The final round of Girls Premier Grade regular season action saw wins for Mt Albert Grammar, Westlake, Rangitoto College and St Kentigern College.
In a dress rehearsal for next Friday’s semi-final match up Mt Albert Grammar School defeated Baradene College 91-75.
The game featured three stunning scoring performances. Mt Albert’s NZ U17 rep Waimanu Clarken put together a 46-point game, the highest individual score in Prem Girls games this season. Giving great support was April Liu, compiling a career best 34 points.
For Baradene, Deyna Topia was also in excellent form tallying a team high 30 points.
Baradene made the slightly better start to lead 18-15 at quarter time although MAGS reversed that in the second to lead 38-37 at the interval.
The third was a high scoring affair as Clarken and Liu combined for all 27 of Mt Albert’s points in the period – one they won to stretch out to a 65-58 lead.
Summer Faleafa and Ritorya Tamilo chipped in with a couple of scores but Baradene were leaning heavily on Topia. The point guard scored 11 points in the closing quarter but the Clarken-Liu combo continued to stretch the MAGS advantage.
The two teams will do it all again on Friday!
MAGS 91 – Clarken 46, Liu 24, Danae Tait 7
Baradene 76 – Topia 30, Faleafa 15, Tamilo 14, Amelia Nathen 8
Rangitoto College climbed off the bottom of the table with a 72-53 home win against St Mary’s College.
Rangitoto were paced by a 21 points performance from Mela Andrews – Faith Ualika leading the way for St Mary’s with 16 points.
Rangitoto led 34-28 at half-time but it was a decisive third quarter in which they outscored the visitors 28-6 that decided the tie. Multiple scorers fuelled the 28-point run, most noticeably Andrews, Alicia Carr, Tamsin McAsey and Zaara Sain.
St Mary’s rallied in the fourth courtesy of India Nash and Layla Aholelei but the deficit was far too big to claw back.
Rangitoto 72 – Mela Andrews 21, Alicia Carr 11, Casey Devonshire 11, Tamsin McAsey 8, Zaara Sain 8, Aroha Riley 7
St Mary’s 53 – Faith Ualika 16, India Nash 13, Layla Aholelei 12, Christiana Setu 4
Westlake Girls completed an unbeaten regular season with a 120-40 win against Carmel College and will face St Kentigern College in semi-final play on Friday.
Westlake 120 – Mackenzie Chatfield 22, Izzy Pugh 22, Amiya Fotu 17, Amy Pateman 15, Rebecca Moors 14, Hannah Richardson 8
Carmel 40 – Jemma Cammell 15, Ruby Railton 10, Zahara Tibbotts 8
In the game played on Thursday Saint Kentigern College claimed the last Prem Girls semi-final berth with a tense 61-57 victory at Epsom Girls Grammar.
The final regular season game for both teams in effect became a quarter-final tie as both had an identical 7-6 record leading into the contest.
The opening exchanges favoured Epsom, Mihinoa Tanghaere’s basket late in the first quarter, extending the host’s advantage to 20-15 at the first break.
The second period was something of a shoot-out between Epsom guard Draun Forbes and St Kent’s Nerisa Vavau.
The pair sunk three triples apiece – points late in the quarter from Maya Fowler kept Epsom ahead 35-32 at half-time.
Forbes added a fourth three in the third although Sharmaine Taplin countered in kind as the Epsom lead shrunk to 2 points at three-quarter time (48-46)
The fourth was a tight tussle but it was 7 points from Tapling that seized the momentum for St Kent’s – Mania Rogers and Ashleigh Tuumaialu added valuable points as the visitors closed out a hard fought victory.
St Kent’s will now lineup against Westlake Girls in a semi-final tie next Friday at Eventfinda Stadium.
Epsom 57 – Draun Forbes 24, Leah Patuwairua 12, Maya Fowler 11
St Kentigern 61 – Ashleigh Tuumaialu 17, Sharmaine Tapling 14, Maia Bennett 12, Nerisa Vavau 9, Mania Rogers 6
Standings:
14-0 Westlake
11-3 Baradene
10-4 MAGS
8-6 St Kentigern
7-7 Epsom
3-11 St Mary’s
2-12 Rangitoto
1-13 Carmel
LACEY LOWDOWN 