Both the A teams enjoyed success on day 1 of the BBNZ Zone 3 U15 Premiership Tournament being held in Napier over the weekend of July 13 to 15, 2012.

The Boys came up against a physical Wanganui team who held a small lead at the half time point. An unanswered 10 point run from the NP boys at the beginning of the 3rd period saw them take hold of the game and Wanganui never recovered. In the end, NP were too good and won 86- 59.

Their second game saw them up against a Wellington Development team and, as may not have been expected, this proved to be more than a challenge for the New Plymouth team. The margin was a lot closer than expected but NP managed to pull off the win with a final score of 67 - 55.

The A Girls team stormed into the tournament and a hapless Palmerston North Development team could find no answer to their relentless attack. At times, the Palmerston North girls looked like they wished they were somewhere else and they probably took little from a game where they could only manage to score 12 points.

The 119 points from the NP Girls signalled their intent for the weekend but in reality not a lot could be drawn from the game other than that New Plymouth intended to dominate.

Their second game against Hutt Valley started off a little less forthright with the NP Girls down at the end of the first quarter. Their wave of attack came in the second quarter and by half time they had a small lead over their southern opponents. Hutt Valley never gave up and when the lead narrowed to 8 points with three minutes to go Coach Eileen Hall had her work cut out for her.

The Girls didn't falter though and in the end closed out the game with an 11 point lead winning 65 - 54

The NP Girls Development team had a great start to the day. They pushed the Palmerston North A team all the way and matched them basket for basket during the early stages of the game. Sheer guts and determination ensured they never gave Palmerston North a free bucket and they always ensured no shot went up without a hand in their face. They finished with a respectable 43 points against Palmerston's 71. The Palmy Girls knew they had just played a tough game.

Their second game of the day against Hawkes Bay was a little more challenging and it saw them go down 37 - 106. Mindful that the objective of the development team is to build players for next years tournament, the Coach Andy Cowie and the Girls, can rest assured that by the end of this tournament a huge amount of progress will be made towards achieving that goal.

Day 2 sees the boys playing Hawkes Bay at 10:45am and Hutt Valley at 7:30pm. The Girls A team meet Wellington at 5:45pm and the Girls Development team meet TCB at 9:00am and Porirua at 2:15pm.

For more photos of the day look in the photo gallery.