We wrap up the American college season with an end of season report on how our Harbour women players performed during the season that concluded at the weekend with Notre Dame claiming the NCAA Tournament title indramatic fashion.

We had nine female players based in the States and four can boast championship success. Here is a look at how they got on.

 

Charlotte Armstrong

Year: Freshman

University: Barry University Buccaneers

Division: NCAA Div II

Conference: Sunshine State

2017/18 Stats: 6 Games

Armstrong suffered a back injury in early October that set her back a few weeks just as the Buccaneers were beginning their official practices that limited her opportunity for playing time. In addition to a limited build-up, she has played behind a senior all-conference post player.

Olivia Bell

Year: Freshman

College: North Dakota State Wildcats

Division: NJCAA Div 1

Conference: Region 13

2017/18 Stats: 32 Games, 4.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game

Bell joined Georgia Perrott-Hunt at North Dakota this season and after beginning as a bench player secured a regular starting role in the second half of the season.

The Wildcats can reflect on a successful campaign winning both their conference and regional titles and finished with an impressive 29 wins – 4 loss record. They were undone by sharpshooting Walters State in first round of the NJCAA (Junior College) Division I Women’s National Championship. Bell scored a career best 15 points on two occasions and a career best 11 rebounds against Lake Region State in March.

Brooke Blair

Year: Senior

University: Idaho State University Bengals

Division: 1

Conference: Big Sky

2017/18 Stats: 32 games, 13.2 points and 3.1 rebounds per game

Blair started all 32 games for Idaho State this season and was their leading scorer totaling 423 points. For a while in January she was the leading three-point shooter in NCAA Division 1 women’s basketball. She finished the season shooting a highly creditable 39% (58/148 3PG) from beyond the arc and was named on the Big Sky All-Conference Second Team.

Scored a career high 30 points against Washington last November.

The 2016 Tall Fern started all 66 games in her three-year career with the Bengals (she missed the 2016-17 season due to injury) and amassed 837 points. Spent two years at Northeastern Junior College prior to her stint at ISU. Brooke will consider professional offers once her academic year ends next month.

Tiarna Clarke

Year: Freshman

University: University of Northern Colorado Bears

Division: 1

Conference: Big Sky

2017/18 Stats: 32 games, 7.1 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.

Northern Colorado won its first Big Sky Conference Championship and with it a berth at the NCAA Tournament. The team also included Waikato’s Krystal Leger-Walker.

Clarke played good minutes as a freshman averaging 21 per game and played in all 32 games.

Her three-point shooting numbers were very promising making 39 from 96 at 40.6%.

Scored a career high 20 points against Southern Utah in February.

Katie Diakhaby

Year: Sophmore

College: Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen

Division: NJCAA Div 1

Conference: Region 9

2017/18 Stats: 27 games, 17.8 points and 11.2 rebounds per game.

Diakhaby enjoyed a stellar season at Northeastern being named to the All-Region team.

She led the Plainswomen in scoring (17.8ppg) and rebounding (11.2rpg).That rebounding number places Diakhaby 11^th amongst all Division 1 Junior College players in the country and her scoring in the top 40 nationally.

Her best performance was against Colorado Springs ballers when she had 29 points and 12 rebounds.

Ella Fotu

Year: Junior

University: Hawaii Pacific University Sharks

Division: NCAA Division II

Conference: PacWest

2017/18 Stats: 30 games, 8.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.

Fotu was one of four Sharks players to appear in all 30 games for the PacWest Conference Champions. She was a key player in the Tournament Final scoring 12 points that included a couple of critical threes when the game was on the line in the dying minutes. In December Fotu equaled a Hawaii Pacific all-time record by blocking 6 shots in the 80-44 victory against Douglas College. Scored a season best 14 points on two occasions during the season.

Zara Jillings

Year: Freshman

University: Fordham University Rams

Division: 1

Conference: Atlantic 10

2017/18 Stats: 34 games, 2.0 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.

Jillings had a solid freshman season for the 24-10 Rams playing every game of the season. One of three Kiwis on the Fordham roster playing alongside Kendell Heremaia and Mary Goulding. Her season highs were 9 points v George Washington, 11 rebounds v Iona and 8 assists v Davidson.

Her college season was book-ended by Tall Ferns appearances at the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup and the Commonwealth Games beginning this week.

Georgia Perrott-Hunt

Year: Sophmore

College: North Dakota State Wildcats

Division: NJCAA Div 1

Conference: Region 13

2017/18 Stats: 33 Games, 3.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game

Perrott-Hunt started all 33 games for the Wildcats who won both their Conference and Regional championships and finished with an impressive 29 wins – 4 loss record. They were beaten by Walters State in first round of the NJCAA (Junior College) Division I Women’s National Championship. Scored a season best 10 points on two occasions.

Tera Reed

Year: Freshman

University: Virginia Commonwealth University Rams

Division: 1

Conference: Atlantic 10

2017/18 Stats: 29 games, 13.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game

Despite it being her freshman year Reed led the VCU season scoring with 400 points, just the seventh freshman to achieve that feat in programme history. She led the VCU scoring in 17 of its 29 games – starting in all but one of those games.

She was also second in rebounding and selected for the Atlantic 10 Conference All-Rookie Team. Scored a career high 27 points against Duquesne in early February, 16 rebounds against Richmond later in the same month and tallied four double-doubles during the season.