When his New Plymouth women were hammered by defending champions Harbour in pool play at the NZ U21 Championships in Nelson, coach Trent Adam didn’t hit the panic button.

“We were just trying to find out way at that stage,” he reflected after the Taranaki outfit turned the tables in the final, rallying in the final quarter for a 64-62 triumph.

“It’s one of those things … losing a game in pool play doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the world, as long as you get something out of it.”

Adam, who spent three years guiding the overmatched Taranaki men in the National Basketball League, is now quickly showing himself an astute architect of women’s programmes.

Last year, his senior team inflicted Harbour with their only loss of the Women’s Basketball Championship, but could not produce consistently enough to make a real run at the title.

His New Plymouth Girls’ High School reached the NZ Secondary Schools Championship final, but could not deny a Church College team that had destiny on their side.

Half this U21 squad had taken New Plymouth to third at the 2009 NZ U19 Championship, also in Nelson … also under Adam’s tutelage.

For those players and their coach, this was a culmination of those hard lessons learned.

“A lot of girls and coaches have put in a lot of work in recent years to get this title … I’m just lucky enough to be the beneificiary,” said Adam.

Even after the lost a 10-point halftime lead to Harbour and suddenly found themselves eight points behind midway through the final period, they didn’t fret, mixing up their defences to confound their opponents into a series of turnovers that turned the game back their way.

With the scores tied and 15s left on the clock, Freya Newton, one of two ring-ins drafted from outside Taranaki, found her way to the free-throw line and converted both attempts for the winning margin.

“We definitely didn’t do the job required in that first game,” said Adam. “But we got a chance to really study what they were doing and it gave us an opportunity to put a game plan in for the final.

“We went in with a real defensive emphasis and executed that pretty well. We held them to 28 first-half points and felt, to be successful, we needed to hold them to around 60 for the game.”

So it proved. Tall Fern guard Zoe Kensington was again rewarded for her leadership with tournament Most Valuable Player honours, while scrappy forward Terai Sadler and Hawke’s Bay recruit Josie Stockill joined her in the tournament team.

In the men’s final, unbeaten Harbour overcame Otago, led by MVP Marko Alexander, and tournament teamers Sam King and Zac Fitzgerald.

Men
Final Placings
1 Harbour
2 Otago
3 Nelson
4 Porirua
5 Wellington
6 Palmerston North
7 Waikato
8 West Auckland
9 Canterbury
10 Counties Manukau TWOA
11 Auckland
12 Hutt Valley
13 Tauranga City
14 North Canterbury
15 Counties Manukau

Tournament TeamJordan Ngati - Porirua
Jake Ashby (Porirua)
Sam Dempster (Nelson)
Chris Duthie (Nelson)
Riki Buckrell (Otago)
Thomas Rowe (Otago)
Hayden Miller (Otago)
Sam King (Harbour)
Zac Fitzgerald (Harbour)
Marko Alexander (Harbour)

MVP
Marko Alexander - Harbour

Women
Final Placings
1 New Plymouth
2 Harbour
3 Porirua
4 Waitakere City
5 Nelson
6 Canterbury/North Canterbury
7 Gisborne
8 Otago

Tournament Team
Bayley Ross-Waitai (Porirua)
Jordan Hunter (Porirua)
Hana Wilkinson (Nelson)
Miriam Slatter (Waitakere City)
Adoniah Lewis (Waitakere City)
Natasha Hall (Harbour)
Ashleigh Kelman-Poto (Harbour)
Terai Sadler (New Plymouth)
Josie Stockill (New Plymouth)
Zoe Kensington (New Plymouth)

MVP
Zoe Kensington (New Plymouth)