In the latest news from the States we can report that Emme Shearer, Flo Dallow and Taine Murray are headed to the “Big Dance”, the NCAA Division I Championship, while Hannah Wentworth put in an eye catching performance at the NCAA Division II Tournament over the weekend. 

Emme and Flo will appear at the Women’s NCAA Tournament after Portland University Pilots upset top seed Gonzaga to claim the West Coast Tournament Championship. Emme had 9 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals as Portland came from 11 points down at half-time to beat the defending champions 64-60.

It was a terrific win for Portland against the #16 ranked team in the nation as Gonzaga had won both games in the regular season and were looking for a championship three-peat.

Flo is energetically supporting the team from the bench as she is redshirting the 2022-23 season.

Portland will meet Oklahoma in the opening round of the Tournament.

Taine Murray made both of his shooting attempts for 5 points as Virginia defeated Clemson 76-56 in the Atlantic Coast Conference semi-final. However Virginia were defeated 59-49 by Duke in the championship game. However with a national ranking of #13 there was no doubting that the Cavaliers would secure a championship berth.

Virginia will take on Furman in first round of action.

Davidson college were ousted from the Atlantic 10 Tournament in the quarter-finals by top seed Virginia Commonwealth going down 71-53. Sam Mennenga had 8 rebounds and 9 points finishing the season as Davidson’s second highest scorer with 486 points at 15.2ppg. Starting all 32 games he was also the leading rebounder for the Wildcats with 6.7 boards per appearance.

Sam was named to the Atlantic 10 all-conference third team following a season in which he scored in double figures in all but four of his 32 games and had six double-doubles highlighted by a career best 27 points and 11 boards against La Salle.

Also going out to a top seed was another former Harbour and Westlake Boys forward. James Moors had 4 points, 5 rebounds and a couple of steals as Colorado State Rams went out to #1 San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference. The Rams gave it their best shot only going down by three points, 64-61 against the No17 ranked team in Men’s Division I college basketball. Moors tallied 199 points for the season and now has 490 career points in 92 appearances.

Zach Riley and Fordham University were defeated in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament semi-finals by Dayton 78-68.

Back to Women’s Division I and Jess Moors and Colorado State University will be competing at the prestigious National Invitation Tournament. Like Flo Dallow, Jess is redshirting this season.

Hannah Wentworth is flying the New Zealand flag in style at the NCAA Division II Women’s National Championship.

Hannah scored a team high 23 points, 2 points shy of her career best, as Eckerd College Tritons advanced to the last sixteen of the Championships for the first time in programme history. Hannah nailed 5 from 10 threes and all 4 free throws as the Tritons pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Union University 64-57.

In Junior College Leo Wenham top scored for Southeast Community College Storm in the Region 9 championship game. Leo shot 7 from 9 from the floor for 14 points but unfortunately the Storm were beaten 72-60 by Central CC. 

Boston Caldwell was named to the USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association) 2^nd Team All-American after a standout freshman season for Central Maine Community College.

The former Harbour and Westlake Boys High swingman averaged a team high 15.6 points per game for the Mustangs. In addition he contributed 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

Meanwhile in the professional ranks Akiene-Tera Reed had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists in Pyrinto’s 88-67 loss to FoA in the Finnish League.

Here’s hoping the Sky Sport Breakers can win the Australian NBL Grand Final series decider in Sydney against the Kings tomorrow night. The series is locked 2-2 after the Breakers, in front of a record crowd for a basketball game in NZ (9.742), won Game 4 80-70 at Spark Arena on Sunday. In particular we send our best wishes to the Harbour contingent of Tom Abercrombie, Rob Loe and Dan Fotu.