LACEY LOWDOWN

The murky waters of the 2017 Auckland Secondary Schools Premier Qualifying Tournament have started to clear.

After two days of pool play the Boy’s competition has been reduced to eight potential qualifiers – the two top teams from each pool of five. The Girl’s competition has been whittled down to four.

All 12 teams will battle it out for the two available Premier spots in each competition on Tuesday at North Shore Events Centre.

In Pool C of the Boys Tournament Macleans College made an 8-0 start in the top two encounter with St Peter’s College on Sunday morning.

Macleans guard Blake Van Uden helped himself to easy transition points as his team opened a 21-15 first quarter lead.

The pressure defence exerted by Macleans continued to pay dividends in the early stages of the second – St Peter’s coach Leyton Haddleton needing a timeout with his team trailing 40-24.

Forward Whititera Parata helped lead a St Peter’s resurgence but it was still 50-39 to Macleans at half-time.

Opposing centres Harrison Roper and Finlay Morris had a fine battle vacuuming up countless rebounds for their respective teams and exhibiting nice touch close to the rim.

St Peter’s trimmed the lead to single figures in the third period but workhorse forward Alex Arthur, Andrew Fei and Van Uden made crucial plays to keep Macleans in the ascendancy at three-quarter time 74-68.

A ding dong battle ensued in the fourth, Christian Fromont cutting Mac’s lead to three, 83-80, with four minutes to play. Another Macleans surge – Fei and Arthur baskets – increased the Macleans advantage to eight.

Again Morris trimmed the lead to six but Van Uden capped a fine performance, he led all scorers with 32 points, with a breakaway dunk as the Adrian Boyd coached Macleans prevailed 95-84.

Two teams worthy of Premier status will be in the mix when skirmishes resume on Tuesday.

Leading Scorers;

Macleans – Van Uden 32, Fei 16, Arthur 16

St Peter’s – Fromont 23, Morris 16, Boersen 10

Match of the day in Pool D promised to be the Western Springs College and Manurewa High encounter as both teams were unbeaten. However Manurewa made no race of it leading 47-33 at half-time and eventually winning 79-51.

Dominic Wallace and Pafe Momoisea, with 30 points apiece, dominated the scoring for Manurewa while Izaiah Radonovich fought something of a lone hand for Western Springs with 23 points – his effort included five three’s. Both teams progress to the quarter-finals

In Pool D St Kentigern College emerged unscathed with a 4-0 record. They won the critical games against Liston College 80-76 and Pakuranga College (93-88). Pakuranga beat Liston 88-68 to clinch the second spot in the pool.

Kings College caused an upset early on day two with a 74-64 victory against Massey High in Pool A, the tightest pool of the four. Unfortunately for Kings losses to Avondale College and more importantly Takapuna Grammar (52-45) on day one deprived them of a play-off spot. Those were secured by Massey and Avondale College with Takapuna taking third place.

Boys Pool A Massey HS (3-1), Avondale College (3-1), Takapuna GS (2-2), Kings College (2-2) Onehunga HS (0-4)

Boys Pool B St Kentigern College (4-0), Pakuranga College (3-1), Liston College (2-2), Mt Roskill GS (1-3), Waitakere College (0-4)

Boys Pool C Macleans College (4-0), St Peter’s College (3-1), Birkenhead College (2-2), Sacred Heart College (1-3), Selwyn College (0-4)

Boys Pool Manurewa HS (4-0), Western Springs College (3-1), Northcote College (2-2), Dilworth School (1-3), De La Salle College (0-4)

Quarter-finals draw; 

Massey v Western Springs

Manurewa v Avondale

St Kentigern v St Peter’s

Macleans v Pakuranga College

The six teams failing to make Prems from the above eight will contest the newly formed Senior A League beginning next term. They will be joined by two from Liston, Birkenhead, Takapuna and Northcote. All four teams play a round robin series to determine which two school’s it will be. The first round was played on Sunday evening with Liston beating Northcote 94-82 and Birkenhead edging Takapuna 70-60. The remaining rounds will be played on Tuesday.

In the Girl’s competition just four teams, the top two in each pool, will make their way to the NSEC on Tuesday.

The draw pitches Massey High against Birkenhead College and St Kentigern College versus Carmel College. The pairings give Massey and St Kent’s, both unbeaten in Pool play, the opportunity to preserve their Premier status – they were the bottom two finishers in the eight team comp in 2016.

Massey was mighty impressive in Pool A winning their four games by an average margin of 55 points.

Girls Pool A Massey HS (4-0), Carmel College (3-1), St Mary’s (2-2), Epsom Girls (1-3), Pakuranga College (0-4)

Girls Pool St Kentigern College (3-0), Birkenhead College (2-1), Mt Roskill GS (1-2), Diocesan School (0-3)

Next Tuesday we will know the makeup of the 2017 Auckland Secondary Schools Premier competition.

Auckland College Sport and the decision makers in Auckland secondary schools basketball are to be applauded for their initiative to introduce both a Boy’s and Girl’s Premier Grade reserve competition for 2017.

The new grade has created plenty of interest and intrigue in the Premier Qualifying Tournament being played this coming Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday

Ten schools have entered the Girls Qualifying Tournament meaning that the top two qualifiers will gain automatic entry into the Premier Grade with the remaining eight teams making up the Reserve Grade that will be known officially as the Auckland Senior A competition.

With twenty schools entered in the Boy’s Qualifying Tournament competition for the two places in the Premier Grade and eight spots in Senior A will be fierce.

It is hard to pick favourites in either tournament but I like the chances of Massey High School retaining their place in the Girls Premier competition. With much the same team as last season, but all a year wiser, the likes of Shauna Povey, Terina Aratangi and Laticia Jost should perform well.

Also in Pool A look out for St Mary’s College Ponsonby with sisters Zaaliyah and Jazz Kailahi-Fulu making a handy front court pairing. St Kent’s with home court advantage should feature strongly in Pool B.

Girls Pool A

Massey HS, Epsom Girls, St Mary’s, Carmel College, Pakuranga College

Girls Pool B

St Kentigern College, Birkenhead College, Onehunga HS, Mt Roskill GS, Diocesan School.

Picking a winner in the Boy’s Tournament is something of a lottery.

St Peter’s College, St Kentigern College and Mcleans College all performed well at the recent Rangitoto Invitational Tournament.

St Peter’s will look towards Gerard Boersen and Toffer Espinosa to provide scoring punch whilst St Kent’s will be hoping Max Shorter and Kyle Robb can lead a return to top flight basketball for the East Auckland college.

St Peter’s coach Leyton Haddleton likes the look of both Massey High and Macleans College and also thinks Onehunga High, one of the bottom two finishers in 2016 will be going all out to preserve their Premier status.

Liston College has been building nicely via a strong junior programme in the last couple of years and Avondale College, with Doe Williams back at the helm, can’t be discounted.

However, with twenty teams competing, a dark horse or two will inevitably emerge.

Boys Pool A

Onehunga HS, Massey HS, Takapuna GS, Avondale College, Kings College

Boys Pool B

Liston College, St Kentigern College, Mt Roskill GS, Pakuranga College, Waitakere College

Boys Pool C

St Peter’s College, Selwyn College, Macleans College, Birkenhead College, Sacred Heart College

Boys Pool D

Manurewa HS, Northcote College, Western Springs College, Dilworth School, De La Salle College

All round robin games will be played on Saturday and Sunday with the critical play-off games set down for North Shore Events Centre on Tuesday.

St Peter’s School Cambridge Girls and Rangitoto College Boys continued their recent domination of Secondary Scholls Basketball at the 3×3 Slam today. Plenty of other schools impressed – enjoyed writing the review on link below

http://bit.ly/2okZxfW

Rangitoto College is aiming for a three-peat in the Senior Boys section of the Secondary Schools 3×3 National Slam being held in Tauranga. However Rongotai College, having qualified both teams for the quarter-finals, looks the biggest threat to this ambition.

Rongotai Gold beat the Dan Fotu led Rangitoto Blue 21-18 on day two although Palmerston North Boys High topped Pool A courtesy of a crucial 14-10 win against Rongotai. All three teams ended pool play with an 8-1 record but the points scoring record favoured PNBHS.

In Pool B the top two teams were Rongotai Blue and Westlake Boys High School, both with 8-1 records. Rongotai head the pool courtesy of a 15-13 victory over last year’s finalists. Long Bay College (7-2) upset Rongotai 18-12 to clinch third spot with Fielding High School rounding out the top four. Westlake’s James Moors finished day two in a moon boot and his non availability will cause Lake some serious problems in the play-offs.

St Peter’s College Cambridge Red remains favourites in the Senior Girls competition. Led by Charlisse Leger-Walker, Ella Bradley and Jayzelee Waihi, they dominated all opposition in Pool B inflicting a 15-7 defeat on closest rivals Melville High (6-1). Westlake Girls (5-2) and Rotorua Girls High (4-3) also qualify for the quarters.

Massey High School Teams One (6-1) and Three (5-2) advanced from Pool A along with Hamilton Girls High School (6-1) and local favourites Aquinas College (5-2). HGHS beat Massey High 1 14-9 in the final pool game to clinch top spot in the section having surprisingly lost 9-8 to Massey 3 earlier.

Rosmini College and St John’s College both remain unbeaten in the Junior Boys competition.

St John’s (6-0) top Pool A followed by defending champions Rongotai College (5-1); they are followed by Te Aroha College (4-2) and St Kentigern’s (2-4).

Pool B is headed by Rosmini Blue (7-0) closely followed by the handy Rotorua Boys High School team (6-1) who went down narrowly to Rozza 13-11. St Thomas of Canterbury College (5-2) and St Peter’s Cambridge (4-3) also progressed to the last eight.

The Junior Girls competition is already at the semi-final stage. In the quarters Melville High School beat Westake Girls High Green 15-9, whilst Hamilton Girls High was defeated by Westlake Red 8-5.

On the other side of the draw St Mary’s College Ponsonby accounted for Rangitoto College 11-4 and Kavanagh College outlasted Rotorua Girls High 9-4.

Sixty-three teams will compete at the 2017 Secondary Schools 3×3 National Slam being played in Tauranga over three days this week, beginning on Thursday.

In all four grades the 2016 champions will be defending their titles. Who might challenge the holders click here

http://bit.ly/2ntDfGh

The final of the Rangitoto College Invitational Tournament (RIT), that involved eight Auckland high school teams, was won by the hosts Rangitoto beating Rosmini College 74-66 in the final on Sunday at NSEC.

The scores were locked at 35 apiece at half-time but Rangi quickly opened a double-digit lead early in the second and were able to hold off their local rivals for a deserved win.

Leading Scorers in the final:

Rangitoto 74 – Zack Te Puni 20, Dan Fotu 15, Logan Anderson 12, Jared Thornton 11

Rosmini 66 – Will Heather 20, Marvin Williams-Dunne 13, Mitch Dance 12

Earlier in the semi-finals Rosmini comfortably accounted for St Peter’s 81-32. The other semi was a much tighter affair with Rangitoto winning 66-61 against Westlake after the scores were tied 61-61 with 2:07 to play.

Leading scorers in the semi-finals:

Rosmini 81 – Mitch Dance 17, Will Heather 16, Peter Jenkins 12, Kruz Perrott-Hunt 10

St Peter’s 32 – Gerard Boersen 11, Toffer Espinosa 8

Rangitoto 66 – Zack Te Puni 13, Logan McIntosh 11, Dan Fotu 11, Cam Stone 8

Westlake 61 – James Moors 32, Reuben Fitzgerald 11, Jesse Winter 7

For a number of the teams it was a perfect build up towards the 20 team Premier Qualifying Tournament being played early next month (April 8-11). NB there will be an 11 team Girls Qualifying tournament held at the same time.

St Peter’s College is one of the teams with high hopes of gaining qualification to Premier Grade.

Coach Leyton Haddleton felt his team had made progress at the RIT.

“The players have had a tough week with school commitments and two pre-season friendly games earlier in the week. However this has given us a good opportunity to build combinations against tough opposition. We ran Westlake close, before losing 73-68 on day one – the last time we played them we lost by over 50 points.

“It’s also given us an opportunity to test players resolve when tired and under pressure,” Haddleton added.

Haddleton believes there are a number of teams with a real opportunity of joining Rangitoto, Rosmini, Auckland Grammar, Westlake, Mt Albert and Kelston in the top echelon of Auckland Secondary Schools boy’s basketball.

“St Kentigern College, MacLeans College and Massey High are all looking strong and we are yet to find out what the relegated teams from last year, Liston College and Onehunga High, will look like,” said Haddleton.

Despite being without some starters due to other commitments St Kentigern second year coach Aaron Young also thought the Rangitoto Invitational was of value.

“The experience against top quality players gives us great prep for the RIT.”

Young agreed with Haddleton that there are a number of schools with a good chance of playing Prem’s in 2017.

“Liston will have a good chance of qualifying with their experience from last year and a solid junior programme.

“I would like to think our chances are also good especially with home court advantage. I’m hoping the five seniors in our team and much the same group as last year will stand us in good stead,” said Young.

St Kent’s fell one game short of qualifying in 2016 losing to MAGS in the semi-final. They will be hoping 2017 is their year.

But then again so will 19 other teams.

Rangitoto Invitational Final Standings

1 Rangitoto College

2 Rosmini College

3 Westlake Boys

4 St Peter’s College

5 St Kentigern

6 Macleans College

7 Avondale College

8 Rosmini Senior A

Rangitoto College Boys and St Peter’s School, Cambridge Girls, have retained the 2016 Secondary Schools Championship titles.

St Peter’s saw off the challenge of Mt Albert Grammar while Rangitoto College survived a stunning second half comeback, likely one of the greatest in the history of the tournament, to thwart Palmerston North Boys.

A big crowd packed the Manawatu Arena for what turned out to be a sensational Boys Final featuring the home team Palmerston North Boys and Rangitoto College.

At half-time Rangitoto were in cruise mode leading 60-35 but what transpired in the second half was remarkable.

If it had been all Rangi in the first half it was all Palmy in the third quarter as they mounted a 31-8 charge inspired by 20 points in the period from centre Callum McRae. Palmy closed the third just two points adrift 68-66 and the delirious home crowd was in full voice.

After the two teams exchanged baskets for large chunks of the fourth the frenzied Palmerston onslaught appeared to have been quelled by Rangi as Sam Waardenburg and Kaycee Anibueze scored back to back baskets that gave Rangi a 77-73 lead with a just two minutes to play.

However Palmy weren’t finished as Oscar Oswald scored four quick points and drew an offensive charge – the scores tied 79 apiece with seconds to play.

Haize Walker was fouled on the drive and he made the first of two free throws to edge Palmy ahead 80-79 with just 7 seconds to play.

The second freebie was missed. Rangi secured an untidy rebound, worked the ball just over the half way line to Cameron Stone and he launched a speculative three point attempt.

As the full time buzzer sounded the ball found nothing but net and Stone was submerged by a sea of Rangi players. A courageous, remarkable comeback by Palmerston was denied – Rangitoto home by the skin of their teeth 82-80.

Earlier Jack Henry and Walker made opening quarter threes for Palmerston North but 14 first quarter points from Dan Fotu propelled Rangitoto to a significant 31-16 advantage.

The lead grew to 39-18 as Sam Waardenburg and Zack Te-Puni connected from long range prompting a Palmerston timeout.

Rangi were almost unstoppable as they headed to the half-time break 60-35 ahead on the back of shooting splits 63/71/100. Six players landed shots from beyond the three point arc as they jointly connected with a stunning 10 from 14 attempts.

Palmerston North started the third with a 12-4 run as they consistently went inside to centre McRae. The tactic continued to work dividends as the 7 footer proved almost impossible to stop.

The momentum stayed with Palmerston North before Stone had that final say.

Tournament MVP Sam Waardenburg remembers it as the craziest game he has ever been involved in.

“Just the way it ended, my last high school game ever, with a great group of guys, it was ridiculous I still can’t believe it.

“I knew there were seven seconds left after the free throw shot but after that went up there was a lot of loose ball stuff going on I had no idea how long remained.

“I’m just so happy Cam let the shot fly. It was just a crazy moment and I had no idea if there was time left or the game was over.

“I have huge respect for the Palmy boys, they were gracious in defeat and the haka that their team and supporters performed after the game was awesome,” he added.

Final score; Rangitoto 82 – Fotu 27/7rebs/5assists, Waardenburg 18/8, Stone 9/5assists, Te Puni 9,Anderson 8

Palmerston North 80 – McRae 33/17, Oswald 22, Henry 10, Walker 6

The 3^rd/4^th play-off game was won 63-56 by New Plymouth Boys against Auckland Grammar.

The sustained excellence of Charlise Leger-Walker carried St Peter’s School Cambridge to a second consecutive title. She produced a stunning 35 points (14/28FG) and added 14 rebounds. There were terrific supporting roles from fellow Junior Tall Fern Kendell Heremaia, junior international Ella Bradley and the tireless Georgie Edgecombe but it was Leger-Walker who stole the show and led her team to victory.

St Peter’s led 21-18 at the end of an entertaining opening quarter. Both teams, relying on key players playing big minutes, appeared fatigued but Leger-Walker landed a banked three on the stroke of half-time to keep St Peter’s ahead 32-27 at the interval.

The Junior Tall Ferns guard led all scorers with 15 points at the break, teammate Heremaia had 9 points. For Mt Albert the forward duo of Trinity Paeu (10pts) and Sharne Pupuke-Robati (9pts) led the scoring.

The St Peter’s advantage stretched out to double figures in the third prompting a timeout from Mt Albert. Jada Manase made a three for MAGS but it was still St Peter’s advantage 50-38 at three-quarter time.

Manase led a Mt Albert surge early in the fourth as they closed to within 6 points, 57-51 with just under five minutes to play. However, St Peter’s defensive specialist Edgecombe snuffed out any thoughts of a sustained Mt Albert effort. She snared a pair of steals and made baskets on successive plays for St Peter’s to extend to 65-51 and break the Mt Albert resistance.

Mt Albert battled hard but there was nothing left in the tank and St Peter’s ran out deserved winners.

Final score: St Peter’s 68 – Leger-Walker 35/14 rebounds, Heremaia 17/10, Bradley 8/6.

Mt Albert 53 – Paeu 14/8, Pupuke-Robati 13/10, Manase 10

Auckland Girls Grammar won the 3^rd/4^th play-off game beating Westlake Girls 69-67.

Charlisse Leger-Walker orchestrated the St Peter’s win

The major news from the penultimate day of the SAS Secondary School Championships in Palmerston North is that the 2015 champions, St Peter’s School and Rangitoto College are headed back to the final.

In the first girls semi-final St Peter’s School, Cambridge edged a high quality encounter with Westlake Girls 79-76. The Junior Tall Ferns quartet of Charlisse Leger-Walker, Kendell Heremaia, (for St Peter’s) and Tiarna Clarke and Zara Jillings (for Westlake) combined for an incredible 102 points.

The decision making of Charlisse Leger-Walker and Kendell Heremaia was exemplary, particularly down the stretch, as they held off the determined Westlake side.

The game that was tight throughout. 16-15 at the first break and 34 apiece at half-time became 56-53 to St Peter’s at the last break with never more than four points in it.

A Jillings And 1 play put Westlake ahead 63-62 early in the fourth but Heremaia and the hard working Ella Bradley restored the St Peter’s lead. A long Clarke three gave Westlake the lead with three to play but the big three of Leger-Walker, Heremaia and Bradley responded  again. Jillings once again gave Lake the lead (74-73) with 1:15 to play but the defending champions would not be denied as Bradley and Heremaia made the go ahead scores and this time there was no way back for Westlake

Final score; St Peter’s 79 – Leger-Walker 30 points/14 rebounds/7assists, Heremaia 26/14, Bradley 19/7/3/3steals

Westlake 76 – Jillings 26/8/4, Clarke 20 (4/5 3PG), Tini 10/12, Shearer 10/12

In the second girls semi-final the surprise package of the tournament, Mt Albert Grammar School continued their winning run defeating local rivals Auckland Girls Grammar School 75-58.

Sharne Pupuke-Robati was huge for Mt Albert doing a lot of damage in the paint alongside Trinity Paeu. Pupuke-Robati finished with 27 points and 15 rebounds as Mt Albert led for all but the first five minutes of the game.

They opened with a 15-6 quarter, led 32-20 at the interval and 48-39 entering the last period.

Auckland started the fourth quarter strongly with tireless captain Elianna Tuiti, Mele Latu, Rionne Papa and the Tyla Tuala all working their way to basket. But every time Auckland made a run Mt Albert were able to find a counter – Rhyannon Poto often the architect of accurate offence.

A Tuala three gave Grammar hope, 64-48 with 5 minutes to play but that evaporated as Pupuke-Robati made back to back baskets, Jodeci Joseph scored off a Poto pass then the roles were reversed as Joseph fed Poto to cap a fine team performance from Mt Albert.

Final score: Mt Albert 75 – Pupuke-Robati 27/15rebs, Paeu 12, Joseph 12, Poto 10/8rebs/7assists

Auckland – Papa 18/7, Tuala 15, Latu 13/22, E Tuaiti 10/7

Both teams struggled for offensive fluency in the opening half of the first boys semi-final with Rangitoto College enjoying slightly better success leading 36-25 against Auckland Grammar at half-time. Sam Waardenburg had 16 points for the holders, Taki Fahrensohn 8 points for Grammar at the break.

Fahrensohn and Thomas Whyte made some inroads into the Rangi lead but every time a run looked like coming Waardenburg and Dan Fotu would find a way to basket. From nowhere Sam Aruwa landed a three on the three-quater time hooter and Grammar were back in contention down just 47-41.

Another Whyte triple got the Grammar supporters excited and although Brayden Inger made a couple of baskets Grammar only trailed 60-53 after a pair of Farensohn buckets.

Rangi point guard Harry Clarke then stamped his mark on the game making three triples in the final period to stretch the advantage to 69-53 before Waardenburg with a dunk off a back cut put the exclamation mark on the win, Grammar outscored 29-18 in the final quarter.

Final score: Rangitoto 76 – Waardenburg 30 points/ 16 rebounds, Fotu 17/7, Clarke 9 (3/3 3PG), Inger 7, Te Puni 6/7

Auckland Grammar 59 – Fahrensohn 19/12, Aruwa 13, Flanagan 11/10, Whyte 8

In the second boys semi-final a low scoring game was won 59-53 by Palmerston North Boys High School over New Plymouth Boys High School much to the delight of large vociferous home crowd.

The home side led 32-21 at half time and 45-36 at three-quarter time. It was looking comfortable for Palmy before Corbin Giddy initiated a New Plymouth come back.

The crowd went quiet as Thane O’Leary trimmed the Palmerston advantage to just a single point, 45-44 with 4 minutes to play.

Sitting on four fouls Palmerston centre Callum McLeod was reintroduced and he immediately scored, as did Jack Henry. The impressive Oscar Oswald landed a three then blocked yet another shot and Palmerston suddenly had breathing space leading 56-48 with two minutes to play.

Baxter Fenwick landed a triple for New Plymouth but it wasn’t enough and it is Palmerston North who will face Rangitoto in the final.

Final Score; Palmerston North 59 – Henry 14, Walker 13/9, Oswald 12/5blocks, Faamausili 12

New Plymouth 53 – Giddy 20/8, Potts-Broughton 11/13, Fenwick 9, O’Leary 7/12

Zack Te Puni was in fine form for Rangitoto

Defending champions Rangitoto College Boys and St Peter’s, Cambridge Girls remain on course for successful title defences after comfortable quarter-final victories on Day four of the National Secondary School Championships in Palmerston North on Thursday.

Rangitoto led 38-28 at half-time against Rosmini College who, led by centre Will Heather, surged to within a single point, 42-41 at the back end of the third quarter.

Rangitoto had been run down by Rosmini in the fourth quarter of the Auckland Prems Final just over a month ago but were in no mood to allow history to repeat itself in this one.

Rangi got 21 points out of Sam Waardenburg but it was the the lesser lights ZacK Te Puni and Kaycee Anibueze who provided the spark in the fourth quarter to nail the win.

Rangi led just 48-43 at three-quarter time but Te Puni inside and Anibueze cutting and driving prompted a 14-2 run. Dan Fotu then nailed a corner three to extend the lead to 62-45 and it was game over. Final score 71-52.

In other Boys quarter-finals Auckland Grammar, with Taki Fahrensohn to the fore, won a high scoring encounter against Christchurch Boys High School 103-93.

Another points bonanza was won by hosts Palmerston North Boys High School but only just. With big man Callum McRae in good form they led by over 20 points  but had to survive a late Westlake Boys charge before edging home 97-94.

The fourth tie went the way of New Plymouth Boys High School who accounted for a valiant Kelston Boys 84-75.

In the semi-finals Rangitoto College will play Auckland Grammar in an all Auckland affair leaving Zone three rivals New Plymouth and Palmerston North to battle for the other grand final place.

St Peter’s Girls just purr along having little trouble against New Plymouth Girls High School. Once again the St Peter’s effort was built around defence giving up just 36 points in a dominating 60-36 performance.

If St Peter’s are to go back to back they will have to do it against the best that Auckland can throw at them.

Westlake Girls, unbeaten since the opening day loss to Mt Albert, will be their semi-final opponents. They breezed past Waimea 91-59 so now the Zone I Premiership champs face the Zone 2 Premiership champs for a place in the final.

Should St Peter’s win they will then face another City of Sails opponent as semi-final tw0 is an all Auckland affair between traditional rivals Mt Albert Grammar and Auckland Girls Grammar.

Mt Albert’s fairytale run continued as they disposed of Melville High 76-55 while Auckland  won a thriller, 66-63, against Hamilton Girls High School.

Looks like a day in front of the little screen on Friday watching semi-final action courtesy of Maori TV live streaming.