New Look StAC Continues South Island Dominance at 3x3 Qualifiers
St. Andrew’s College has continued its supremacy over the South Island, adding more silverware to its cabinet after another unbeaten run at the 3x3 Southern Regionals in Ashburton.
The Southern Regionals is one of three tournaments held nationally during summer tournament week. This is the first year that Regional tournaments have been held and a National tournament will include 3 teams from the Southern region, 3 from the Central region and 6 from the Northern. 2023 saw two South Island teams (St. Andrew’s College and Kaiapoi High) attend the stand-alone National tournament. In 2024 this number increased to 10 South Island teams as well as boosting the numbers nationally.
A strong Kaiapoi High team stood in the way of StAC’s fourth South Island title since the resurgence of the programme and was looking like the team that would finally stop the reign of terror that had for so long been dished out by the Thistle.
Newcomer Ava Jones quickly put any idea of a new South Island champion to bed with a dominant performance from both the inside, using strong footwork and a size advantage that was too much for Kaiapoi to counter, and the outside, showing off a perimeter jumper that even older sibling Maia would be proud of, to finish with 8 of StAC’s 12 points. Senior guard Aliyah Newton battled hard and did everything she could to keep Kaiapoi within striking distance but the size StAC possessed proved too much on the interior.
The road to the final looked as though it wouldn't be easy for Kaiapoi with a rematch of an overtime loss the day prior against neighbours Rangiora High in their way. Kaiapoi had seemed to hit the nail on the head with their game plan and, alongside strong outside shooting from Anika Shaw, was able to right all the wrongs from their previous encounter to book their first South Island final birth.
StAC ran into a Christchurch Girls High team that had come into the game with the plan to be physical, which seemed to work early on rattling the Thistle and throwing them off any kind of rhythm. Unfortunately for CGHS shots struggled to fall and any early pressure created was soon lost, allowing StAC to get back into their flow late and coast to yet another final birth.
StAC and Kaiapoi will be joined at 3x3 Nationals in April by Rangiora High who were able to get revenge for a Day 1 loss against Christchurch Girls. Harper McDonald looked determined not to let her team miss out on a trip to Wellington, using size and skill to will her way into the paint on the way to a player-of-the-match type performance.
