Finalists found at Under 19 National Championships

The 2017 Under 19 National Championships finals will be played on Tuesday at North Shore Events Centre with Canterbury Combined featuring in both showpiece events.

Canterbury will take on Waikato in the Womens final and match up against Auckland in the Mens final.

In the first Womens semi-final Waikato established a double digit lead against Waitakere West in the opening five minutes. That advantage was extended to twenty points at the seven minutes mark and when Hayley Ellis landed a corner three on the quarter time buzzer the difference was 35-9.

Mele Latu led a Waitakere mini revival in the second but Waikato, paced by 22 first half points from Kaylee Smiler, were almost out of sight at the interval leading 53-21.

With Charlisse Leger-Walker and Kendell Heremaia calling the shots and Smiler, Ellis and Zarya Poulava providing the finishing Waikato cruised to a resounding 87-53 victory.

The second Womens semi-final was also largely one way traffic. First quarter threes from Sofia Kennedy, Lauryn Hippolite and Amiee Book helped Canterbury Combined open up a 27-5 first quarter lead against Taranaki.

Canterbury forward Esra McGoldrick led all scorers with 12 points at the break as they led 41-12.

With McGoldrick and Charlotte Whittaker bossing the boards, both went on to record double doubles, a 12-0 Canterbury run extended the lead to 53-12.

Caitlin OConnell and Katie Jones did get the scoreboard moving again for Taranaki but the three-quarter margin was 58-18 in favour of Canterbury.

Samantha Irvine made twelve fourth quarter points as Canterbury moved safely into the final winning 87-35.

In the first Mens semi-final a close contest was ultimately decided by the Canterbury Combined Red guard duo of Hamish McDonald and Quinn Clinton. The Junior Tall Blacks pair combined for 22 final quarter points to hold off Manawatu for an 81-71 win.

Haize Walker and Oscar Oswald strung together 13 first quarter points but 9 points from Clinton gave Canterbury a 20-15 edge.

A couple of Max Darling dunks and a brace of threes from Hamish McDonald extended the Canterbury lead to ten points before Oswald and Tama Faamausili reduced the deficit.

Canterbury edged an entertaining opening half 46-44.

A Faamausili three tied the scores at the mid point of the third, Callum McRae making the go ahead points for Manawatu.

Scoring slowed to a crawl but Darling did instigate another lead change with an And-1 play. The Canterbury power forward had 9 rebounds and 16 points as the Cantabs led 53-52 at the third break.

Max de Geest and Clinton connected with triples but Oswald tied the game - 60 points apiece with six minutes to play.

Clinton and McDonald wrestled a 4 points lead, Cooper Boyce-Towler and Walker scored inside in reply but Clinton and McDonald had the final say in an entertaining game.

After a tight first half the second Mens semi-final was convincingly won by Auckland, victors against city rivals Waitakere West, 83-60.

Mandela Baledrokadroka scored six points as Waitakere edged a nervy opening stanza 12-10.

Linus Jakszt knocked down a pair of jump shots for Waitakere but Tom Higgins did the same, including a triple, and Auckland had its first lead of the game - 19-18.

A floater from Randy Safjre pushed the margin to four points. Jakszt made a three but LeRoy Brown dropped two of them to give Auckland a 33-28 half-time lead.

Auckland forward Anzac Rissetto opened the second half scoring, he and Marvin Williams-Dunn pushing the advantage out to 49-35.

Milani Buster made a basket from a seemingly impossible position but Auckland was in control at three-quarter time, 62-41 to the good.

Rissetto continued to dominate in the fourth, piling in the points and snaring rebounds as Auckland maintained a twenty points buffer to the finish.

Semi-Final Results:

Womens Semi-Final 1

Waikato 87 - Smiler 34, Ellis 21, Heremaia 13/9r, Poulava 12, Leger-Walker 3/9r/9a

Waitakere West 53 - Latu 16/11r, Rangi-Brown 16, F Ropati 10

Womens Semi-Final 2

Canterbury Combined 87- Whittaker 18/11r, McGoldrick 15/23r, Book 14, Irvine 14

Taranaki 35 - Langton 8, Smith 7, OConnell 6

Mens Semi-Final 1

Canterbury Combined Red 81 - McDonald 31, Clinton 21/10r/9a, Darling 19/13r de Geest 7

Manawatu 71 - Oswald 22, Walker 18/8r/7a, Faamausili 15, McRae 7/11r

Mens Semi-Final 2

Auckland 83 - Rissetto 23/14r, Higgins 15, Williams-Dunn 15, Brown 9

Waitakere West 60 - Jakszt 26/12r, Milani 11, Vink 10, Baledrokadroka 9

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Basketball New Zealand