Takapuna Grammar School and Manurewa High School played out one of the best games of Senior A Girls Basketball this season on Monday night.
Takapuna’s unbeaten record came under serious threat before they eventually prevailed 68-61, on their home court, to extend their unbeaten run to eleven games.
Alyssa Uluheua scored 9 first quarter points for Manurewa but triples from Bailey Flavell and Amy McKenzie helped propel Takapuna to a 17-13 first quarter lead.
It was Sela Uluheua’s turn to do the bulk of the Manurewa scoring in the second. She scored 10 points while Flavell had 7 – the Taka lead reduced to three points at the break (32-29).
Points from Shirley Tuilimu gave Manurewa the lead for a while in a tight third quarter before Qaizden Stephano and Flavell restored Takapuna’s lead – ahead 55-45 at three-quarter time.
Manurewa were far from finished – Sela Uluheua took her tally to 19 points as they outscored Takapuna 16-13 in the final ten minutes. Stephano and Manaia Watson made crucial baskets to hold off Manurewa and preserve Takapuna’s winning run.
Looking at the current standings the two teams could meet in the Senior A semi-finals later in the month. We look forward to another cracking game if that should be the case.
Takapuna 68 – Q Stephano 21, B Flavell 18, A McKenzie 14, M Watson 11
Manurewa 61 – S Uluheua 19, A Uluheua 15, S Tuilimu 7, Bella Manu-Moore 6
Recap of the other Round 11 fixtures.
A 33 points outing from Allyah Leusogi-Ape paced Massey High to a comfortable 78-45 win against One Tree Hill College.
Leusogi-Ape, fresh off making her Northern Kāhu debut earlier in the week, scored the first seven points for Massey as they opened up a 19-11 first quarter lead.
Angelica Vahai scored 18 points for One Tree Hill but Massey were largely untroubled as they steadily increased their advantage – Cyntalia Schuster, Kortni and Tahlya Waikiki were the other double figure contributors for Massey.
Massey 78 – Leusogi-Ape 33, K Waikiki 12, C Schuster 11, T Waikiki 11
One Tree Hill 45 – Vahai 18, M Eckford 8, R Kivalu 8
DJ Hannah dropped 36 points as Northcote College rattled up a convincing 113-42 victory against Mt Roskill Grammar. Lizzie May made six 3-pointers amongst her 24 points while there were also double figure outings from Lisa Gear and Misha Aitchison.
Nellie and Bree Ioane worked tirelessly for Mount Roskill scoring 25 points and 9 respectively.
Mt Roskill 42 – N Ioane 25, B Ioane 9
Northcote 113 – Hannah 36, L May 24, L Gear 18, M Aitchison 15, N Gear 9
Auckland Girls Grammar, led by Faith Hurt (22 points), had six players with nine points or more as they dominated proceedings against Avondale College.
Shiloh Caffery’s 22 points was an outstanding effort in a losing cause.
Avondale 29 – S Caffery 22
AGGS 102 – F Hurt 22, F Traill 19, R Nikoia 17, T Ioelu 14, G Nikoia 10, H Hurt 9
Standings:
11-0 Takapuna
9-2 Northcote
8-3 Massey
7-3 Manurewa
3-8 One Tree Hill, AGGS
2-9 Mt Roskill
0-10 Avondale
LACEY LOWDOWN 