Women’s league off to bright start

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The YMCA is where the tough get rough on a Monday night. It is entertainment par excellence.

Week 2 of the Gisborne Basketball Association women's club league saw the most influential local player of her generation — Ngati Porou captain Bronya McMenamin — lead her crew's scorers in Game 1 with 14 points in a 54-27 win against Uawa Hard.

In Game 2, Amoe Wharehinga logged 29 points for Team 2022, 45-30 victors over Uawa Tuakana Teina, while O'Shae Rangihaeata's 24-point haul was the deciding factor in the 58-55 result for Matariki against Horouta.

McMenamin said: “It was a quick and skilful game between Ngati Porou and Uawa Hard. It would be great if, during this league, all of us were confident and were good role models for younger players.”

Matariki versus Horouta contained every dramatic element — relatable characters, struggle, temperamental machinery at the score-bench and touches of pure class.

Amokura Te Rauna-Lamont supplied a finishing touch to remember, with her magnificent crosscourt assist off the left sideline to Rangihaeata, for Matariki's last field goal of the first period.

Horouta veterans Ngarita Ehau-Taumaunu and Shinae Terekia shone after quartertime from the three-point line.Rangihaeata took up the challenge with a 25-footer for 34-22.

In the third period, Ehau-Taumaunu turned shot-blocker against Matariki's fearless guard Riley Lewis, and Terekia found Jasmine Sparks open on the right baseline underneath the hoop for 35-26, a nice finish by Sparks.

Horouta's Kiara Swannell (13 points) made a tough one-handed shot over Matariki's towering Dyani Johnson for 51-45, proof of the emerging players' confidence and willingness to take bumps. In the end, though, it was an Alex Campbell field goal and two Johnson free-throws that sealed Horouta's fate with two seconds left to play.

In Game 1, Uawa Hard captain Tashena Waru made some superb plays. She scored their first field goal in the opening period and also for Uawa 21 Ngati Porou 30 in the second quarter.

Before that, the humour of basketball took centre stage with Tori Hingston's jump-hook over the top of the backboard.

Waru kept attacking the hoop throughout the game and her low-post defence was clean and uncompromising but Mereana Walker's body-to-body stop on Ngati Porou's Tiara Walker — with Ngati Porou up 41-27 at the time — was epic.

Club basketball here has never been for the faint of heart or those who howl at referees: McMenamin (14pts), Weir (12pts) and their teammate Maia Rickard (8pts) compete without complaint every week.

Waru said: “For us, it was great to be back on-court — dust the cobwebs off our shoes — against the toughest team in the league. Ngati Porou are talented ladies.”

Amoe Wharehinga's 29-point haul featured some scintillating individual plays for Team 2022 against Uawa Tuakana Teina, while also benefiting from some magnificent assists. High on a list of of the best dishes given would be the crosscourt pass from Reremoana Bartlett-Tamatea — off the left sideline — to Wharehinga for the backdoor lay-up far side, and 5-2.

To Uawa Tuakana Teina captain Paris Wilson, just playing alongside rookies was a buzz.

“Our girls want to give ball a real go,” she said.

“We lost by 15 and to me, that's a good score for first timers. I'm rapt.”