The Women’s Tupu League got underway at McKay Stadium, Whangarei at the weekend. The Tupu League has replaced the D League as the second tier women’s programme underpinning the Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa League.

The Harbour Breeze won both games in Whangarei defeating Counties Manukau 101-54 and Franklin 109-43.

Leading Scorers:

V Counties Manukau – A Anderson 20, K Williams-Sefo 15, K Tini 13, B Flavell 11

V Franklin – A Anderson 25, B Flavell 18, I Pugh 16, T Faalogo 15, B Blair 9, M Fowler 8 

The Breeze will be in action again this Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19, at AUT Sports Centre on Akoranga Drive.

On Saturday the Breeze play Northland at 10.45am and meet Auckland Dream at 7.00pm.

On Sunday they face Franklin at 9.00am and Counties Manukau at 2.00pm 

Get along and show your support for the team that is stacked with current and former Harbour rep players.

Harbour Breeze roster:

Ash Udesike (Tall Ferns/East Central University)

Azure Anderson (3x3 Tall Ferns)

Brooke Blair (Tall Ferns/Idaho State University)

Mackenzie Chatfield (Junior Tall Ferns/Western Kentucky University)

Keeley Tini (Junior Tall Ferns/Williston State College)

Kodee Williams-Sefo (Westlake Girls High School)

Teuila Faalogo (Utah State Eastern College and former Northland rep)

Darci Finnigan (Junior Tall Ferns/University of Mary Hardin-Baylor)

Bailey Flavell (NZ U16’s/Takapuna Grammar School)

Maya Fowler (Collin College/Formerly Epsom Girls Grammar School)

Nikki Gear (Allen Community College/Formerly Northcote College)

Amy McKenzie (Takapuna Grammar School)

Katelin Noyer (Tall Ferns/Fresno State University)

Emma Schroeder (NZ U15’s/Westlake Girls High School)

Izzy Pugh (Wisconsin Milwaukee University and former Westlake Girls High) 

Coach – Mikey Graham

Tall Blacks Squad Named

Tall Blacks Head Coach Pero Cameron has named an extended squad of 19 men’s national team athletes in contention for the Tall Black’s upcoming FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Greece – with a place at the Paris Olympics 2024 on the line. The extended squad contains six former Harbour players in Dan Fotu, Sam Mennenga, Taine Murray, Sam Waardenburg, Corey Webster and Yanni Wetzell.

The 14 athletes in the Tall Black’s extended squad for the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers are: Flynn Cameron, Finn Delany, Ben Gold, Hyrum Harris, Tyrell Harrison, Shea Ili, Izayah Le’Afa, Jordan Ngatai, Tyrell Harrison, Ethan Rusbatch, Reuben Te Rangi, Tom Vodanovich, Waardenburg, Webster and Wetzell.

In addition, five non-travelling reserves have been named as Taylor Britt, Sam Timmins, Fotu, Murray and Mennenga. These players will be available for selection into the final squad in the event of injury or other unavailability.

The squad of 14 will first travel to Helsinki, Finland on 21 June to compete in a pair of friendly games against top-level European competition; facing world #20 ranked Finland on 26 June, followed by world #15 ranked Poland on 29 June.

Following this, a final Tall Blacks squad of 12 will travel to Piraeus, Greece from 2-7 July 2024 to participate in one of four Olympic Qualifying Tournaments being run by FIBA. Joining New Zealand in this tournament will be opponents Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Egypt and Dominican Republic – with the team who finishes first earning a ticket to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.

If the Tall Blacks are able to win this qualifying tournament, they would progress to the Olympics for the first time in 20 years; their last appearance coming at the Athens Games back in 2004.

Sal’s National Basketball League.

In his second game back from his American college season Charlie Dalton scored an NBL career high 16 points Eventfinda Stadium last Saturday as the Auckland Tuatara thumped Manawatu Jets 110-72. 

Also in fine form for the Tuatara were Rob Loe with 22 points while Corey Webster was also outstanding with 29 points and 13 assists – Corey averaging an impressive 7.7 dimes per game.

The next opportunity to see the Tuatara is on Friday May 24 when they will host the Nelson Giants at Eventfinda Stadium.

The Rapid League game begins at 6.30pm with the NBL encounter commencing at 7.30pm.

Dan Fotu scored a season high 25 points for the Nelson Giants in their significant 105-96 defeat of the Wellington Saints on Sunday evening.

Tai Webster scored 27 points as the Otago Nuggets were beaten 116-105 at Hawke’s Bay Hawks.

Oversees Professional Players

In Australian NBL1 action:

In NBL1 South Round 6 action Penina Davidson scored 19 points as Keilor Thunder recorded a come from behind win against Dandenong Rangers. Penina added 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals as the Thunder turned round a 24 points deficit with 15 minutes to play.

In NBL1 West Ella Fotu scored a team high 15 points and Olivia Berry 4 as Kalamunda Eastern Suns lost 91-57 to Eastern Suns. 

Isaac Fotu scored 11 points as Tochigi Brex went down 82-70 to Chiba Jets in a Quarter-Final of the Japanese League play-offs. The series is locked at 1-1 with the deciding game to come. 

James Moors tallied 8 points as Leeuwarden suffered an 88-80 defeat against Zwolle in Dutch League play. 

Brayden Inger was recently named the joint Players’ Player of the Season and the Coaches’ Player of the Season by Hemel Storm at the conclusion of the British Basketball League. Brayden averaged 13 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, shooting the 3-ball at 40.2%.

Brayden has since arrived back in New Zealand to link up with the Southland Sharks ….

Matt Freeman has completed his season in Rumanian – Matt averaged 11.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game for Craiova.