The big news of the week is that Julius Halaifonua, along with Dan Fotu, has been named to the Tall Blacks squad for the two Asia Cup Qualifying games next month – the game against Hong Kong will be at Eventfinda Stadium on Sunday February 25^th.

17 year-old Julius, who schools and trains at the NBA Global Academy in Canberra, will join a select group of players to have been selected for the Tall Blacks while still at school. 

The Tall Ferns will be competing at an Olympic Qualifying Tournament in China next month with Tayla Dalton and Akiene Tera Reed the two Harbour representatives named to the 12-player squad.

Emme Shearer finished a single point shy of 900 NCAA Division I career points after making a game high 18 as Portland cruised to an 82-49 victory at Pepperdine with Flo Dallow contributing 4 points in the win. Emme sailed past  the milestone as she equalled her career best with 21 points in the 64-59 win at San Diego on Sunday – she also snared 4 steals!

Tayla Dalton scored 9 points as St Mary’s College, California registered a 74-67 home win against Santa Clara.  

Taine Murray scored 6 of his 11 points (3/4FG, 3/4FT) in overtime as Virginia extended their unbeaten home run to 21 games with a 59-53 victory over North Carolina State.

NCAA Division II

A third double-double of the season from Sean Murphy wasn’t enough to get Nebraska Kearney the win. Sean produced 10 rebounds and a season equaling best 18 points in a 77-58 loss to Emporia State.

Kiani Saxon tallied a dozen points and 5 rebounds but couldn’t prevent Missouri Western State slipping to a 76-66 loss at Lincoln University.

Eleven points from Charlie Dalton helped Concordia Irvine to a 72-53 home win against Dominican.

Jess Moors snared a game best 4 steals to go with 10 points as Sunshine State Conference (SSC) leaders Nova Southeastern cruised past Rollins 85-53.

Also in the SSC Hannah Wentworth made three triples for 9 points as Eckerd College trumped Saint Leo 74-45.

With 7 points Tessa Talo-Tomokino reached 400 career points for Northeastern State in their 82-72 loss to Pittsburg State.

Junior College

There were three games in as many days for Boston Caldwell and Central Maine Community College but undaunted by the schedule the Mustangs reeled off a trio of wins with Boston in double figures on each occasion.

Boston scored a game high 24 points to lead Central Maine to an 89-80 win against Great Bay College, then 22 points in the 92-90 overtime victory over Vermont State University Randolph and in game three a handy 13 points  in the 72-61 success over Albany college of Pharmacy. 

Qaizdon Stephano joint top scored for Gillette College in their 90-69 defeat at the hands of Casper College. Averaging 11 points per game Qaizdon finished with 8 from 12 shooting for 17 points in this one.

Congratulations to Lizzy May who has accepted a basketball scholarship offer from Raritan Valley Community College beginning later this year. Lizzy, a shooting guard out of Northcote College and a former Harbour rep, will link up with Raritan Valley later this year.

Professional Players

Tai Webster continued his good run of form but surprisingly the Perth Wildcats were downed 95-77 at home by the Illawarra Hawks in Australian National Basketball League action. Tai scored 16 points but the Wildcats winning run was halted at six. Tai made it six games on the bounce with double figure contributions as the Wildcats returned to winning ways at South East Melbourne recording a 103-91 victory.

Brayden Inger top scored with 24 points, his third 20-plus points haul of the season, as Hemel Storm thumped Newcastle 108-69 in a United Kingdom National League tie. 

Yanni Wetzell made all four of his field goal attempts in tallying 11 points for ALBA Berlin in their 89-80 EuroLeague win against Serbian club Crvena Zvezda. Yanni also snared 9 rebounds and dished 4 assists. He followed that with 14 points (7/8FG) in a 76-75 German League loss to Wuerzburg.

Further east in Europe Matt Freeman was a perfect 5 from 5 from the field in accumulating 15 points – along with 10 rebounds – as his Rumanian side Craiova pipped Galati 75-74. 

In the Australian Women’s National Basketball League Akiene Tera Reed scored 7 points as Melbourne Boomers reinforced their top-four status with a 90-76 home win over Perth Lynx.