34 points from Jordan Hunter
The inaugural Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam Women’s competition began with The Suns rising over The Sparks 71-42.
Early exchanges were even before Breeze Leonard, with a buzzer beater, gave Suns a 14-8 quarter time lead.
Leonard along with 10 points apiece from Bronwyn Kjestrup and Tauranga City forward Kelcy Ballantyne gave the Suns a 34-18 half time lead. Rangitoto College standout Rebecca Hughes (7 points) was the best of the Sparks scorers.
Former Tall Fern Jody Cameron, still possessing great awareness and passing skills, was prominent in the second half as she set up numerous scoring opportunities for forwards Ballantyne and Kjestrup to stretch the Suns lead to 55-34 by three quarter time.
The tireless Stevie Theyers and Hailey Purcell battled away for the Sparks but they were unable to do much to cloud the Suns winning glow.
Final score;
Suns 71 – Leonard 18, Kjestrup 16, Ballantyne 10, Tiarna Clarke 10
Sparks 42 – Hughes 12, Purcell 9, Theyers 9
Game two was a much closer affair as team Sky edged the Storm 84-79 in a high scoring game despite 34 points from Tall Ferns point guard Jordan Hunter.
Sky began the game with a 7-0 run but that lead was reduced to 4 points by quarter time, 24-20, with Storm seizing the initiative in the second period to lead 41-39 at half time – Millie Nathan and Milomilo Nanai finding holes in the opposition defence with regularity.
Fortunes fluctuated in the second half as Westlake High School guard Zara Jillings and Hunter went toe for toe on the perimeter and Deena Franklin, Annabelle Jenkins and Katelin Noyer battled for inside supremacy with the ‘MN’s’ Nanai and Nathan.
The scores were locked 69 apiece with 6 minutes remaining before team Sky opted for the perimeter game to achieve success. Jess Nicholson, Georgia Henare and Zara Jillings (4/7 3PG) all made triples for team Sky, just enough to hold off the efforts of the impressive Hunter (7/14 3PG).
Final score;
Sky 84 – Jillings 20, Franklin 19, Jenkins 16, Henare 10
Storm 79 – Jordan 34, Nathan 16, Nanai 16, Hannah Turton 8
LACEY LOWDOWN 