The last game for day 3 started with a lot of energy and enthusiasm from both teams, there was a lot of anticipation for the match with both teams looking seemingly even.

The Australian team came out strong at first and scored a few points but the Tahitians weren’t just letting them go, they fought back straight away and scored some points.

Jean Peters from Tahiti ran a massive fast break straight down the court and passed to a teammate who scored an all net three pointer, one of the fastest maneuvers of the match, he also took another fast break down the court and scored a three pointer.

The first quarter ended with Australia leading by 6 with the final scores for the quarter Australia 20 to Tahiti 14.

Second quarter, Tahiti started to make a comeback, their defense and all round game techniques started to improve a lot and get up on the scoreboard.

Throughout the whole quarter both the Tahitian and Australian teams played really strong and the game was so fast moving that you could hardly afford to take your eye of the match and if you did you were at a high risk of missing something.

During the second quarter and throughout the whole first half, number 4 from Australia, McDowell-White scored 12 points.

He was highest scorer so far in the match out of both teams and McDowell-White’s scoring was crucial to Australia’s score and final results.

The quarter was so even and very back and forth with the ball but by the end of the quarter Australia had just shot those few extra points and got ahead, the quarter ended with Australia leading by 16 with the scores Australia 46 to Tahiti 30.

After the break at half time both teams came back to the courts ready to go and keen to begin the second half of the match.

Australia got a quick goal within the first minute, and shot 8 points in the first 3 minutes, after Australia’s short lead at the start of the quarter they took off and just kept scoring.

Tahiti tried their best to keep up and overcome Australia but even their best efforts weren’t enough to overcome Australia in the third quarter with Australia taking a fair lead.

The fourth and final quarter took off to a slower start than the other quarters with the teams obviously getting tired and worn out, end of match and the end of what would have been a long day.

Tahiti came back strong and ready to fight back and determined to score and try and win, but Australia wasn’t going to let that happen and continued their scoring streak.

Both of the teams kept very strong defense, and were really good with rebounds and steals from each other, Australia kept their lead early on in the last quarter and was there to keep it.

The game ended with Australia winning by 32 with the final scores, Australia on 87 to Tahiti on 55. 

By Amy Sanderson of The Reporters’ Academy