a disappointing finish to the season but the pair can reflect on a successful campaign overall with North Dakota winning both their conference and regional titles and finishing with an impressive 29 wins – 4 losses record. Georgia has now completed her two-year stint at North Dakota whilst freshman Olivia still has another year of eligibility.

Georgia started all 33 games for the Wildcats averaging 3.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. Olivia played 32 games averaging 4.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per outing.

Also bowing out of a national tournament were Zara Jillings and Fordham University Rams. The Rams were beaten 81-50 by Virginia Tech in the round of sixteen at the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

The former Westlake Girls guard has had a solid freshman season for the 24-10 Rams playing every game and averaging 2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

Zara will now turn her attention to international duty at the Commonwealth Games. She is one of three Harbour players, along with Micaela Cocks and Deena Franklin, in the Tall Ferns team named for the Games.

The Tall Ferns are one of the first groups of Kiwis to enter the Commonwealth Games Village where they have begun a week of preparation before heading up to Cairns ahead of the opening game against Malaysia on Thursday April 5^th.

Due to her Commonwealth Games commitments Deena missed the Harbour Breeze pre-season fixture against Tauranga City Coasters on Saturday. The Breeze ran out 59-39 winners as coach Sonny Tuaputa shared game time amongst all his playing squad.