LACEY LOWDOWN

They are probably still celebrating in Manurewa! And why not after Manurewa High School claimed its first ever Auckland Schools Girls Premier Grade title with a deserved 85-60 win against Northcote College.

Northcote made the slightly stronger start with Abby Allan dropping a triple and DJ Hannah picking holes in the Manurewa defence.

However Shirley Tuilimu instigated the response as Manurewa closed the opening ten minutes with a 25-20 lead.

The defence of both teams tightened in the second as a tally of 13-8 in favour of Manurewa suggests.

The battle between pocket dynamos Lisa Gear and Tuilimu was a fascinating duel to watch and both provided scoring punch for their respective sides in the third.

Gear sank a much needed triple for Northcote while Tuilimu had 8 points. Gear received good support from forward Ema Lavemaau who scored 7 third quarter points.

However with Aynslee Kakapu making a couple of transition baskets and Taisha Tanira nailing a deep three Manurewa were still in the box seat at three-quarter time leading 59-48.

Hannah made the first two scores of the fourth quarter as ‘Cote closed to within 7 points.

That was countered by Bella Manu-Moore and Waimihi Hetaraka-Brown only for Hannah to nail a deep three to keep the margin at 10 (65-55).

However from there, much to the delight of their large contingent of supporters, it was all Manurewa in the closing minutes with Manu-Moor pouring in 16 of her 20 points in the final term.

Northcote’s early season ambition was to avoid the relegation play-offs so they can take immense satisfaction from appearing in their first Grand Final since 2006.

It has been a longer wait for Manurewa. Their victory was the first Girls Premier title won by a south Auckland school since James Cook High School were victorious in 1997. Manurewa came close back in 2002 but were second best to Avondale College in that year.

In 2024 they were not to be denied and deservedly took the trophy south.

Manurewa 85 – Tuilimu 21, Manu-Moore 20, T Tanira 13, Kakapu 11, E Tanira 11, Hetaraka-Brown 8

Northcote 60 – Hannah 21, Gear 13, Lavemaau 11, Allan 8