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Following a successful regular season, the young women of New Mission High School made it to the MIAA Playoffs, winning one game before they were eliminated.
The Noble and Greenough girls basketball team celebrates back-to-back NEPSAC championships. PHOTO: TIM CAREY
New Mission beat Rockport 55-49 before losing to Westport 74-39 in the second round of play. City champs Boston Latin Academy, South Boston, Snowden, Cash, Boston United, EMK, and Madison Park all suffered first-round losses in the MIAA post-season competition.
Meanwhile, the young women of the Noble and Greenough School have won back-to-back NEPSAC Class AA Championships with their 66-57 win over the Tilton Rams of New Hampshire. The top-seeded Nobles players had to withstand a late rally from the 2nd-seeded ladies of Tilton to secure their second straight title and avenge an earlier season loss to Tilton, their only loss of the year. The Nobles players finished the year with a 29-1 record. Nasi Simmons (13 points and all-around dominant play) earned tournament MVP honors. Still, it was the balance of scoring from Grace Oliver (14 points), Jasmyn Cooper and Christina Pham (12 points each) and tough pressure defense that brought home their 10th NEPSAC title — and 28th overall championship in coach Alex Gallagher’s illustrious coaching career at the school.
Jeremiah Burke’s Matthew Drayton drives up the court. PHOTO: JOE ALLEN
Local men’s high school basketball scene
Charlestown (Boston City League Champions), Jeremiah Burke, New Mission, Boston English and East Boston remain alive in the MIAA Young Men’s Basketball competition. Charlestown hosts Abington in Division 3 play, and Jeremiah Burke will host Joseph Case in Division 4 action. In Division 5, New Mission squares off against Monson with Boston English to play Minuteman Regional at Madison Park High School. And East Boston will play at Norwell in Division 3 action.
Caitlin Clark makes Division One college basketball history
Caitlin Clark PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA
Iowa sharpshooter Caitlin Clark is now the top scorer in Division One college basketball history — women and men — breaking the 54-year-old record of 3,667 points over three seasons at Louisiana State University (1967-1970) by the late Pete Maravich. Just days after announcing that she would leave Iowa for the WNBA, Clark hit a couple of free throws on her way to a 35-point game as her 6th-ranked Iowa Lady Hawkeyes team upset No. 2-ranked Ohio State 93-83. Her total of 3,685 points in 130 college games moves her to the top spot on the NCAA Division One all-time scoring list. Pearl Moore of Francis Marion owns the overall women’s scoring record with 4,061 points from 1975-1979 at the small-college level in the AIAW. She had 177 points at Anderson Junior College before enrolling at Francis Marion.
Pearl Moore PHOTO: FRANCIS MARION COLLEGE
More scrutiny will be attached to Clark’s breaking of Maravich’s record. Maravich averaged 44.2 points per game. He scored more than 60 points in a game four times, topping out at 69 against Alabama on Feb. 7, 1970. There was no shot clock or 3-point line in his era. The 3-point line was adopted in 1986.
These statistics are not to take away from Caitlin Clark’s magnificent career but must be pointed out to put her accomplishments in perspective.
Elsewhere on the national college scene, the Gamecocks of South Carolina remain the only undefeated team in Division One women or men competition. As of this writing, the Lady Gamecocks are 29-0. They can go into the NCAA tournament undefeated; they face either Mississippi State or Texas A&M in the SEC tournament that starts on Friday.
