STANDOUT: Campion College’s Te Oriwa Collier-Tuipulotu strides down the court, chased by Gisborne Girls’ High School’s Tai-Aroha Baker. Collier-Tuipulotu was outstanding in Campions victory over Ngati Porou last night. Picture by Paul Rickard
LYTTON High School and Campion College will play the final of the women’s club basketball competition in two weeks.
It will be the first time in Gisborne Basketball Association history that two school teams have contested the women’s club final.
In last night’s semifinals, Lytton High School beat Paikea 34-30 and team No.4 Campion beat top seeds and defending champions Ngati Porou 35-23.
A week ago, Lytton captain Jayda Waititi-Leach scored a field goal with 18 seconds left to get Lytton home 35-33 against Paikea. Last night, she took the ball into the heart of Paikea’s defence — from the right side of the court into the key — to hit a turnaround jump shot with five seconds left to win the first overtime game of 2017.
It has been a shock-and-awe season from Game 1 on opening night, when Campion — with only five players — beat Lytton 33-26.
“That was a stunning shot to finish,” Lytton’s Maia Rickard said of the clincher by Waititi-Leach (6pts).
“It was an exceptional performance by our team and the best game this season.”
Lytton were 11-7 up at the end of the first period but Paikea led 16-13 at halftime. Going into the fourth period, the scores were tied 20-all.
Rickard credited Kiara Swannell with getting Lytton back into the game. Swannell’s three-point shot from the left wing — the first field goal in overtime — struck a massive blow, as Reremoana Bartlett-Tamatea’s shot to close it to 19-15 had given Lytton renewed hope at the start of the third quarter.
Rickard and teammate Manaia Hutana both scored seven points, Hutana giving a clear indicator — in shooting four from four at the foul-line in the first quarter — of their focus.
Paikea forward Harata Hailey and guard Te Uarangi Olsen-Baker both scored eight points.
Paikea’s stocks in the back-court have risen, with O’Neill Wilson-Peipi joining Olsen-Baker and Amoe Tarsau.
But Hailey — in the absence of Wanita Tuwairua-Brown, who was trialling for the Fight for Life — had to carry that much more of the battle to score inside.
Hailey and Lytton’s Amoe Wharehinga both made three-point plays and Richelle Tarsau rebounded strongly for Paikea in a very physical game. Richelle Tarsau consistently outmuscled two opposition players for the defensive rebound.
Paikea veteran Janelle Te Rauna-Lamont said: “Our girls have played well — Harata was awesome — but I can’t believe how good the high school kids are, how far they’ve come. And I think they could have played even quicker.”
Before now, it seemed almost impossible.
But from Game 3 in Week 2, and Paikea’s 43-35 win against Ngati Porou that night, Ngati Porou — the standard bearers for women’s basketball — have had to work harder than ever before to stay ahead of the pack.
For the first time in four years, they will not play in the final.
Ngati Porou were without captain and 2016 league MVP (most valuable player) Bronya McMenamin, and Campion rose to the occasion and took their opportunity.
They led 13-1, 22-4, 28-11 at the quarters — the biggest margins that Ngati Porou have trailed any club at any stage of any game in their team’s history.
At halftime, it was conceivable that they might even be routed and the nearest they came to Campion from the first quarter onwards was 12 points — 33-21 — in the fourth quarter.
Te Oriwa Collier-Tuipulotu’s nine points included a three-point shot to open the fourth period. Collier-Tuipulotu played a big part in Campion’s win. She takes the ball to the basket hard and is strong enough to return the favour defensively.
“It was incredible just to lead them,” said Campion captain Petra Sparks, who also scored nine points.
“We had to fight to stay in front on the scoreboard but one of the areas that really helped us to do that was finishing the fast-break. That’s what Jayda Banks does for us. She’s amazing.”
Banks scored eight points and was indeed superb but point guard Anna Spring and Jett Pohatu also played key roles in Campion’s historic win.
Spring scored seven points and scored the last points of the game — hitting two free throws — while Pohatu’s defensive presence told throughout. She cannot easily be moved and her wingspan made life inside very hard for Ngati Porou.
Shay Waikawa led Ngati Porou’s scorers with eight points, including a three-point play and a three-point shot but not even those heroics came close to tipping the balance.
“We lacked intensity,” Waikawa said.
“We didn’t play with the control that we normally do and our shots weren’t dropping.
“Te Oriwa was very good but they’ve got a lot of skill all-round in that team now. Campion have improved a lot. And they stayed calm when we tried to come back in the second half — they knew what to do, and they did it.”
She could dominate.
Keasi Williams-Fonohema scored 19 points in Hearty’s 49-22 win against Gisborne Girls’ High School and the towering 15-year-old has the strength and athleticism to be an outstanding forward.
“She comes from a netball background with YMP (premiers) and she’s been training with us for basketball for only three weeks,” Hearty captain Melissa Mackey-Huriwai said.
“She’s got awesome potential. We all played well tonight.”
Natalie Mackey (13pts) and Tiara Weir (10pts) were also excellent value for Hearty. Weir drove to the basket, drew a foul from Girls’ High captain Jayda Nepe and then made both foul-shots to end the first period (9-7 to Girls’ High) in the smartest veteran play of the night, and Weir’s quick step from the right baseline to seal defender Michaella Upston and score — for 22-18 — was one of the best inside moves of the night.
Girls’ High led 18-16 at halftime.
Some of their players have taken big strides basketball-wise in 2017. Peyton Riri played outstanding defence against the vastly experienced Mackey-Huriwai at the beginning of the third quarter, forcing her to miss at close-range and then taking the defensive rebound.
By the fourth quarter, Hearty had picked up their game, led 30-19 and controlled the tempo. From that point, the younger team could not get close to them but Nepe was very positive about the game and the league.
“We’ve really enjoyed the season — we wish we could keep playing. We improved at both ends of the court, scoring more points ourselves and conceding fewer points. We learned a lot.”
It was a great game — they won it — but by nowhere near enough.
SE Systems showed grit, character and skill in beating Campion College 56-53 but from the moment it was confirmed on Monday night that to oust East Coast from next week’s semifinals would require a 43-point margin of victory, it was clear SES would have to play the game of their lives to do that.
The Shane McClutchie-coached Campion, still without injured captain Patrick Murphy, were without one dynamo — Orlando Pedraza — but got a former star back in his elder brother Carlos Pedraza. Both are point guards.
Carlos returned to action with a 20-point game. Both he and teammate Tana Ward (12pts) made two three-point shots, Tana’s elder brother Tahran Ward (8pts) working hard around the basket.
Campion held sway 12-11 at the end of the first quarter, then trailed 30-23 at the end of the second, and then by three (43-40) at the end of the third.
Jackson Leach scored 16 points, making the first of two three-point plays by SES in the fourth period, fellow veteran Anton Riri (13pts) following suit.
Riri has rediscovered his three-point-shooting touch this season and hit two “treys” in the late game last night.
Systems guard Kahn Grayson again shot the ball well for nine points.
For Campion, Ollie Simpson (5pts) once more braved slings and arrows on his way to the hoop.
Campion coach McClutchie said his team played well but there was still room for improvement.
“We were always going to make SES work hard for every point they scored,” he said.
Systems captain Adrian Sparks said: “I was very impressed by Campion. They were solid, structured and calm. For us, it was all Jackson and Anton.”