Hall makes it six!
Two days after five current or former Westlake High School students helped the New Zealand Tall Blacks to their largest and possibly finest win over the Australians, a sixth Westlake student stepped into the international basketball arena.
Having celebrated her 18th birthday on Monday Natasha Hall, a seventh form student at Westlake Girls High School made her international debut for the New Zealand Tall Ferns in their 80-71 loss to Japan on Wednesday.
Six foot one inch forward Hall caught the eye of New Zealand assistant coach Aik Ho with a couple of stand out performances in age group representative basketball this year. In May, Hall scored a game high 24 points for her North Harbour team in the final of the Under 21 National Championships and a month later played a key part in helping Harbour add the Under 19 National trophy. These performances added to Hall’s natural size and athleticism led to her invitation to the national training camp in Napier where, under the tutorage of Ho and Tall Ferns head coach Shawn Dennis she impressed enough to be handed her international debut.
Hall and her teammates now move on to Porirua for the FIBA Oceania Championship clash with Australia on Monday.
New Zealand 71 (Toni Edmondson25, Lisa Wallbutton 24, Suzie Bates 10) Japan 80 (Yuko Oga 28, Al Mitani 19, Noriko Koiso 15).
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