There were wins for the unbeaten Westlake Girls High School and St Mary’s College in Round 4 of the Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Premier Division.
Also on the victory dais were the two promoted teams Epsom Girls Grammar School and Baradene College.
In a low scoring opener Baradene College edged Mt Albert Grammar 10-7.
Baradene picked the pace up in the second as Lilly Parke and Ritorya Tamilo moved their personal contributions into double figures and pushed the advantage out to 27-15 at the half.
Tamilo was putting on a shot blocking exhibition for Baradene although Danae Tait and Tiger-Lily Cocker-Lemalie did find the net with a couple of baskets apiece for MAGS. However they were in a hole at the three-quarter mark trailing 43-27.
A triple from Tait and back-to-back scores from Abbie Leger raised MAGS hopes but they were quickly quashed. Deyna Topia sunk a three and then Parke reeled off 11 straight points on her way to a game high 26 to secure a third win for Baradene.
Baradene 64 – Parke 26, Tamilo 11, Topia 9, Faleafa 5
MAGS 39 – Tait 14, Waka 8, Cocker-Lemalie 6
The previous week Massey High went within a whisker of beating St Mary’s College, the joint leaders of the Premier Division. Fellow leaders Westlake, Massey’s opponents on Friday, were given far less trouble by the girls from out West.
Having said that at the end of the first half Massey were hanging tough down just 41-28.
Guard Shazaleah Henry scored 13 of the Massey points and Maya Taingahue had half a dozen at that stage. Jess Moors and Rosie Dil did most of the damage for Westlake in the opening term.
Dil carried on her merry-way and when Jelah Clayton rounded out the third quarter scoring Lake were twenty points clear (62-42).
Ramona Fuaivaa offered some resistance in the final ten minutes but Moors and Amiya Fotu posted 8 points apiece as Westlake moved to a comfortable 89-52 victory.
Westlake 89 – J Moors 22 R Dil 17, Boucher 11, Williams 8, Fotu 8
Massey 52 – Fuaivaa 17, Henry 14, M Taingahue 10, Waikiki 9
Last week St Mary’s were forced to come from behind in the closing seconds to beat Massey. This week the comeback was a second half effort as they fought back from 34-28 down to eventually prevail 67-59.
Rangitoto’s half-time lead was built around double digit scoring efforts from Ella Moore and Centaine Noom-Duckworth.
St Mary’s coach Tui Matiseni, standing in for Jody Cameron away on Tall Ferns duty, obviously came up with the right message during the interval as they dominated the third quarter taking it 17-8. Kat Leslie’s six points in the period were an important contribution as were the same number from Aroha Riley for the visitors.
Saints guard Tyla Tevaga and Rangi’s Ella Moore were in good shooting form. Tevaga’s fifth triple of the game kept her team in the ascendancy but Moore nailed her fourth from behind the arc to keep Rangitoto in touch.
Noom Duckworth was a tower of strength for Rangi but key contributions from Zaaliyah Kailahi-Fulu and Safena Tenana-Williams got St Mary’s over the line.
St Mary’s 67 – Tevaga 17, Kailahi-Fulu 14, Leslie 14, S Tenana-Williams 14
Rangitoto 59 – Noom-Duckworth 16, Moore 14, A Riley 11, Tawhiao 9
Epsom Girls got off to a good start at Carmel leading 21-8 at quarter time.
Katie Linstrom knocked down a three for Carmel as they narrowed to within four points but Maya Fowler answered from deep, and with Mihi Tangihaere doing good work Epsom were up 30-20. An 11-1 Epsom run wrapped up the first half action.
Livewire guard Kalea Norton came off the bench to provide some spark to the Carmel effort. However Flo Dallow and Sarah-Joy Aruwa had all the answers as the Epsom lead grew to 61-41 at three-quarter time.
Qaizden Stephano and Lani Rawle ensured Carmel had the better of the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough to inconvenience Epsom as they recorded a second win of the 2020 campaign.
Carmel 59 – Stephano 15, Cammell 11, Norton 8, Rawle 7
Epsom 77 – Dallow 30, Aruwa 19, Fowler 13, Kukutai-Wairau 8
Premier Table after 4 Rounds
4-0 St Mary’s, Westlake
3-1 Baradene
2-2 Epsom, Rangitoto
1-3 Massey
0-4 Carmel, Mt Albert
LACEY LOWDOWN 