The girls are Hawke's Bay U13 representatives under coaches Kirstin Taylor (nee Daly), an Olympian, and Carly Hewitt (nee Glock), a former Lady Hawk, but will be on the Aussie tour under coach Suzie Hiha. Last school holidays their team won every game at the North Island Regional Tournament in the Bay.
While both the 12-year-olds have been abroad, it'll be their maiden basketball trips overseas.
Herbert is a power forward and shooting forward who can score in transition but believes defence is the cornerstone of her play.
She stumbled on to basketball two years ago while attending St Mary's School, Hastings, because the school team needed players.
"I went to it for more sports experience," explains the Hastings Intermediate netball wing defence, whose team finished third at the annual Aims tourney in Tauranga this year.
Samia is a point guard/shooting guard whose school basketball team is hoping to go to Aims next year. A netball centre/goal defence, she hails from a family where father Alani and mum Kath Samia have a solid volleyball background but, ironically, she hasn't attended a reps' trial in the spiking code yet.
Kath, the operations manager at Basketball Hawke's Bay, ushered them into a junior hoops programme.
"I was a bit hesitant at first because you have to learn new skills," says Samia, who had fun from the word go but a few sessions later realised she could make something of it.
Her parents support her and her siblings no matter what code.
Napier Girls' High School-attending sisters Laina, 16, and Rosalia, 14, are national representative volleyballers.
Laina went to Canberra last month as part of the NZ Development Youth volleyball team while Rosalia, who is a former Koru basketballer, played in Thailand in July with the New Zealand Juniors volleyballers.
Says Kath: "We feel a bit poor."
The Samias have forked out $9000 for their elder daughters' trips and are now raising $3400 for Melika.
Son Netana, 8, of Napier Central School, also plays basketball among other codes.
"We don't get the top trickle down that other mainstream sports get," says Kath, adding the spread of rep children across the country makes it difficult for parents to make a concerted drive to raise funds.
However, Melika Samia hopes to become a Tall Fern someday.
"I guess it's one of my biggest dreams in sport."
Samia and Herbert are first-year members of the IMS Payroll Paul Henare and Paora Winitana Academy in the Bay.
The discipline of waking up at 5am for training then going to school means they are able to get more out of not just basketball but life.
"It's hard but you sort of get used to it," says Samia.
Herbert says she has acquired leadership skills both on and off the court.
However, mum Deanna, who runs a hairdressing salon, says her daughter has always taken the initiative at home and school.
"Zanthe's always been good around the house and a self-motivated girl," she says, lauding her coaches.
Her height, incidentally, comes from husband Mark's side of the family.
She is an HB U13 touch rep and is enjoying that with basketball in recess although former Hawks player Clifton Bush will mentor their team through to January.
Brother Xavier, 13, of Napier Boys' High School, is a HB U15 rep basketballer.
Lamour Spooner (U14 boys) and Tyrese Davies (U18 boys) also will travel to NSW with Bay coach Dustine Sadler and coaching mentor Theo Tait where the players will train for a few days before competing.
