In Round 8 of the Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Premier Grade competition Westlake Girls made it eight straight wins while there were also victories for Takapuna Grammar, Manurewa High School and Rangitoto College.
Takapuna Grammar School and St Kentigern College were tied for second spot on the Premier ladder before their matchup on Friday. In an entertaining contest it was Takapuna that eventually prevailed 76-65 on the back of a combined 53 points from the back court duo of Amy McKenzie and Bailey Flavell.
St Kent’s had the better of the opening exchanges as impressive young centre Kilani Tuineau dominated the boards while also exhibiting good offensive skills in accumulating ten points as they established a 29-19 lead.
Takapuna began to close the gap at the back end of the first half – after a triple from Gigi Forster kept Saints in the ascendancy, Natalja Burton scored the last four points of the half to tie proceedings at 34 points apiece.
A brace of threes from Ash Tuumaialu and Charlie Yock were countered by a triple from McKenzie and a trio from deep from Flavell – Takapuna ahead 52-49 with a quarter to play.
Tuineau was the main scoring source for St Kent’s in the final period although it was the combined efforts of Flavell, Burton and Amelia Glenn that were enough to guide Takapuna to the win.
Takapuna 76 – Flavell 29, McKenzie 24, Burton 12, Glenn 7
St Kent’s 65 – Tuineau 29pts & 15 rebounds, Tuumaialu 15, Yock 11
The offensive abilities of Eva Veale, Peyton Laurence and Mela Andrews enabled Rangitoto College to boss the opening half against Epsom Girls Grammar – the hosts ahead 35-22 at half-time.
Epsom came out strongly after the interval – Draun Forbes, Kiyara Te Amo and Kiki Reti combined to score all 18 points as the visitors won the third period 18-12.
A low scoring fourth quarter followed – 5 points from Andrews and a series of free throws enough for Rangi to close out the win.
Rangitoto 58 – Veale 21, Andrews 16, Laurence 8, Kyree Rakena 6
Epsom 47 – Te Amo 20, Forbes 17, Mya Kingi 6
In the opening game of the season Westlake were pushed all the way by Northcote before eventually winning and it looked as if a similar pattern would emerge with the difference just six points (21-15) at the quarter time break.
Despite a triple from Holly Walters the second period, with Imani Rasmussen scoring 10 points and Emma Schroeder 6, also went the way of Westlake by six meaning the lead was 43-31 at the main break.
Eight points from Lily Morgan, on her way to a team high 20, kept the Northcote score ticking over but Kodee Williams-Sefo, Zenthia Stowers and Rasmussen took the game away from Northcote in the third period – Westlake 66-48 ahead.
It was all Westlake in the final frame as they cantered to win number eight.
Northcote 51 – Morgan 20, Lisa Gear 11, DJ Hannah 8
Westlake 87 – Williams-Sefo 22, Rasmussen 21, Schroeder 14, Stowers 8, Mia John 6
Manurewa High enhanced their top four credentials with a 71-60 road win at Mt Albert Grammar.
Meiya Lemafa scored a game high 21 points with 12 of those scored in the opening period as MAGS established a 22-16 lead.
It was much the same story in the second as Lemafa, aided by Phoenix Kaipo, took MAGS out to a 40-27 advantage at the halfway mark.
The momentum began to swing in favour of Manurewa after the break – a combined five triples from Taisha and Emily Tanira helped the visitors close to within a single point at three-quarter time (53-52).
Waimihi Hetaraka-Brown added another triple and with Bella Manu-Moore and Taisha Tanira combining for 16 points MAGS were outscored 19-7 in the closing minutes.
MAGS 60 –Lemafa 21, Kaipo 9, Emina Tiatia 8, Giana Tiatia 7, Lara Cocker-Lemalie 6
Manurewa 71 – E Tanira 19, T Tanira 16, Manu-Moore 8, Beautiful Campbell 8
Standings:
8-0 Westlake
6-2 Takapuna
5-3 Manurewa, St Kentigern
4-4 Rangitoto
2-6 MAGS, Northcote
0-8 Epsom
LACEY LOWDOWN 