KEY POINTS:
Auckland Waitakere 51
North 50
Auckland Waitakere shooter Susan Tagicakibau has the team's manager to thank for her solid performance in the national championships, which catapulted her into the New Zealand under-21 squad.
Auckland Waitakere manager Dianne Lasenby lent the 19-year-old an old goal which Tagicakibau put up in
her backyard and thrashed in the lead-up to the nationals.
Not content practising on her own, Tagicakibau lured her family to act as defenders.
Now she has secured a place in the national under-21 squad, the Tagicakibau family may have to up their game if the young shooter is to reach her goal of playing for the Silver Ferns.
Tagicakibau was one of the stand-out performers in Auckland Waitakere's 51-50 win over North in the final in Palmerston North on Saturday.
Auckland Waitakere took the lead in the third quarter and never relinquished it. Tagicakibau's composure in landing 34 from 39 attempts at goal was a key factor in Auckland's win, their first in 12 years.
"I always had faith in my team," Tagicakibau said. "It just took us a while to get back into it. We had some good wise words from [coaches] Jenny-May [Coffin] and Paula [Bailey] at halftime who told us to pull our heads back into the game."
Tagicakibau ended the tournament with an 87 per cent shooting record, just 1 per cent behind the tournament's top scorer, Catherine Latu of North.
Tagicakibau has received dispensation from the international body to play for New Zealand as the new nationality rules were not in place when she played as an under-21 for Fiji.
She also has her sights set on a place in a greater Auckland Tasman Trophy team.
With several quality shooters vying for places in the team, including Silver Ferns Maria Tutaia and Paula Griffin, Latu and Megan Dehn, Tagicakibau knows many more hours are going to have to be spent under the hoop at home.
The Auckland Waitakere/North final bodes well for Auckland Tasman Trophy coach Yvonne Willering but not so well for Wellington and Canterbury, who finished seventh and eighth.
The win can be largely attributed to some clever coaching by Bailey, who went one better than her debut with the side last year when Auckland were edged by Waikato in the final. The difference this year had been smarter player rotation, she said.
North coach Melissa Walker, who leaves next month to take up a three-year coaching contract with Ireland, said: "All credit to those experienced players from Auckland Waitakere, they did the job. They got away with a few calls but that is what happens at this level."
Despite not coming away with the title, Walker said she was proud of her young players' performance against a team full of franchise players.