Basketball dream for teen Hawke’s Bay ballers

Napier Girls' High School student Graecyn Parahi (No 12) in New Zealand colours at an age group tournament. Photo / FIBA.

Two teenaged Hawke’s Bay basketball players are among 11 girls and boys from throughout New Zealand heading for a prestigious age group camp in Perth, run by the NBA and world-body FIBA.

Napier Girls' High School student Graecyn Parahi (No 12) in New Zealand colours at an age group tournament. Photo / FIBA

The two, each aged 16 years, are former Hastings Girls’ High School student Pahlyss Hokianga, who in February was drafted into the Tall Ferns squad for training in the FIBA 2024 Olympic Qualifier Tournament in China, and Napier Girls’ High School pupil Graecyn Parahi, who has played three international age group tournaments for New Zealand.

They are among five New Zealand girls named among 60 top high-school-age prospects from across the Asia-Pacific region in Perth for the four-day camp starting on Thursday, with NBA coaches and athletes leading them through movement efficiency drills, offensive and defensive skill stations, three-point contests, 5-on-5 games, life skills and leadership development sessions

The pair’s selection is part of the growing success for young basketballers from Hawke’s Bay, with Hawks NBL player Kahu Treacher and Auckland Tuatara squad member Ezra Eagle, both 18, having earlier this month been in the New Zealand team that reached the final of the FIBA U18 Asia Cup tournament in Jordan and qualified for next year’s Junior World Cup in Switzerland.