LACEY LOWDOWN

There were just two games played last Friday in the Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Premier Grade competition.

Despite missing Tayla Dalton, away on Harbour Breezed duty, Carmel College had slightly the better start against Massey High edging the first quarter 14-12 during which time a nice battle developed between standout forwards Quaizden Stephano (Carmel) and Yzabelle Tevao (Massey) as the two wrestled for rebounding supremacy.

Massey scored eight of the last nine points in the half to lead 31-26 at the break – Alyesha Schuster prominent in that run. Emily Broomfield led the Carmel scoring with 8 points in the half.

Another Massey run (this time 11-2) after the interval gave the visitors the points buffer it had been seeking. Ramona Fuiavaa orchestrated the surge allowing Shauna Povey and Tevao to dominate the scoring as Massey stretched the advantage to 47-34 at three-quarter time

Izzy Cattermole was prominent in the second half but Carmel could do little to stop Massey recording a second straight win.

Carmel College 49– Emily Broomfield 14, Cattermole 14, Estelle Davidson 9, Stephano 9

Massey High 73– Tevao 20, Povey 17, Schuster 17, Ramona Fuiavaa 10

Pania Dowd and Riana Matiseni exchanged early threes as St Mary’s took a 13-11 lead into the first break.

Eight second quarter points from Zaaliyah Kailahi-Fulu countered the efforts of Tiger-Lily Locker, Breanna Waka and Anna Teu as St Mary’s took a 29-18 lead into the interval.

Alex Moore and Kailahi-Fulu scored six points apiece in the third frame as St Mary’s extended their advantage to 47-23.

Triples from Maia Malolo and Trinity Atiga in the final quarter put the icing on a comprehensive win for St Mary’s who, like Massey, have made a 2-0 start to the season.

Mt Albert Grammar 26– Tiger-Lily Locker 7, Waka 5, Dowd 4

St Mary’s College 75– Kailahi-Fulu 16, Moore 14, Malolo 12, Atiga 11

The Westlake Girls High versus Auckland Girls Grammar fixture has been postponed to a later date as it clashed with the AGGS Ball.  In addition Westlake had a number of their squad playing for Harbour Breeze and Harbour Zephyr at the Women’s Basketball Championship in Christchurch on Friday.

Unfortunately Botany Downs defaulted its game against Rangitoto College.

Round 3 fixtures on May 17:

Westlake (2-0) v Massey (2-0)

Botany Downs (0-2) v Auckland Girls Grammar (0-2)

St Mary’s (2-0) v Carmel (1-1)

Rangitoto (1-1) v Mt Albert (0-2)

St Kentigern College demonstrated that they will be a championship contender this season as the second round of the Auckland Secondary Schools Premier Boys competition produced wins for Westlake Boys, Rangitoto College and Liston College as well as the men from East Auckland.

St Kentigern, paced by the back court duo of Alex McNaught and Kazlo Evans, made the better start with a 25-18 first quarter effort in front of another full house at the Tom Gerrard Gymnasium.

Suffocating defence from the visitors stifled the Rosmini offence that could only muster 30 points in the opening half. In contrast the inside presence of Levic Kerr, penetrative drives of Shalom Broughton and perimeter shooting of McNaught and Evans constantly found holes in the hosts defence – St Kent’s ahead 51-32 at the interval.

Josh Child helped stretch the lead to thirty in the third before Sean Murphy and Marvin Williams-Dunn led a Rozza mini revival – St Kent’s still 73-51 to the good at the last break.

The Rosmini revival, on the back of some full court pressure, gathered further momentum in the final stanza as the St Kentigern guards were forced into several errors. Williams-Dunn knocked down back to back threes, Terrence Abdon also scored on consecutive plays and Taine Murray got in on the scoring action but Broughton and Child did enough to ensure Rosmini didn’t get too close as St Kent’s secured a deserved victory.

Rosmini College 86– Williams-Dunn 28, Murray 18, Murphy 16, Reihana Maxwell-Topia 10

St Kentigern College 96– Broughton 27, Kerr 18, Evans 17, McNaught 16

Jaga Mete produced the highest individual scoring performance of the season to date but his 41 points were not quite enough to see Auckland Grammar across the line as they suffered a 93-84 home defeat against Westlake Boys.

Eight early points from Grammar point guard Connor Ngan were eclipsed by  Josh Kooiman who made 14 points as Westlake forged a 31-23 lead.

Mete and Cody Brown wrestled control back for Grammar in the second as the hosts carved out a narrow 47-44 advantage.

The two teams went toe to toe in the third – six points from Cam Atkinson helping Westlake tie the game at 63 points apiece with ten minutes to play.

Despite Junior Tall Black forward Sam Mennenga being sidelined with a rolled ankle for all but the opening five minutes Westlake finished the stronger putting on 30 points in the closing quarter.

Kooiman took his made threes to six – Jett Thompson and Dylan Wilkie also landed from beyond the arc – and with Joe Wuthrich making important buckets Lake were able to hold off Mete and Toby Caldwell down the stretch.

Auckland Grammar 84– Mete 41, Ngan 12, Langdon 8

Westlake Boys 93– Kooiman 22, Atkinson 19, Wilkie 15, Wuthrich 12

The shooting of Desmond Helu was the difference between the teams as Liston College won 70-59 at Mt Albert Grammar School. Helu scored 33 points – a shooting performance that contained seven triples including three in the decisive last quarter.

It looked promising early on for MAGS as they built a 19-6 early lead and 33-22 at half time as Josh Leger, Nate Wilson and Dakota Stephens posted regular scores.

Momentum changed after the break as MAGS were outscored 18-6 in the third with George Peyroux and Helu doing most the damage as Liston edged ahead 40-39 at the three-quarter mark.

Buckets from Peyroux and Wilson gave MAGS encouragement but it was the blitz from beyond the arc from Helu aided by scores from Karatau and Victor Ola’aiga that earned Liston the win.

Mt Albert Grammar 59– Leger 16, Wilson 14, Peyroux 9

Liston College 70– Helu 33, Karatau 13, Kiani Saxon 9

Rangitoto College pretty much settled the tie at Macleans College in the first quarter racing to a commanding 38-6 advantage with nine Rangi players getting on the scoresheet in that opening spell.

Harry Smith scored ten first half points for Macleans and Michael Barbaran chipped in with a couple of baskets but Rangi were totally dominant leading 61-18 at half-time.

Daniel Powell had a good night for Rangi pumping in a premier high 26 points on the back of 5 made threes from 6 attempts. He was well supported by Harry Payne, Liam Judd, Jared Thornton and the Ethan’s – Mandeno and Skelton – who all scored in double figures as Rangitoto won every quarter.

Smith and Tyson Kempton were the double-digit scorers for the hosts but the boys from the Bays have made a flying start to the season with two big wins.

Macleans College 52– Smith 19, Kempton 10, Barbaran 9

Rangitoto College 116– Powell 26, Payne 18, Judd 16, Thornton 12

The opening round of the Premier Boys competition saw the four games decided by the average differential of 33 points. The Auckland Secondary Schools Premier Girls opening round was even more lopsided with the differential in three of the games in excess of 50 points.

The exception was the Rangitoto College versus St Mary’s College clash in the Bays which was won by the visitors 80-68 despite Rangi leading 21-8 after the first ten minutes.

Hannah Wentworth knocked down a couple of threes for Rangi in the second quarter but it was a period that belonged to St Mary’s as they rattled up 32 points. Alex Moore, Kat Leslie, Riana Matiseni and Zaaliyah Kailahi-Fulu all made significant contributions as St Mary’s took a 40-34 advantage into the half-time break.

The third quarter was far more even as Rangi attempted to dent the deficit via scores from Aroha Rogers and Ella Moore. They could only claw back two points as Leata Te Nana-Williams kept St Mary’s ahead 55-51 with ten minutes to play.

Moore, Wentworth and Rogers made triples for the hosts in the closing stages but Leslie, Daneka Manase and Kailahi-Fulu ensured it would be a successful away trip for St Mary’s.

Rangitoto College 68– Wentworth 26, A Rogers 19, Moore 10, W Rogers 8

St Mary’s College 80– Leslie 19, Kailahi-Fulu 14, Matiseni 14, Te Nana-Williams 12

Mt Albert Grammar kept paced with Massey High in the early stages and trailed by five (17-12) at the first break.

However it was all Massey in the second quarter as Shauna Povey and Alyesha Schuster took charge of proceedings to help forge a 41-18 half-time lead.

Yzabelle Tevao and Ramona Fuaivaa continued the good work in the second half as Massey ran away with the game winning 91-35. Rikki Burgess was the best for Mt Albert scoring almost half of her team’s points.

Massey High 91– Povey 30, Fuaivaa 11, Tevao 10, Shazalea Henry 10, Schuster 8

MAGS 35– Burgess 16, Monica Kelly 4, Tiger-Lily Cocker-Lemalie 4

It was one-way traffic on the Rosmini College court as Carmel College swept Auckland Girls Grammar aside winning 94-30.

The writing was on the wall for the visitors in the first quarter as Carmel raced out to a 29-8 lead. The scoring slowed in the second but it was still 50-13 in favour of the hosts at half-time and the result never in doubt thereafter.

Imogene Noble (15pts) and Sera Taei battled away gamely for AGGS but they could do little to deny Carmel who enjoyed scoring contributions across the board but most noticeably from Emily Broomfield and Tall Ferns trialist Tayla Dalton.

Carmel 94– Dalton 37, Broomfield 18, Quaizden Stephano 9, Estelle Davidson 8

AGGS 30– Noble 15, Sera Taei 9

The most one sided game of the round took place at Westlake where the hosts overwhelmed Botany Downs 136-14.

It was a baptism of fire for Botany playing Premier basketball for the first time and it is to be hoped they can quickly make the necessary adjustments to be competitive at this level.

For the record eight Westlake players scored in double figures.

Westlake Girls High 136– Rosalie Dil 31, Emma Pugh 19, Piper Manolas 18, Jess Moors 14, Emme Shearer 14

Botany Downs College 14– Sophia Herewini 5, Tiana Herewini 4

The opening round of the Auckland Secondary Schools Premier Boys competition saw four decisive results with the narrowest margin of victory 24 points and the average differential a whopping 33 points.

The 24 points win belonged to St Kentigern College who defeated Mt Albert Grammar 76-52, although that result looked unlikely early on with MAGS establishing a 20-15 opening quarter lead – ten points from Sataan Tawera in the initial gambit.

St Kent’s bounced back in the second to lead 39-31 at the main break.

Kazlo Evans scored ten points either side of half-time but a combined dozen points from Morgan Aiono and Tawera, who finished with a game high 25 points (3/6 3PG), meant MAGS were still in the game at the three-quarter mark trailing 53-47.

However St Kent’s, led by Evans, put the defensive clamps on in the fourth restricting MAGS to just five points.

Levic Kerr and Alex McNaught sealed the win at the offensive end as the pair, along with Shalom Broughton, registered double digit contributions.

St Kentigern 76– Evans 17, Kerr 14, McNaught 12, Shalom Broughton 12

MAGS 52– Tawera 25, Aiona 11, Nate Wilson 4p/10r

The opening quarter of the Rangitoto College versus Liston College encounter up in the Bays was a tight affair with Rangi shading it 18-16 despite Sefa Prasad landing a couple of long threes for Liston.

Quarter two was a disaster for the visitors outscored 29-5 as Zach Riley, Harry Payne and Phoenix Leapolu made a trio of baskets apiece to propel the hosts to a 47-21 half-time lead.

Desmond Helu and Kiani Saxon led a mini Liston revival in the third but any chance of sustained resistance was snuffed out in the final quarter as the hosts scored another 27 points with Payne taking his personal tally to 20 points. Tautoko Wynyard, younger brother of Southland Sharks forward Tai Wynyard, scored twelve points on his premier debut for Rangi who ran out 94-58 winners.

Rangitoto 94– Payne 20, Leapolu 12, Riley 12, Wynyard 12

Liston College 58– Prasad 17, Desmond Helu 11, Shawn Hickey 10, Saxon 10

The Westlake Boys quartet of Dylan Wilkie, Jett Thompson, Josh Kooiman and Sam Mennnenga combined to make six triples in the opening quarter as the home team built a 28-20 early advantage against Macleans College.

Harry Smith and Michael Babaran counter-punched for Macleans producing 32 points in the half as the visitors hung on to trail 51-39 at the interval.

More threes from Wilkie and Thompson extended the Lake advantage to a decisive 70-39 at the third break.

Mennenga, just back from a tour of China with the Junior Tall Blacks, put an exclamation mark on the 99-69 Westlake win with 15 fourth quarter points.

 Westlake Boys 99– Mennenga 32, Thompson 13, Wilkie 12, Kooiman 12

Macleans College 69– Smith 31, Babaran 20, Tyson Kempton 6

Rosmini College opened its defence of the premier title with a resounding 87-44 victory against Auckland Grammar in a packed Tom Gerrand Gymnasium.

The young Grammar team, with Caleb Landon providing offensive rebounding energy and Jaga Mete and Connor Naan looking threatening in the back court, made a sound start going toe for toe with the hosts in the early minutes.

Rosmini upped the defensive tempo in the second and with Taine Murray landing four of five attempts from beyond the arc dominated the period (20-7) to lead 46-23 at half-time. Murray’s offensive salvo complimented the defensive work of his teammates led by the efforts of Sean Murphy and Reihana Maxwell-Topia.

Grammar were again kept to single figures in the third as Rosmini continued the three-point barrage – Murray made another two, Thomas Morgan one and Reimar Cruz two including the last of the quarter that hit the bottom of the net as the three-quarter siren sounded.

Daniel Boyd and Cody Brown scored some consolation points for Grammar at the death but a late Tyler Martin triple capped a dominant performance by the hosts.

Rosmini 87– Murray 30, Maxwell-Topia 10, Murphy 10

AGS 44– Mete 11, Naan 6, Lain Haku 6