EYES ON THE BASKET: Ngati Porou’s Shay Waikawa goes for the basket as Hearty’s Tiara Weir tries to get close enough to affect the shot or contest the rebound in women’s club basketball at the YMCA last night. Picture by Paul Rickard
It was the game of the night — and it will be remembered as one of their finest moments in basketball.
The manner of Lytton High School’s 43-41 win against Campion College last night is what made Game 3 in Week 3 of women’s club basketball historic.
With 10 seconds to play, Maia Rickard squeezed between towering Jett Pohatu and the powerful Te Oriwa Collier as Amoe Wharehinga cut from the right side behind Collier, took the pass and made the do-or-die shot.
“I’m stoked with the way the girls played for each other; they were awesome,” Lytton coach Amoe Tarsau said.
Tarsau assigned Rickard a tough defensive assignment requiring great discipline: from quartertime, she stuck like glue to Collier, who had forced Lytton into the penalty situation early on.
Campion captain Petra Sparks, playing confidently, scored 13 points. Collier (12pts) and Anna Spring (10pts) are recognised threats, with Lily Sparks scoring off assists from both to close a first period in which Lytton had struggled. They trailed Campion 13-7 at the end of Period 1 but by halftime held an 18-17 advantage before going into the fourth quarter 34-33 up.
Encouraged by Tarsau, Lytton captain Jayda Waititi-Leach kept putting up shots — she made three three-point shots in her 16-point tally to lead all scorers in the game.
Wharehinga (8pts) and Alicia Kepa (4pts) played strongly for Lytton in the fourth period. It was vital that they did, as the bigger Campion team maintained good structure.
“It was a very close game; we enjoyed it,” said Petra Sparks of one of the most intriguing battles between the schools in recent seasons.
Lytton’s win is all the more remarkable when considering that not only are two of Campion’s most influential players from 2016 — Petra Sparks and Spring — still in the team, they’ve improved as players and have been joined by the outstanding Collier.
That Lytton beat a unit that did more than stay close to defending women’s champions Ngati Porou in the first half of last year’s semifinal (Campion actually led 17-16 at quarter-time), is one of the Gisborne club ball stories of the year.
Lytton and Paikea lead the competition with six points, Ngati Porou have four, Gisborne Girls’ High School have two and Hearty have one.
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Ngati Porou beat Hearty 43-22 in Game 3, having kept themselves ahead 10-4, 20-9 and 30-14 throughout.
“It was physical out there but our speed won the game for us: we were quick in transition,” said Ngati Porou captain Bronya McMenamin, who first played in the women’s league while still at Gisborne Intermediate School.
“The competition’s a lot better right around the teams, with the talent spread out. The league gets better every year, and the communication, scoring and refereeing: that’s all taken care of.”
McMenamin (11pts) and Shay Waikawa, who led all scorers with 18 points (including three three-point shots), both found hard-running teammate Pare Ahuriri-Leach (6pts) with excellent outlet passes in the second quarter.
For Hearty, Tiara Weir carried the battle with 14 points. In the past three seasons, her footwork and finishing have improved out of sight and Natalie Mackey, deputising for regular captain Melissa Mackey-Huriwai, noted Weir’s quick hands on defence and greater confidence to shoot — even a three-pointer, in the third period.
“We’re just warming up,” Mackey said.
“It was just good to have a full team — we’ve got players new to the game and some who haven’t played for a while.”
Donna Tiko is one of those. Her potential as a rebounder and inside scorer are considerable.
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Harata Hailey “owned” the first quarter of Game 1.
She — like Tiara Weir of Hearty, one of the competition’s most improved players — scored all 11 of her team’s points for the period, in Paikea’s 44-22 win against Girls’ High. She finished up with 17 points. Te Uarangi Olsen-Baker scored 10, and Amoe Tarsau and Trish Hina, four each, as the older team spread the floor and attacked the rim.
They led Gisborne Girls’ High School 11-3, 25-8 and 32-9.
“I thought we did well — some of us are beginners,” said Girls’ High captain Jayda Nepe.
“Our mission for next week is just to be more aggressive and take the ball to the basket.”
Nepe identified Kaipo Olsen-Baker and elder sister Te Mai Ora as having done exactly that: Kaipo (8pts) was Girls’ High’s most effective offensive player on the night, especially on the drive.
Hailey set the tone early on, drawing a foul from Tyler Riri. The Paikea forward then completed a three-point play.
Tarsau made a deep finger-roll for 19-6 and then found Hina with a look-away pass for 21-6 as Paikea found their groove before halftime, although in the third period, both teams’ shooting went cold.
The third quarter also had turnovers but down the home stretch, as if to remind her elder sister that on the floor, women’s basketball is fiercely fought, Girls’ High’s Te Mai Ora Olsen-Baker pestered Te Uarangi at half-court — real competitors put the opposition’s best talent under pressure.
“Having played with this group for the past three years, being back on the floor with them after the two-week lay-off was good,” Paikea’s Wanita Tuwairua-Brown said. “We love the team spirit and the physicality — but we have to be clever, playing the kids.”
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A lesson in aggression — that’s what Rongomai Smith gave at the YMCA last night in Old School’s 80-20 win against the 9ers in a men’s club basketball game.
The big man has a wicked first step and power-dribble, and he was sensational in Week 5. His 35-point effort helped ensure that Old School will stay with City Lights and the Dragons at the top of the competition, while the participation point hard-earned by the 9ers has seen them leave Lytton High School as team No.10 on the table.
“I missed last week’s game, so it was good to get out running,” Smith said.
“And it’s always fun out there with rugby players: a lot more physical.”
Smith, Rikki Kernohan (12pts) and Jordan John (10pts) were all in good form with John receiving a special mention for his energy and quickness. He inbounded the ball to teammate Thomas Tindale for the assist, finished the fast-break off an outlet pass from Kernohan and scored with a put-back for TK Moeke: all in the first period.
Old School led all the way — 27-2, 45-7 and 62-13 at the quarters.
“It was a game in which we could try things like a man-to-man zone half-court defence,” Old School captain Reggie Namana said.
“We’ve got the experience and the knowledge to understand the need to play a team game, rather than just have an individual — even different individuals — winning the game every week.”
Namana is wise. Players of his team’s calibre could easily settle for one focal point, but against the 9ers, that willingness to play pressure-defence paid off. Hoera Mohi is a skilful ball-handler, but to break a press requires teammates to be in good spots.
The good news is that the 9ers are definitely quick learners. As their captain Marquand Samuels said: “We understand how to play defence. We’re just getting used to coping with it, and learning how to play it ourselves. These guys are the best team we’ve seen — certainly the best we’ve played against so far. We hustled in the fourth quarter — we’ve just got to keep hustling.”
Mohi (7pts) led the 9ers scorers, while Callan Whaitiri-White (5pts) made a remarkable play three and a half minutes into the third period. He scored at Gary Harding’s expense, missed the free-throw, sprang after the loose ball and hit a 10-foot shot from the left baseline. He stopped Smith from scoring when his team was 62-15 down in the fourth period and has the height to be, first things first, a valuable player on defence. His captain put the game to bed with a three-pointer seven seconds from fulltime.