LACEY LOWDOWN

In Round 12 of the Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Premier Grade, played on Friday night, Westlake Girls continued their dominance at the top of the ladder with a convincing home win against Mt Albert.

Westlake, back in NZ after a historic bronze medal at the ISF World School Basketball Championships in Macao, China chalked up an 85-35 win against MAGS.

The defending champions, led by Emma Schroeder’s 31 points, were 48-13 to the good at half-time and went on to win comfortably.

The victory means Westlake have wrapped up the regular season title with three games to play.

Westlake 85 – Schroeder 31, Zenthia Stowers 15, Charlotte Mawston 12, Imani Rasmussen 10, Lily Fotu 7

MAGS 52 – Ioane 9, Lara Cocker-Lemalie 8, Amelia Nathan 5, Peyton Uri 5

Manurewa look assured of a top-4 finish after a 66-53 victory over Epsom Girls.

Bella Manu-Moore scored 14 of her team high 19 points in the first half as Manurewa forged a 37-24 lead.

Draun Forbes and Kiyara Te Amo led a strong second half response from Epsom but double figure efforts from Lola Kakapu and the Tanira sisters Taisha and Emily carried Manurewa to a seventh win.

The Epsom loss means that they are consigned to a seventh or eighth place finish this season. Therefore they will have to play a promotion/relegation game next season to maintain Prems status in 2025.

Manurewa 66 – Manu-Moore 19, Kakapu 13, T Tanira 12, E Tanira 10

Epsom 53 – Forbes 23, Te Amo 9, Kiki Reti 6

A strong second half performance propelled Rangitoto College to a 73-69 North Shore derby win over Takapuna Grammar,

Grammar, with Amy McKenzie and Mania Watson to the fore, were comfortably placed at half-time leading 44-28.

Takapuna were held to 7 points in the third and with Eva Veale, on her way to a game high 27 points, leading the way Rangi were within striking distance at three-quarter time trailing 51-47.

A Maddison Skelton score took Rangi into the lead before a brace of threes from Watson restored the Takapuna advantage.

However it was short lived as the inside presence of Moananui Wynyard, coupled with the efforts of Bella Anderson and Veale allowed Rangi to hold of the hosts down the stretch.

Takapuna 69 – McKenzie 26, Watson 18, Natalja Burton 13, Amelia Glenn 9

Rangitoto 73 – Veale 27, Anderson 12, Wynyard 11, Skelton 8

There was also a come from behind victory at St Kentigern College came from 51-43 down at three-quarter time to snatch a 67-66 win.

Misha Aitchison couldn’t have timed her effort any better as she scored all her 8 points – including a pair of threes – in the fourth. DJ Hannah also drained a pair of triples, the Northcote skipper leading from the front with 10 points down the stretch.

The Northcote victory was achieved despite the scoring effort of the round coming from St Kent’s forward Kilani Tuineau who tallied 34 points. Charlie Yock was also in double figures with 13 points while Lisa Gear and Hannah were the double digit scorers for the visitors.

St Kent’s 66 – Tuineau 34, Yock 13, Manawa Rogers 9, Jeanette Tuumaialu 6

Northcote 67 – Hannah 30, Gear 22, Aitchison 8, Lily Morgan 7

Standings:

11-0 Westlake

7-4 Takapuna

7-5 Manurewa

6-5 St Kentigern

6-6 Rangitoto

5-7 Northcote

2-9 MAGS

2-10 Epsom

*Mt Albert Grammar v St Kentigern College to be rearranged

*Takapuna Grammar v Westlake Girls to be rearranged

Jackson Kiss, Hunter Te Ratana, Jameer Reed and Gus Dallow returned to action as the Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier Grade regular season title race continued. The top three teams all won their Round 12 fixtures while St Kentigern College moved a step closer to locking in a top four berth with victory over Mt Roskill Grammar.

Sacred Heart guards Sam Snowdon and Jamie Vile combined for 52 points but a more balanced scoring effort, with five players in double figures, carried Auckland Grammar to a 92-65 victory.

Grammar welcomed back Jackson Kiss after his outstanding efforts at the FIBA U17 World Cup in Turkey and he, along with Lawson Pryor, scored 10 points in the opening period as Grammar built a 30-18 lead.

Vile had an identical number for Heart in the second but Grammar were almost out of reach with a 52-32 half-time lead.

Snowdon and Vile kept the points ticking over but Sol Anderson, Carver Gibson and Roma Ma’afua-Moerua carried the visitors through the second half without any major alarms.

Sacred Heart 65 – Vile 31, Snowdon 21

AGS 101 – Kiss 15, Anderson 14, Gibson 14, Ma’afu-Moerua 12, Pryor 10

Westlake maintained the pressure on AGS at the head of the table with a 97-62 home win.

Lucas Cartwright drained a couple of early threes for the visitors although Lake stamped their authority on proceedings with a 28-14 opening salvo.

A Nic Bamford three was cancelled out by a Dayton Simkin trey but eight second quarter points from Oscar Neville carried Westlake to a 52-29 interval lead.

The third was something of a three-point shoot-out as Simkin, Cartwright and Logan Wood were successful for MAGS while Troy Wentworth, Noah Rasmussen and Bamford returned fire for the hosts.

Rasmussen and Cartwright chalked up 20-point games but with a 74-52 three-quarter time lead Westlake were able to ease their way to victory – a late triple from Troy Supple capping the performance.

Westlake 97 – Rasmussen 22, Supple 14, Wentworth 13, Neville 11, Tai Rhodes 9

MAGS 62 – Cartwright 20, Simkin 10, Wood 9, Mikey Moses 8

St Peter’s guard Gus Dallow and Rosmini College forward Jameer Reed, returning to their respective teams after enjoying success at the FIBA U17 World Cup in Turkey, were involved in a thriller which was eventually won 96-87 by Rosmini in overtime.

Trailing 75-66, after a Sunny Nair triple, with a little over three minutes to play in regulation St Peter’s mounted a stirring comeback in the closing minutes.

When Bailey Smith converted an And-1 play St Peter’s had strung together eight unanswered points to close within one. Then a Hunter John’s make was countered by a Spencer Carr triple to tie proceedings at 77 points apiece.

After Rosmini free-throws Carr drained an even deeper three to give the Saints an 80-79 lead with just 11 seconds remaining. A likely Saints win was then thwarted by Reed as his one from two from the charity stripe sent the game into overtime.

Bart Jackowski, taking his tally to 34 points, and Reed went on to boss the additional five minutes – combining for 14 points – to carry the hosts to a hard fought victory.

It was 18 points apiece at quarter time, 42-38 in favour of Saint Peter’ at the half and 60-57 to Rosmini at the three-quarter mark as both teams enjoyed spells in the lead.

Nair, Jackowski and Reed kept Rosmini in the ascendancy in the fourth before Carr – 14 of his game high 36 points coming in the final quarter – almost stole the win.

Carr, outstanding throughout, was well supported by Smith, Dallow, Montana Ekeroma and Mario Nola.

Rosmini 96 – Jackowski 34, Reed 23, Johns 14, Nair 10

St Peter’s 87 – Carr 36, Smith 15, Nola 10, Dallow 10, Ekeroma 10

Hunter Te Ratana returned to the St Kentigern sidefollowing his fine efforts at the FIBA U17 World Cup in Turkey and scored his teams opening 5 points as they racked up 36 opening quarter points – three triples from Noah Heke amongst that barrage.

Lincoln Tupa’i Samuel and Tino Seuiavatele scored 8 points apiece for Roskill as they closed the opening half 51-25 behind.

Heke and the Te Ratana’s (Hunter and Cooper) kept the points flowing in the third period as St Kent’s enjoyed an 83-57 lead with a quarter to play.

A couple of triples from Wai Tonga were a feature of the last period which, to their credit, Roskill won 24-14.

St Kent’s 97 – Heke 22, H Te Ratana 16, Ari Taylor 13, C Te Ratana 12, J Griffin 11

Mt Roskill 81 – T Seuiavatele 25, W Tonga 15, Zach Keman 10, L Tupa’i Samuel 8

Standings:

11-1 AGS

10-2 Westlake

9-2 Rosmini

6-6 St Kentigern

5-7 St Peter’s

3-8 MAGS

3-9 Sacred Heart

0-12 Mt Roskill

*Mt Albert Grammar v Rosmini College postponed to August 5th.

Round 11 of the Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Premier Grade, played on Monday night, again featured just three games with Westlake Girls High away at the ISF World School Basketball Championships in Macao, China.

Westlake deserve massive congratulations for taking out the bronze medal at the event.

They recorded wins against Chile, Hong Kong, Macao and India in pool play followed by a quarter final victory over Bulgaria.

Lake were then beaten 64-40 by France in the semi-finals before claiming bronze with a 64-35 demolition of Hong Kong.

Now back to the Premier Grade where St Kentigern College returned to winning ways, Northcote College made it successive victories and Epsom Girls chalked up win number two.

The individual performance of the round was on display at Rangitoto College where St Kentigern forward Kilani Tuineau posted a career high 40 points in a 73-69 win.

Tuineau put Rangi on notice with 15 first quarter points and with Charlie Yock adding 8 St Kent’s were off to a flyer with a 25-12 lead.

Takapuna made the necessary adjustments in the second period and with Eva Veale leading the way the deficit was just 7 points (35-28) at half-time.

Yock and Tuineau continued to punish the Rangi defence in the third frame as they combined for all but one of St Kent’s 17 points. However at the other end Veale, Mela Andrews and Moananui Wynyard were causing headaches for St Kent’s enabling Rangi to take a 54-52 advantage into the three-quarter time break.

Andrews and Veale scored half a dozen each in the final quarter but down the stretch Manawa Rogers, Mischa McLister and Rosie Ward made important contributions as St Kent’s sealed the road win.

St Kent’s 73 – Tuineau 40, Yock 15, McLister 7

Rangitoto  69 – Veale 26, Andrews 22, Maddison Skelton 9, Wynyard 6

At Northcote College the hosts put together a strong fourth quarter performance to outlast Manurewa High for a 77-66 victory.

Northcote led by just four points at three-quarter time (56-52) but were looking nervously over their shoulder as the Shirley Tuilimu (26 points) inspired visitors looked ready to pounce.

However a brace of threes from Misha Aitchison plus 11 points from Lisa Gear propelled Northcote to a 21-14 fourth quarter effort to seal success.

Northcote won all four quarters but the first three were extremely tight. The opener was won 17-15, the second 20-19 and the third 19-18.

For Northcote Gear was in full throttle with 23 points, DJ Hannah scored 20, Aitchison 16 and Lily Morgan 10 points.

After Tuilimu’s 26 points Taisha Tanira was the other Manurewa player in double figures scoring 14 points.  

Northcote 77 – Gear 23, Hannah 20, Aitchison 16, Morgan 10, Ema Lavemaau  6

Manurewa 66 – Tuilimu 26, T Tanira 14, Bella Manu-Moore 7, Waimihi Hetaraka-Brown 7, Emily Tanira 6

In the third game of the round Epsom Girls Grammar prevailed 54-52 against Mt Albert Grammar in a contest that could have gone either way.

Six opening quarter points from Meiya Lemafa helped MAGS take the opening period 14-12 before a triple from Samantha Jose and 11 points from Draun Forbes enabled Epsom to carve out a 31-24 half-time advantage.

Only 15 points were scored in the third but with Epsom carrying a 38-32 lead into the fourth the pace quickened.

Peyton Uri knocked down a three for MAGS with Kiyara Te Amo – making her fourth three of the contest – returning in kind for Epsom.

Baskets from Phoenix Kaipo and Gianna Tiatia brought MAGS right back into the contest with the difference just a single point.

Overtime looked a distinct possibility until Savana Feite chose an opportune time to make her only basket of the game – a three – to win a thriller for Epsom.

Epsom 54 –Forbes 22, Te Amo 14, Kiki Reti 5, Jose 5

MAGS 52 – Lemafa 14, Uri 14, E Tiatia 9, Kaipo 7, G Tiatia 6

Standings:

10-0 Westlake

7-3 Takapuna

6-5 Manurewa

6-4 St Kentigern

5-6 Rangitoto

4-7 Northcote

2-8 MAGS

2-9 Epsom

*Mt Albert Grammar v St Kentigern College postponed to term 3.

*Takapuna Grammar v Westlake Girls postponed to term 3