As the opening siren rang and the players came onto the court, the crowd cheered like there was no tomorrow.

The players were ready and raring to go as the first quarter unfolded and promised to be a relatively even game.

Tahiti scored the first 2 points, followed by 2 more from Samoa. Oceane Lefranc from Tahiti, was the highest scorer, scoring 16 points in the first half.

The second quarter began with a surge of school children screaming their lungs out for their teams.

The gameplay stayed quite even, however Tahiti kept scoring, leaving the half time scores Tahiti 41 to Samoa 18.

The third quarter started with cheering and chanting from the grandstand and excitement as the men’s Samoan team came to support their girls.

Samoa started the quarter strong and scored a few points within the first few minutes while Tahiti still fought strong and kept scoring points.

Janice Moke from Samoa scored 21 points over the match and played an impressive game, she was crucial to her teams result.

Tahiti took a lead and managed to keep their scores up while Samoa didn’t give up and kept fighting hard, not once did they ease their defense or back down a bit.

Fourth and final quarter hit off to a slower start, both teams started to become tired but as the game slowed down

Reva Dauphin from Tahiti took a tumble and injured her ankle, resulting in her being carried off the court and needing serious medical attention, and she was unable to complete the game.

Marina Tehaamoana also took a fall and was not able to complete the game but did not require medical attention.

Tahiti played a good fourth quarter, scoring and going hard and Samoa never backed down and kept their defense strong.

The final scores for the game were Tahiti on 79 to Samoa’s 46.

By Victoria Heard and Amy Sanderson from The Reporters' Academy