Wrap on U17 Nationals
As you all know, Harbour Basketball has just hosted the U17 BBNZ National Championships at the North Shore Events Centre and AUT from 17-20 July.
It was a classic 4 days of ‘age group’ basketball, with a total 38 teams from around the country competing for U17 Girls and Boys National honours.
It was so exhilarating to view the talent and whilst some of the preliminary games were one-sided, the finals were a match-up that could not have been scripted any better.
The Girls final had Team ‘A’ Waitakere West pitted against arch rivals Team ‘B’ North Harbour, who received a real fright in their semi-finals when the Taranaki team came out ready to play. For 3 quarters Taranaki lead at each quarter, only to be toppled by some inspired play by North Harbour and in particular Harbour’s Tiarna Clarke who scored 14 of 24 in the final quarter to help secure a Harbour win 68-57. Top soccer of the game was Taranaki’s Connie Polette with a solid 23 points.
Waitakere West secured their finals spot by defeating Otago ‘A’ 89-54.
What a game the Girls final was and it could only be described as epic, with Harbour finally succumbing to a poor 2nd quarter, where they were outscored 23-8. This 2nd quarter was in contrast to the 1st quarter score of 24-24 and Harbour winning both the 3rd and 4th quarters, but it was not enough to overcome the 15 point advantage Waitakere West had secured by half-time.
Waitakere West top scorers were Maia Wilson (20) and Maria Milani (16). Harbour’s Akiene Reed scored an outstanding 32 points (58%) and was rewarded by being named in the tournament team along with Tiarna Clarke and Georgia Perrott-Hunt. Congratulations to all three.
Our Harbour ‘B’ Girls had a great tournament finishing 2nd in their pool and therefore making it into the top 8 teams. They subsequently finished 8th, with Tauranga defeating them in their final game 50-41
The Boys final had Team ‘A’ Auckland as favourites, having secured favouritism when they defeated Waitakere West in the semis by 11 points. Otago ‘A’ reached the finals with a less convincing win over Waikato by 12 points in their semi.
The 1st quarter was all Auckland, with Captain Kane Keil and Yuat Alok setting the pace allowing them to lead 25-14 after 10 mins. Favouritism by the pundits was well founded. However, Otago Coach Briggs had a plan and the team rallied to win the next 3 closely contested quarters and force a dramatic ‘overtime’. All bets were now off, Otago had the ascendency and they franked this in the ‘overtime’ period, winning the ball game 81-74 (68-68 FT). Well done and congratulations Otago!
Our Harbour Boys lost 2 games in pool play (Wellington & Auckland) to finish 3rd and did not make the top 8, however they did finish 9th and secured the plate final against Canterbury 99-72
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