National AA Secondary Schools basketball championships by Bruce Martin

 

Christchurch Girls’ High finished a bold fourth at the National AA Secondary Schools basketball championships which concluded last Saturday at Palmerston North when it was beaten by Hamilton Girls High 72-55 and become the highest placed South Island side. Girls High has previously won the championships three times in the last 12 years, the last was in 2013.

Top seeded Middleton Grange school boys captured 5^th place when it edged Auckland Grammar 101-94. Other placings after a strenuous week of basketball saw Christchurch Boys’ claim 15^th, beating Te Awamutu 87-83, Burnside defeating Cashmere 84-71 in the 17^th play-off encounter and Shirley Boys taking 20^th place, well beaten by Napier Boys High 84-60.

 

Under coach Phil Burns, Girls High reached its aim of a ‘Top Eight’ placing going through pool play with a 3-1 record. The team eased past Hutt Valley 60-53 on Monday before coming up against the much taller Hamilton Girls High in an evenly matched game Tuesday morning. The Wairau sisters, Laken with 22 and Sapphire with 14, both Canterbury Wildcats, stepped up to combat the strong inside play from Hamiton with Hamilton easing ahead 58-50 by games end. Girls High went on to beat Palmerston North Girls 61-55 and Marlborough Girls 82-60.

In an over-time Top 8 quarter-final thriller Girls’ High extracted revenge for a 16 point loss at the Premierships by edging home 66-65 in the extra time against arch-rival St Hilda’s Collegiate of Dunedin. Sapphire Wairua (26) stepped out from under her sister Laken’s shadow, causing issues for St. Hilda’s as she was continually able to get the opposition to leave their feet in the paint and then finish around them. It was Nicole Ruske (25) and sister Aleisha Ruske (15), daughters of coach and former Canterbury Ram Dean Ruske, that stood out for St Hildas. With the scores locked at 55-55 CGHS had a chance to win the game in regulation but just failed to get a shot off. Overtime was more of the same, with neither team able to pull away. Girls High got a slight advantage thanks to a Sapphire Wairua three, forcing St. Hilda’s to play catchup and late in the game after both sides missed chances before Girls high emerged gallant victors.

In the main semi-final  Wellington Girls’ College was paced by commanding performances from Tegan Graham (27) and Shalae Salmon (22) eventually proved too strong for Christchurch Girls High School winning 77-53. Christchurch held a narrow lead early in the second quarter before Wellington eased to a 37-28 half time lead.  Junior Tall Fern Laken Wairau (17) and Canterbury Wildcat Tessa Morrisson (15, 8R) were strong for Christchurch.

In the third pace play-off height again proved a factor for the small Canterbury players with Hamilton Girls repeating a pool play victory winning 72-55 with Morrison notching 19 points for Christchurch.

For a consistant effort throughout the week Laken Wairau was chosen in the Tournament team.

 

Rangiora High girls managed 15^th placing beating Palmerston North Girls 70-54 in its final game.

 

Any one of a dozen teams could have taken the Boys title which was eventually won for the first time by Rangitoto College when it beat long term champion Westlake Boys in the Grand final 80-63.

Middleton Grange was the best performer of the five Canterbury Boys teams. Its only loss in pool play was to Auckland Grammar 97-83 with Sam Lees (23) and Canterbury Ram Sam Timmins (22) playing well. In other pool play games Middleton beat Wellington College, Cashmere High 93-83, Palmerston North and Te Awamutu to set up an exciting match up against Westlake Boys in the quarter-finals. Westlake built a lead of 19 at one stage in the first half, only for Middleton Grange to come roaring back and build their own double digit lead, up 79-63 with less than 6 minutes to play after a Jackson Stent dunk. Middleton led 81-78 with 90 seconds to go but Westlake powered home 91-86 through the efforts of Matt Freeman on 47 points. Lees (32) and Timmins (16, 30R) were again Middleton’s main contributors.

In the 5-8 semi’s Middleton powered away to a 103-74 win over Onehunga before capturing fifth place with a 101-94 win over Auckland Grammar.

Middleton’s Sam Lees was well deserving of his place in the tournament team.

 

Results from National AA Secondary Schools basketball championships were:

Boys:

Pool A: Middleton Grange 97 Wellington Coll 52, Cashmere 94 Auckland Grammar 74, Middleton Grange 93 Cashmere 83, Te Awamutu 98 Cashmere 77, Middleton Grange 79 Palmerston North Boys 67, Middleton Grange 106 Te Awamutu 77, Cashmere 77 Wellington Coll 64, Palmerston North Boys 86 Cashmere 73, Auckland Grammar 97 (Samuel Aruwa 25, Conor Flanagan 19, Sam Whyte 19) Middleton Grange 83 (Sam Lees 23, Sam Timmins 22).

Pool B: Rangitoto 105 Shirley Boys 56, New Plymouth Boys 76 Shirley Boys 66, Fraser 103 Shirley Boys 74, Shirley Boys 89 Saint Kentigern 68, Onslow  69 Shirley Boys 43.   

Pool C: Rotorua Boys 96 Christchurch Boys 74, Liston 90 Burnside 79, Rotorua Boys 87 Burnside 53, Christchurch Boys 90 Hillcrest 75, Burnside 82 Hillcrest 66, Westlake Boys 84 (Isaac Letoa 25, Matt Freeman 21) Christchurch Boys 78 (Jack Ansell 35, Quinn Clinton 21), Christchurch Boys 84 Burnside 82, Christchurch Boys 91 Liston 79, Westlake Boys 91 (Matt Freeman 30, Isaac Letoa 22)

Burnside 90 (Toby Gillooly 28, Kyle Louis 23, Shou Nisbet 23). 

Quarter-finals 17-24: Cashmere 61 Hillcrest 60, Shirley Boys 95 St John's Hamilton 84, Burnside 81 Wellington College 69.   

Quarter-finals 9-16: Palmerston North 78 Christchurch Boys 61.    

Quarter-finals 1-8: Westlake Boys 91(Matt Freeman 47, Logan Hunt 18) Middleton Grange 86 (Sam Lees 32, Sam Timmins 16). 

Semi-finals 17-20: Cashmere 79 Napier Boys 65, Burnside 97 Shirley 56.   

Semi-finals 13-16: Mt Albert 81 Christchurch Boys 79.

Semi-finals 5-8: Middleton Grange 103 Onehunga 74.

Main Semi-finals:  Westlake Boys 101 Fraser 99, Rangitoto 77 Rotorua 76 in OT.   

Play-off 19^th: Napier Boys 84 Shirley 60. 

Playoff 17^th: Burnside 84 Cashmere 71.   

Playoff 15^th: Christchurch Boys 87 Te Awamutu 83.     

Playoff 9^th:  Otago Boys 78 Onslow 71.

Playoff 5^th: Middleton Grange 101 Auckland Grammar 94.  

Boys Grand Final: Rangitoto 80 (Tai Wynyard 23, 19R, Daniel Fotu 16, Isaac Davidson 13) Westlake 63 (Matt Freeman 28, 9R, Isaac Leota 13). 

Tournament team:  Sam Lees - Middleton Grange. MVP: Tai Wynyard - Rangitoto

 

Girls:

Pool A: New Plymouth Girls 78 Rangiora 67, Auckland Girls 65 Rangiora 64, Wellington Girls 84 Rangiora 55, Rangiora 55 Massey 48.     

Pool B: Christchurch Girls 60 Hutt Valley 53, Hamilton Girls 58 (Alyssa Hirawani 28, Azure Anderson 16) Christchurch Girls 50 (Laken Wairau 22, Sapphire Wairau 14), Christchurch Girls 61 Palmerston North Girls 55, Christchurch Girls 82 Marlborough Girls 60.

Quarter-finals 9-16: Westlake Girls 58 Rangiora 44.  

Quarter-finals 1-8: Christchurch Girls 66 (Sapphire Wairau 26, Tessa  Stewart-Morrison 18) St Hildas 65 (Nicole Ruske 25, Aleisha Ruske 15). FT: 55-55.

Semi-finals 13-16: St Kentigem 62 Rangiora 52. 

Main Semi-finals:  Wellington Girls 77 (Tegan Graham 27, 15R, 4A, Shalae Salmon 22, 17R) Christchurch Girls 53 (Laken Wairau 17, Tessa Morrisson 15, 8R, 4A, Sapphire Wairau 11), St Peter's Cambridge 43 Hamilton Girls 40.     

Playoff 15^th: Rangiora 70 Palmerston North Girls 54.  

Playoff 5^th: St Hilda's 85 New Plymouth Girls 46.

Playoff 3^{rd :} Hamilton Girls  72 Christchurch Girls 55 (Tessa Morrisson 15).  

Girls Grand Final: Peter's Cambridge 64 (Kendall Heremaia 17, 8R, Krystal Leger-Walker 14, 8R, 6A, Charlisse Leger-Walker 13, 9R) Wellington Girls  54 (Tegan Graham 14, Shalae Salmon 13).  

Tournament team:  Laken Wairau - Christchurch Girls HS. MVP: Krystal Leger-Walker - St Peter's Cambridge.