Without Amoe Tarsau or Trish Hina, YMP dug deep. Their tall forward Wanita Tuwairua-Brown led all scorers with 23 points, and captain Janelle Te Rauna-Lamont proved — with 14 points — that persistence pays off when spotting up.
“We put a lot of shots up but they didn’t start dropping until halfway through the third period,” Te Rauna-Lamont said.
“That was a great win for us, a comeback win. Wanita was strong for us, Kereru Walters is improving — but our player of the day was Tania Bartlett for her good defensive play and offensive rebounding.”
The YMP captain acknowledged the dual threat posed by Paare Ahuriri-Leach (9pts) and Tamara Hedge (15pts), the latter also paying tribute to her Ballerz teammate.
“Paare deserves the credit — she and our new player, Logan Aston, were talking it up on defence and Jessie Collier makes life easier on the floor because she moves better than most on offence: she gives the passer a target,” Hedge said.
“We played an excellent first half, running our fast-break, but the second half was played at their pace.”
The Ballerz looked set to win comfortably. They were up 12-9 at the end of the first quarter, 28-17 at the end of the second and 38-27 at three-quartertime.
Small things nurture hopeHarata Hailey (7pts) played strongly for BB at both ends of the court but YMP kept doing little things to nurture hope, such as Walters scoring off an offensive rebound for Bartlett, while Tuwairua-Brown was superb at close quarters offensively.
She benefited from good refereeing, Gisborne Basketball Association chairman Dwayne Tamatea as lead official calling a foul on her in the post at Hedge’s expense, Tuwairua-Brown then making a three-point play.
The Ballerz made some excellent plays close to the basket — particularly early on — as when Ahuriri-Leach pivoted three times to finally get the wide lay-up off and in against no-nonsense defender Miri Katipa, for their only lead (15-13) of the second period.
TAMATEA, as GBA coach, recognised the genuine effort of both his u15s and Mackeys — having been around basketball for more than 30 years — but he knew that Game 2 was there for the taking.
“We let them out of jail; we should have won,” he said.
“Kellann Kemp was tough for us tonight with her rebounding and she was very good on the back of our press.”
Against the older team, the u15s made a change in their pressure-defence from their primary 1-2-2 set-up to a 1-2-1-1 formation intended to tire Mackeys out.
But Mackeys have feisty competitors in their ranks. Though the game was played at breakneck pace, their heads never dropped. They trailed 14-9, 23-16 and 33-26 going into the fourth quarter with captain Melissa Mackey (11pts) and younger sister Ihipera Mackey (9pts) attacking the basket.
But perhaps their best performance on the night came from towering forward Jett Pohatu. The 14-year-old Year 10 Campion College student dominated the key for Mackeys and, for the first time this season, elevated to block shots. All up, she blocked six shots but it was the number of adjustments she forced the u15 shooters to make — and shots she made them miss — that really told.
Chardonay Brown and Kaipo Olsen-Baker both scored nine points — Olsen-Baker taking the ball down the middle fearlessly — in a game full of tremendous plays: the footwork of Maiangi Mackey to get around defender Bree Edwards on the baseline was sensational and Maiangi’s assist to Ihipera Mackey on the right later in the second quarter spoke volumes for her team’s flair for the game.
Left-handed scoop-shotAfter halftime, the u15s’ diminutive Alicia Kepa made a classic left-hand lay-up. Within seconds it was matched by Melissa Mackey: jumping off her left foot under pressure from a tall player in Brown, she made a scoop-shot left-handed, while heading away from the hoop. It was an incredible basket.
Equally so was the power display by Olsen-Baker with one minute 25 seconds remaining in the fourth period and the score 39-37 to Mackeys. She latched on to the ball as powerful Ari Coleman drove to the hoop. Coleman’s feet literally left the floor (she landed safely) as the 13-year-old Olsen-Baker became an unpassable ridge: Coleman was called for progress.
Melissa Mackey said: “It was a fast game. It was tough. Honey Mokomoko was awesome for us . . . and we had to foul the u15s just to slow them down!”
