Waitakere Rolling on !!!

 

They are the top remaining seeds and the Waitakere City under-15 girls certainly played like it on Wednesday.

With sixth man Reeunne Pinono top-scoring with 19 points, Faustina Maria adding 17 points and Penina Davidson chipping in with 13, Waitakere rolled to a 90-60 win over Nelson in the quarterfinals at the Oreo Under-13 and Under-15 National Championships.

Waitakere fell behind early as Nelson moved out to an 11-point lead at the first intermission.

But it was a different story the rest of the way, Waitakere outscoring their South Island rivals 21-7 in the second quarter to take a three-point halftime lead, then piling on with a 28-6 third period to seal a semifinal berth against North Canterbury.

“They’re playing some great basketball,” Waitakere coach Greg Davidson said, following the win on Wednesday.

“They gave me a scare last night against a very good Canterbury team. They had a big lead and then fell asleep and let them back in.

“We didn’t do the business defensively early today but they really picked it up. They’re a pretty motivated and experienced group and they’re playing well as a unit.

“I was really happy with how they picked up on the things we talked about last night. Some of the stuff we didn’t do last night, especially at the end of the game, we learned from and did today.”

Waitakere face another unbeaten team, North Canterbury, in Thursday’s semifinals. The Cantabs got 25 points from Alex Svoboda and 22 points from Anita Snowdon as they over-ran Massey 87-56 in the late quarter.

“We’re up against a pretty feisty North Canterbury team,” Davidson said. “I saw them execute against Harbour last night and they look pretty good.”

Waikato and North Harbour also looked impressive in their quarterfinal wins ahead of their semifinal showdown.

Waikato, featuring most of the Hamilton’s Fraser High squad that finished sixth at last week’s AA Secondary Schools National Championships, rolled to a 58-38 win over Canterbury, getting 22 points from guard Veshae Wilkinson and 19 points from forward Kalani Purcell.

Waikato locked-down on Canterbury in the second half, allowing them only 13 points in the third and fourth quarters as they pulled away.

Harbour used strong opening and third quarter performances and 20 points from Brooke Adams to repel previously unbeaten Wellington 68-55, handing the shocked Capital side their first loss all season.

Harbour got out to an eight-point lead in the first quarter, with Adams and Deena Franklin combining for 14 points, then absorbed Wellington’s second quarter surge, closing within six points at halftime, before stretching out by 14 points with a quarter to run.

“We’re fortunate because we have a really good bench,” Harbour coach Kevin Renwick said.

“We go down to eight or nine. I coached these girls two years ago and they won the inaugural under-13 national title and last year North Harbour finished 14th at this tournament.

“We’ll have to defend really well to beat Waikato, they’re such a good team.”

The under-13 girls quarterfinals were where the high drama was on day three, with two results on adjacent courts simultaneously decided in the final seconds.

On court seven, North Harbour missed four straight free throws in the final minute but held on for an 81-80 win when Waitakere City missed two free-throws with time already expired and moments later on court six Counties Manukau upset Waikato 68-66 after Waikato had missed several close-range shots and free throw in the last minute.

Waitakere’s Keretina Hakaraia went off for 54 points in her team’s loss, while Annabelle Jenkins had 27 points for Harbour. Kendall Hawea top-scored for Waikato in a losing effort with 26 points while Breeze Leonard had 17 points for Counties.

The later girls quarters were more clear cut, although Hawke’s Bay did their best to throw away a 19-point three-quarter lead. After outscoring Nelson 18-3 in the third, Hawke’s Bay scored only six points in the fourth period, holding on 54-47, with Aaliyah Smiler-Ah Kiong leading the way with 15 points.

Canterbury proved too strong for the last remaining hometown hope Rotorua 77-32, with Tessa Boagni top-scoring with 18 points.

Porirua’s Pene Paenga scored 45 of her team’s 47 points in a bottom eight under-13 girls quarter but could not prevent her team falling 79-47 to neighbours Wellington.