Weekly Wrap-Up: NC Stays Undefeated
Those following along for a while now will notice a small change in the wrap-ups. Going forward I will be wrapping up both the Miles Toyota Premier Women’s League and the Lincoln University Whelan Trophy in the same piece to provide a one-stop shop for all things women’s basketball in Ōtautahi.
Miles Toyota Premier Women’s League
A top-table clash headlined this week’s matchups as undefeated sides North Canterbury and Lincoln University battled out a matchup filled with National and Tauihi experience. Cold bodies from the early morning weather were quickly warmed as LU torched their opponents from the perimeter to begin the contest. Their hot start wouldn’t last much longer, and NC could flex their muscles as the Big 3 started to make their presence felt in the game. Esra McGoldrick and Ashlyn Rean combined for 14 of their 16 second-quarter points, causing the Rams constant headaches on the defensive end and taking a 41–35 lead into the break.
Baskets became a lot harder to find in the second half as both defences were able to adjust and restrict a lot of what was working for both teams and it was an unlikely hero who made big back-to-back shots for NC. Rangiora High’s Harper McDonald made two of the biggest threes of her young career, not hesitating once to let the outside shot fly after finding the ball kicked out to her through some impenetrable interior defence. Lincoln was able to create several good looks down the stretch but could not find the bottom of the net as NC held on for a 69–65 win.
Atami secured their first win of the season beating Halswell 71–57 thanks to some hot shooting from the Ella and Ava Costley. All eight of Atami’s shots from the perimeter were knocked down by the Costley twins, taking full advantage of collapsing defence and late closeouts. Johanna Jackman’s game-high 17 points kept Halswell afloat for most of the competition but wasn’t enough to earn them their second win of the year.
An 0–2 start to the season has almost been forgotten as Checkers have been able to win their last two games, the latter a 73–70 win against the University of Canterbury. Backcourt duo Laura Jackson and Nami Nitta did all they could to keep the pressure on the two-time champs but it was Kavanah Lene fresh off an NZ camp that stole the show, pouring in 32 points to help seal the game. After five ties and six league changes, Checkers looked like they finally had enough breathing room to seal the game. UC had one last run in them but came up short after being unable to manage the game late, allowing too many offensive rebounds which caused precious time to tick away and present Checkers with the win.
Week 5 Match-Ups:
9am Lincoln University vs Halswell
10.35 University of Canterbury vs Atami (Game of the Week)
12.10 North Canterbury vs Checkers
Whelan Spotlight
A new part of our weekly reviews will now include a review of what I consider the ‘Game of the Week’ in the Whelan Trophy competition. This week the spotlight was on a 2v3 match-up in terms of standings as Christchurch Girls High looked to keep the perfect record against a Kaiapoi side that came up short at home last week against favourites St. Andrews.
CGHS started well but it looked as though the perfect record was under immediate threat as Kaiapoi’s Anika Shaw was on the attack from the get-go, pouring in 20 first-half points with a mix of aggressive downhill penetration capped off with some outside shooting reminiscent of the four she hit in the second half of Kaiapoi’s season opener. Keita Hatherell was making her presence felt on both ends of the floor doing everything she could to keep CGHS in the game early. The versatile forward was sending back shots and ripping down rebounds, as well as finishing off offensive possessions for the hosts. Kaiapoi continued to apply pressure up the court and as the turnover count continued to creep up, helping them to a 39–28 lead at the break.
Girls High came out firing to start the second half and an early 8–2 run had them almost back on level terms within minutes. Kaiapoi showed great poise to steady the ship and with some more Anika Shaw brilliance had the lead to 20 by the third quarter break. CGHS wasn’t finished and showed they had one more run in them to add some late excitement Kaiapoi showed their experience as they controlled the flow of the game and got the ball into the hands of their finishers down the stretch.
Other Results:
St. Andrew’s College 87–53 St. Margaret’s
Rangiora High 88–41 Cashmere High
