Hutchinson Community College have moved up to No 3 on the NJCAA (Junior College) rankings. The Blue Dragons boast an impressive 22-1 record. Keeley Tini, in her freshman year at Hutchinson, has played all 23 games averaging 6.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per outing. Her best performance was a 14 points, 10 rebounds double-double against Ellsworth College in late December.

Also in Junior College Olivia Bell is averaging 9.2 points and 6.0 rebounds for North Dakota State College that boast a 15-6 record. The former Westlake forward last week scored a career high 25 points (9/17FG, 7/9FT) although NDSC were sunk 94-86 by Bismarck State.

Still with Junior College ball, a third Westlaker, Joel Coffey is averaging 2.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game for State College of Florida that are 13-11 this season. 

Ravaged by injuries and unavailability the University of Miami Hurricanes (1-7 in Atlantic Coast Conference) have been reduced to seven scholarship players and the results are showing as they fell 82-70 to No 12 Virginia Tech. The upside for Sam Waardenburg is that he is seeing plenty of court time. Playing 30 minutes the former Rangi forward scored 9 points and added 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

Following that game Waardenburg and Miami visited No 3 University of Virginia Cavaliers.

It was Jack Salt and the Cavaliers that eventually prevailed 56-46 but the Hurricanes were far from blown away by their Atlantic Coast Conference rivals in a low scoring encounter. 

Sam (10 points) reached double figures for the fifth time this season on 4 from 9 shooting. In 36 minutes of action, his most ever in a conference game, the sophomore forward also added 3 rebounds a steal and a block.

Jack, in his final year at Virginia, was his usual rock solid self on defence picking up a season high 9 rebounds to accompany 7 points (3/5FG).

Next up for Virginia (8-1 in conference play and 20-1 overall)  is the mouth-watering prospect of entertaining Duke ranked No 1 or No 2 depending on which polls you view. Duke prevailed 72-70 when the teams last met – the game is scheduled for Sunday (NZT).

Matt Freeman (6 points) dropped a couple of triples for Oklahoma but it was heartbreak for the Sooners defeated 75-74 by No 17 Iowa State. With three defeats on the bounce Oklahoma have slipped to 3-7 in the Big 12 Conference. 

Also in NCAA Division I Akiene-Tera Reed tied her career best 6 assists as Virginia Commonwealth Rams beat Massachusetts 52-48. Reed added 13 points, four rebounds and a game high 4 steals as the Rams remained top of the Atlantic-10 Conference with a 7-1 record.

In NCAA Division II play Denhym Brooke was at his defensive best as Hawaii at Hilo accounted for Azusa Pacific 64-60, the Vulcans now 7-6 in the PacWest Conference. Denhym came up with 4 blocks, 4 rebounds and 11 points – that’s 11 blocks in the last three games and 28 for the season.

Also in the PacWest Biola University boast a similar record to Azusa Pacific. They are 7-7 after a 65-56 road win at Hawaii Pacific. A feature of the win was a double-double from Alex Talma (11 points and 12 rebounds) – his seventh double D of the season.

In Division II women’s basketball Charlotte Armstrong is playing an increasingly significant roe off the bench for Barry University Buccaneers. The sophomore forward was within a point of her career best with 8 points (plus 3 rebounds and a block) as the Buccaneers fell 77-61 to Florida Tech. Barry are now 5-8 in Sunshine State Conference play.