GB Women – the kids in America
By Duncan Ogilvie
With the NCAA season winding down and March Madness beginning to take shape it was conference tournament week for most of the girls. This was a week where many teams would see their seasons end prematurely and some progress in search of a national tournament appearance.
Chantelle Handy – Marshall University NCAA 1
The 27th saw the Herd travel to UAB, Amber Jones connected on a jumper as time expired, giving UAB a 45-44 win over the Marshall University women’s basketball team Saturday evening at Bartow Arena. With 19 seconds left Chantelle had given the Herd a one point lead but they failed to get a stop on the final passion that allowed Jones to seal the game. Handy led the team with 11 and also grabbed 5 rebounds in 35 minutes. On the 3rd March The Thundering Herd women’s basketball team cut a 15-point halftime deficit to just a point, but it was not enough as East Carolina came away with a 75-70 win in Wednesday’s regular season finale at the Cam Henderson Center. In Chantelle’s final collegiate game at home, she contributed 11 points 1 rebound but had a season high 6 assists in 37 minutes. The loss saw the Herd end the regular season with a 14-15 record and 6-10 in C-USA play. The Herd will travel to Tulsa Oklahoma to play in the first round of the C-USA tournament on the 8th.
On the 8th the Thundering Herd faced UCF in the first round on C-USA tournament; the end result was Marshall going down 59—57 in overtime. The Herd finishes the season with a 14-16 mark, its first losing record since the 2002-03 season. UCF advances to play top-seeded Tulane on Tuesday afternoon. In Chantelle’s final college game she played 22 minutes scoring 2 points, 2 rebounds and two assists.
Chantelle finished the season starting 28 out of 29 games and averaging 33.1 minutes a game. She shot 42% from 2pt, 34% from 3pt and 60% from the foul line. She had an average of 11.3 points 5.4 rebounds and 1.8 assist a game.
Cristal Turner/Dominique Allen – Oral Roberts University NCAA 1
ORU rounded off the regular season with 2 victorys against UMKC and Southern Utah, finishing the season with a 21-8 record and 15-3 conference record. The will play in the summit league conference tournament in Sioux falls, South Dakota as number 1 seeds. Against UMKC Dominique Allen played 4 minutes hitting 2 points and 1 rebound, while Cristal Turner played 10 minutes getting 1-2 FT for 1 point, she also added 1 block. Against S.Utah, Allen played 12 minutes for 2 rebounds and 2 steals while Turner played 17 minutes for 8 points 3 rebounds and 2 blocks. The win gave ORU their first Conference championship.
In the opening round of the summit Conference Tournament ORU disposed of Southern Utah by a score of 81-97. Allen played 11 minutes going scoreless but grabbing 1 rebound and 3 steals, while Turner went 1-1 from 3pt land in 14 minutes for 3 points and 1 assist. On Monday the 8th they played UMKC in the semi final and walked away with a 77-71 victory. The win moves ORU onto the title game against South Dakota State. Against UMKC Dominique Allen played 11 minutes grabbing 1 rebound, while Turner played 5 minutes and grabbed 1 rebound while missing her only shot of the game.
Lauren Thomas Johnson – Marquette University NCAA 1
On the 27th Marquette travelled to #8 West Virginia only to lose 69-56. Lauren came off the bench again to play 24 minutes. Shooting a poor 1-9 from the field she managed to tally 5 points 2 rebounds and 3 assists. On Monday 1st March Marquette returned home to face Cincinnati, which would be Laurens last home game and ‘Senior Night’ she didn’t disappoint the home fans and gave them something to remember her by scoring 10 of Marquette’s 12 points in overtime as the Golden Eagles held off Cincinnati, 69-63. The Golden Eagles improve to 15-14 overall, 6-10 in the BIG EAST, and snapped a five-game losing streak in the process. With the win MU earns the No. 10 seed in the BIG EAST Championship. Lauren finished the game with 17 points 1 rebound and 1 assist in 33 minutes. Below is a link to a post game news conference with an interview of Lauren.
Marquette started the Big East Tournament with a win against #15 seed Villanova 53-49. In the victory Lauren played 20 minutes contributing 6 points and 1 rebound. With the win, the Golden Eagles (16-14) advance to the second round to play No. 7 seed DePaul on 6th. Saturday night saw Marquettes season came to a close following a 64-54 loss to the Blue Demons. Lauren contributed 6 points and 3 rebounds in 32 minutes of play in her final college game.
Lauren wraps up the season and her college career having played in all 31 games this season starting 27. She averaged 29 minutes a game while shooting 33% from the field and 29% from the 3 point line. She also averaged 8.5 points 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists.
Mary Durojaye – Robert Morris University NCAA 1
The 27th February saw the Colonials close out the regular season with a 62-42 victory over Mt. St. Mary’s. The victory was the ninth consecutive on the road for the Colonials, setting a new program record. Their 12th win overall, RMU (22-7, 17-1 Northeast Conference) also set new program marks for regular season wins (22) and conference victories (17). In the victory mary started and played 25 minutes totaling 11 points and 5 rebounds on 5/6 shooting. The colonials enter the NE conference tournament as #1 seeds.
After 1 week off RMU started the NE conference tournament with a 68-52 victory over #8 Wagner on Saturday afternoon at De Gol Arena in Loretto, PA. In a balanced attach where 5 different players scored double figures Mary contributed 6 points and 8 rebounds. The #1 colonials moved on to the semi finals the following day to take on #5 Saint Francis (Pa.) In the semi final RMU suffered a shock defeat to St. Francis. It took a 3 pointer with 10 seconds left to finally put away the colonials 80-79, after RMU had fought back from a 17 point 2nd half deficit. No stats where available for this game.
RMU having a record on 23-8 will be disappointed not to get selected for the NCAA tournament, (they needed to win the conference tournament to guarantee entry. However as the NEC’s regular season champions, Robert Morris will accept an automatic bid to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, so we at GBbasketball.net will keep an eye on how they progress. So far it’s been a great season for mary so we hope it can continue for a few more games.
Johannah Leedham – Franklin Pearce University NCAA 2
March 2nd saw FPU take on New Haven in the quarterfinals of the NE-10 Conference tournament. FPU went into the game having been stripped of the #1 team in the nation tag, having dropped to #2 following a loss last week. Gannon take over as #1 team in the nation with a 30-0 record. FPU made easy work of New Haven winning 79-68 to progress to the semifinals.
Jo the 2010 Northeast-10 Player of the Year tossed in 29 points and added eight rebounds, seven assists, seven steals and one block. She currently stands at 2,857 points for her career and now needs just 29 more points to become the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division II women’s basketball history. In the semifinal the next day FPU took on Bentley and winning to progress to the final 78-60. It was another huge game for Johannah, she tied her career high with 39 points to become the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division II women’s basketball history. The night belonged to Leedham, whose 39 points tied a career-high. She now has 2,896 points for her career, which is the 12th most in all of NCAA women’s basketball history. Leedham’s record-breaking shot came at the 10:30 mark of the second half as she laid in a basket, which caused a thunderous roar for the large crowd in attendance. The Division II scoring record added to her list of scoring records broken this season, including: the Northeast-10 women’s career record; the Northeast-10 men’s and women’s career record; and the Franklin Pierce school record. Leedham scored her 39 points on 16-of-32 shooting from the field. She also totaled seven assists, six rebounds, four steals and three blocks in 39 minutes of action. On Sunday 7th FPU took on Stone Hill in the conference final. FPU walked away with a 70-59 win and the conference championship. Leedham pumped in 31 points to move into the top-10 all-time in NCAA women’s basketball history (Divisions I, II & III) for career scoring with 2,927 points. She also had seven rebounds and two steals to go along with her point total. Her two steals moved her into a tie for eighth place in NCAA Division II history for career thefts with 444. No surprises to note that Leedham was the tournament MVP.
After the game the NCAA committee announced the teams and seeding’s for the NCAA Tournament that will start on March 12th. FPU will take on Nyack (19-11),and are ranked #1 in the region. March 13,15 and 23rd are the 2nd 3rd and quarterfinals rounds, with the semi final on the 24th and final on the 26th in St Joseph, Missiouri. We will be paying close attention to Jo and her progress through the tournament and wish her all the luck in trying to become a national champion.
Other GB players competing in the NCAA this season.
Below is a list of some of the other players that have been playing at various schools across America in the NCAA/NAIA. Although I have not followed them weekly in this report i wanted to note there current progress and performance this season.
Kashmere Joseph (Barking Abbey, London)
Seton Hall (NCAA 1). Record – 9-21.
6’2 Center. Junior
21 games played (2 started), 12.1 mpg, 1.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg.
Ella Joines (Barking Abbey, London)
The Masters College (NAIA 1). Record – 16-13
5’7 Guard. Sophomore.
24 games played, 14.4 mpg, 5.1 ppg, 1.4 rpg
*Will play in NAIA Tournament next week
Julia Colley (Barking Abbey, London)
University of Bridgeport (NCAA 2). Record – 20-9
5’10 Guard/Forward. Sophomore.
29 games played (19 started), 23.9 mpg. 4.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.1 apg.
*Will play in NCAA II National Tournament next week.
Mrashi Karumba (Barking Abbey, London)
Northeastern JC (NJCAA 1). Record 24-5
5’10 Guard. Sophomore.
No stats but team captain / top performer
*Several Division 1 scholarship offers.
*Regional Tournament March 9th/ National Tournament March 16th.
Amber Charles (Barking Abbey, London)
Tennessee Temple University (NCCAA 1). Record 11-15.
Freshman Guard.
No Stats.
Renee Johnson-Allen (Barking Abbey, London)
Drexel University (NCAA 1) Record 17-12.
5’6 Guard. Freshman.
Played 10 games, 8.4 mpg, 0.5ppg, 0.8 rpg,
*Season ending knee injury during season.
Tamzin Barroilhet (St. Maxime France)
Kent State (NCAA 1) Record 19-9
6’0 Guard. Freshman
*Redshirt Year
Hannah Shaw (Nottingham)
University of Miami (NCAA 1) Record 17-13
6’4 Center Freshman
Played 24 games, 7mpg, 1.3ppg, 1.4 rpg.
Azania Stewart (Wood Green, London)
University of Florida (NCAA 1) Record 14-16
6’4 Center. Sophomore.
Played 25 games (started 21). 19.8 mpg, 8.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.6 bpg.
Rose Anderson (Scotland)
Univeristy of Central Oklahoma (NCAA 2) Record 22-7
5’10 Guard. Senior.
Played 28 games (started 26), 25.8 mpg, 9.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.8 apg.
Please feel free to comment if you know of any other GB women playing in the NCAA’s.
