LACEY LOWDOWN

Round five of the Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam saw wins for Birdmen and 68A Nelson Street in the Men’s competition, with Suns and Sky grabbing the victories in the women’s competition.

Nelson Street, with five players scoring double figures, led from start to finish against Breakers Development.

With Derone Raukawa (35 points) once again in good scoring touch Nelson Street were quickly out to a 30-20 lead in the opening period.

Twenty first half points from Mitch Dance kept Breakers in touch but the greater scoring productivity of Johnny Fesolai, Ana Haku and Mitch Newton propelled Nelson Street to a 53-38 lead at half-time.

Threes from Thomas Whyte, Harry Payne and Kruz Perrott-Hunt were of little consequence as Nelson Street dominated the second half to run out easy winners.

Nelson Street 111 – Raukawa 35, Haku 24, Fesolai 20, Newton 18, Jayden Boucher 11

Breakers Development 72 –Dance 24, Langridge 14, Payne 11, Perrott-Hunt 9, Te Puni 8

Aided by a 36 points haul from Kevin Braswell, Birdmen with a strong fourth quarter finish beat Railsplitters 123-113.

Railsplitters got off to a good start courtesy of Hayden Allen and Jaylen Gerrand to lead by three points (36-33) in a high scoring opening frame.

The same two players, along with Sam Aruwa, landed triples in the second but 15 points in the period from Braswell gave Birdmen a 64-61 edge at the interval.

Railsplitters chances were dealt a blow in the third with Allen forced to retire with an ankle injury although 10 points in the quarter from James Hunter ensured Railsplitters only trailed by a point (87-86) at the last break.

Triples from Brayden Inger, Matt Lacey and Braswell sprung Birdmen into a 113-104 lead with four minutes to play. Gerrand piled in 17 fourth quarter points but TInashe Matambanadzo, Nick Barrow and Braswell ensured Birdmen remained on the top rung.

Railsplitters 113 – Gerrand 29, Allen 20, Harris 19, Hunter 14, Aruwa 13

Birdmen 123 – Braswell 36, Colla 19, Matambanadzo 19, Inger 14, Barrow 13

Current Standings:

4-1 Birdmen

3-2 Railsplitters, Nelson Street

0-5 Breakers Development

After a close first half it was a commanding second half performance that carried Sky to 79-62 win against Sparks in the women’s competition.

Sky dominated the third stanza 29-8 with Orewa College guard Hannah Wentworth and Breana Jones knocking down perimeter shots and Ashleigh Kelman-Poto scoring inside.

Sparks shaded the fourth quarter with Shanee Kiriau prominent but Sky had little trouble protecting their advantage to win their second game of the season.

Earlier Mikayla Blair had been in good scoring touch making 11 first quarter points for Sparks. An even first half ensued with Alyesha Schuster and Sophie Dil chipping in for Sparks as they entered the break 41-38 ahead – Wentworth made one of her four triples in the shadows of half-time to keep Sky in touch.

Sky 79 – Kelman-Poto 22, Wentworth 18, Jones 17, Maddix 9

Sparks 62 – Blair 17, Dil 10, Schuster 10, Kiriau 9, Davidson 8

Despite 25 points from Tall Ferns forward Deena Franklin the Suns were able to win the battle of the top two teams beating Storm 70-60.

It was 13 points apiece at quarter time but Suns broke the deadlock in the second winning the stanza 25-18 – 15 points in the half from Morgan Ili proving the difference.

Franklin scored eight straight points to open the third but the triple inside threat of Annabelle Jenkins and the Kailahi-Fulu sisters Jazz and Zaaliyah gave Suns a 54-42 three-quarter time lead.

Triples from Emme Shearer and Shauna Povey hinted at a strong Storm finish but five points apiece from Anna Lacey and Jazz Kailahi-Fulu ensured Suns have a spot in the grand final with a round of the regular season still to play.

Suns 70 – Ili 19, A Jenkins 12, Lacey 10, J Kailahi-Fulu 10, Z Kailahi-Fulu 10

Storm 60 – Franklin 25, Berry 7, Shearer 7, Povey 7

Standings

4-1 Suns

3-2 Storm

2-3 Sky

1-4 Sparks

Round four of the Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam saw wins for Birdmen and Railsplitters in the Men’s competition, the Storm and Suns shining on the Women’s side.

Birdmen, with forwards Nick Barrow and Dom Kelman-Poto sharing 56 points, proved too strong for Breakers Development winning 90-75.

Birdmen soared to an early 13-3 lead and despite a couple of triples from Breakers forward Zack Te Puni held a 21-13 advantage at three-quarter time.

A trey from Brayden Inger and inside dominance from Kelman-Poto and Barrow kept the Birdmen advantage in double figures.

Breakers guard Harry Clarke closed the first half with back-to-back scores but his team trailed 45-30 at the interval.

Kainoa Lepou pushed the Birdmen advantage out to twenty points and a steal and score from Juan Cruz Cola added to Breakers problems as they finished the third 71-49 adrift.

The Breakers kept plugging away and enjoyed a good spell as Tom Whyte and Te Puni made threes while Thabo Manyere and Anzac Rissetto chimed in with inside buckets.

Clarke also landed a couple of late triple as the Breakers enjoyed their best spell of the game but it was too little too late as Birdmen recorded their third win.

Birdmen 90 – Barrow 30, Kelman-Poto 26, Colo 14, Inger 12

Breakers Development 75 –Te Puni 12, Rissetto 11, Manyere 9, Clarke 8, Whyte 8

In the second game Derone Raukawa, after thirty odd points last week, went even better in this round running up 46 points  but it wasn’t enough to carry 68A Nelson Street to the win as they were edged 108-101 by Railsplitters.

Raukawa’s Southland Sharks teammate Hayden Allens scored 34  points, closely followed by Jaylen Gerrand – the former Westlake standout put up a season high 13 three-point attempts converting eight, at healthy 62%, on his way to 33 points.

The scores were tied at quarter-time (27-27) before Nelson Street had the best of the second, with veteran Dillon Boucher leading the way (12 points and 14 rebounds), to lead 55-48 at half-time.

New, Bay Hawks signing Mitch Newton (21 points and 11 rebounds) played a strong hand for Nelson Street as they maintained an 81-77 lead at the three-quarter mark.

That advantage was quickly overturned by Railsplitters with a 17-8 run in the early stages of the fourth – Gerrand and the experienced Allen and Tipene Friday holding Nelson Street at bay in the closing stages.

Railsplitters 108 – Allen 34, Gerrand 33, Aruwa 15, Friday 13

68A Nelson St 101 – Raukawa 46, Newton 21, Boucher 12,

Current Standings:

3-1 Railsplitters, Birdmen

2-2 Nelson Street

0-4 Breakers Development

Strong performances from Annabelle Jenkins and Jazz Kailahi-Fulu took Suns to a win against team Sky.

Suns got off to a bright start forging a 9-3 advantage courtesy of Luye Murphy and Tabitha Jenkins.

Keeley Tini and Ashleigh Kelman-Poto shared the scoring load for Sky as they responded but still trailed 26-19 at the first break.

Breana Jones landed a trademark three for Sky and with Kelman-Poto and Tini working tirelessly inside narrowed to 42-38 at half-time.

Suns made the pivotal move early in the third frame – a ten points haul from St Mary’s forward Kailahi-Fulu propelling her team to a 65-54 advantage at the thirty minute mark.

Scores from Riana Rangi-Brown and Summer-Jean Motufoua threatened a Sky comeback but that was extinguished by Anna Lacey, Morgan Ili and Annabelle Jenkins as they conjured up a 12-2 run to seal a third victory for Suns.

Sky 72 – Kelman-Poto 19, Tini 13, Rangi-Brown 11, Jones 7

Suns 81 – A Jenkins 18, J 15, T Jenkins 10, Murphy 9, Ili 9

The Harbour Breeze pair of Deena Franklin (23 points) and Olivia Berry (19 points) carried Storm to a convincing 82-66 victory against Sparks to keep the pressure on the Suns at the top of the table.

In her first appearance Shinae Tuhoro scored half a dozen early points for Sparks but Stevee-Rose Theyers landed three triples in the first quarter as Storm opened a 29-25 lead.

Franklin had 15 points by half-time and Berry scored 10 points as the lead was extended to 50-38 at the major break.

Sharne Pupuke-Robati and Bella Elgar did their best to stem the scoring flow from the Storm but it was always an uphill struggle – the Storm winning every quarter in this one.

Sparks 66 – Pupuke-Robati 12, Tuhoro 10, Elgar10, Dalton 9

Storm 82 – Franklin 23, Berry 19, Theyers 12, Povey 8

Standings

3-1 Suns, Storm

1-3 Sky, Sparks