Tall Ferns power boosted the Harbour Breeze to a final win in the first tournament of the Women’s Basketball Championship on Saturday.

Beijing Olympians with the New Zealand women’s team, Charmian Purcell and Noni Wharemate, combined to score 40 points as the Breeze defeated the Waikato Cougars 67-45 in the title game at the North Harbour Tournament at AUT on Auckland’s North Shore.

Purcell scored a game-high 26 points, while Wharemate added 14 for Harbour, who also included former Tall Fern Karlene Kingi.

Harbour jumped on the all-high school Cougars squad from the opening tip, up by 14 points, 23-9, after a quarter and had pushed the gap out to 24 points by halftime.

Just as important for the Breeze as the offensive output was the effort at the defensive end, holding the Cougars to just 21 points in the first half and keeping top scorers Kyler Parai and Letava Whippy under double-digits for the game.

“The key was the defensive intensity and allowing them to only take one shot,” Harbour coach Brett Goebel said. “If they don’t make those shots, then it makes it hard for them.

“And then turning those one shots into fast-breaks. We dropped quite a few points in the open court.”

The Cougars, a mix of students from Church College and Hamilton’s Fraser High, did give Harbour some angst in the third, closing within 12 points after an 18-7 period. Emerging Junior Tall Fern Moengaroa Subritzky top-scored with 14 points.

“Offensively they were probably relying on two players, the Parai girl and the Whippy girl, and we dropped into a triange-and-two defence to stop them,” Goebel said.

“Those girls were physically quite tired. They had some tough games just to get here. Without those two getting their normal 40 points, it helped us play good defence.”

The Breeze-Cougars final drew a crowd of between 200-300, something that pleased Goebel, the WBC’s leading organiser.

“There was a couple hundred people there watching. AUT holds a hundred or so either side It was full up, a lot of noise, people chanting and all that … people coming to watch women’s basketball, it’s great.”

Earlier, the defending national champion Breeze got all they could handle from the Canterbury Wildcats in their semifinal on Saturday morning, winning 67-61, while the Cougars stunned the Wellington Swish with a 33-11 fourth quarter to win 84-72.

Purcell top-scored with 14 points for Harbour to set up a match-up with her younger sister Kalani Purcell, a member of the Cougars, in the final.

Erin Rooney, a former Junior Tall Fern, scored a game-high 25 points for the Cantabs, who led by five points after the first and second quarters. Harbour forged ahead in the third and were able to hang on down the stretch.

Parai topped with 20 points for the Cougars as they came from 61-51 down after three periods to win going away. Fijian international Whippy had 19 points and Subritzky 15 points for Waikato.

The Swish, who got 14 points from Donna Fermanis, slowly built their lead from four points after the first quarter, to six points at halftime and 10 points with 10 minutes to play.

The inaugural Women’s Basketball Championship features three tournaments, in North Harbour, Dunedin (July 23-25) and Wellington (August 20-22), to determine a national champion.

Women’s Basketball Championship

North Harbour Tournament

AUT

Saturday, June 20

Semifinals
Harbour Breeze 67 (Charmian Purcell 14, Justine Reed 13, Chelsea Terei 11) Canterbury Wildcats 61 (Erin Rooney 25, Georgina Richards 14, Megan Shea 12)

Waikato Cougars 84 (Kyler Parai 20, Letava Whippy 19, Moengaroa Subritzky 15) Wellington Swish 72 (Donna Fermanis 14, Jasmine Davis 12, Sezen Mercan 11)

Final
Harbour Breeze 67 (Charmian Purcell 26, Noni Wharemate 14, Chelsea Terei 12) Waikato Cougars 45 (Moengaroa Subritzky 14)
1Q: 23-9
HT: 45-21 (22-12)
3Q: 52-39 (7-18)
FT: 67-45 (15-6)

5th-6th Playoff
Otago Gold Rush 75 (Janet Main 32, Danielle Calnan 14) Waikato Wizards 69 (Natasha Lenden 24, Alana Auld 22)

7th-8th Playoff
NZ Academy 81 (Anna Lacey 28, Milika Nathan 14, Megan Craig 10) Taranaki Trojans 77 (Amber Bellringer 20, Jodi Hikuroa 19, Bella McCallum 14, Jenna Kensington 12)

GABBA Gators 75 (Tyla Tiriau 18, Priscilla Roberts 12, Adoniah Lewis 11, Stevee Theyers 11) Wellington Swish 71 (Kayla Kiriau 12, Melissa LeToa 10)

Final Placings
1 Harbour Breeze
2 Waikato Cougars
3 Canterbury Wildcats
4 Wellington Swish
5 Otago Gold Rush
6 Waikato Wizards
7 NZ Academy
8 Taranaki Trojans
9 GABBA Gators