Bruce Martins wrap-up
Saturday August 4th Round 13
Miles Toyota Premier Basketball League by Bruce Martin
Women’s Premier
Defending champion North Canterbury Women’s Premier basketball team bounced back after last week’s double losses to comfortably beat lowly placed University of Canterbury 85-44 in Cowles stadium on Saturday. NC was reinforced by the welcome return of Esra McGoldrick from her NC State University who quickly slotted 27 points while others to score were Ashlee Fane 16, Renee Tuhikarama 13, Caoimhe Colgan 12 and Taneisha Nutira 12, much to the delight of coach Wade Parata. NC raced to a 29-18 first quarter lead and extended to 51-31 by half-time and pulled away steadily from there. Lily Nicol 13, Beth O’Connor 12, Ashlee Rigter 11 were the contributors for the students.
North Canterbury displayed an excellent defensive effort in the second half holding Varsity to just 13 total points after half time.
Without Charlotte Whittaker N.C were severely undersized and Varsity capitalized scoring well inside the paint. N.C lead at the half 37-31.
Boosted by the return of Junior Tall Fern Helen Mathews and N.C state University forward Esra McGoldfrick North Canterbury pulled away in dominating fashion winning the contest 85-44.
Guards Ashlee Fane and Caoimhe Colgan had strong allround performances with Renee Tuhikarama defending the interior very well.
Wolverines produced another huge upset in the Women’s Premier league with a solid 59-33 win over a short-manned Pioneer Pacers.
The Burry sisters, Tessa (11) and Maja (10) led the challenge for Pioneer but all too often Wolverines tight defence took control. Pioneer had only one sub. Wildcat Lauren Hippolite was the key Pioneer player missing in action.
The whole Wolverines team put their top effort into the game, tiring Pioneer with Letitia Mullaly 13, Tessa Stewart-Morrison 12 and Kendal Hastie 10 leading the scoring. By quarter time Wolves were ahead 17-12, up 38-15 by the turnaround and 46-21 at the third break, eventually rounding out the game 59-33.
Current leader Lincoln University turned team work into a strong 78-36 win over Minties with five players reaching double figures and work horse Connie Polletti easing back with 14 points. Other LU players to feature were Sophie Schrader 13, Sammy Irvine 13, Shea Crotty 11, Megan Ellis 11 making the team a force to be reckoned with with play-offs loomimg.
Women’s Premier results were;
North Canterbury 85 (Esra McGoldrick 27, Ashlee Fane 16, Renee Tuhikarama 13, Caoimhe Colgan 12, Taneisha Nutira 12) University 44 (Lily Nicol 13, Beth O’Connor 12, Ashlee Rigter 11). HT: 51-31,
Lincoln University 78 (Connie Poletti 14, 15R, 7A, Sophie Schrader 13, Sammy Irvine 13, Shea Crotty 11, 5A, Megan Ellis 11) Minties 36 (Sarah Mason 10). HT: 35-13,
Wolverines 59 (Letitia Mullaly 13, Tessa Stewart-Morrison 12, Kendal Hastie 10) Pioneer Pacers 33 (Tessa Burry 11, Maja Burry 10). HT: 38-15, Bye:Halswell.
Men’s Premier
University of Canterbury maintained its lead in the Miles Toyota Premier Men’s basketball league with an 88-71 win over Atami. The students had control of the game, especially in the first half, leading 26-10 by quarter-time and 52-26 at the turn around.
Canterbury Ram Tony Tolovae, who is about to depart for China, shot 19 points with a mixed arrange of inside and outside shots while Josh Petermann (17), Paul Stephenson (16) and Canadian Konrad Tota with 15 points added to the depth for the students. University relaxed its pressure in the second spell as Atami’s Zacc Dwan (20) and Derek Albertsen (17) exploited slackening efforts by University.
University nearly paid dearly for the lack of discipline late in the fourth quarter as Atami closed to within five points (69/74) through the efforts of Aled Jones (11) and Joel Jeffry with 13 points.
Gators cemented a top two placing with a solid 103-80 win over Checkers but not before Checkers had some concentrated efforts from youngsters Joshua Lowe (18) and Sam Riley with 17 points. Gators Matt Mischewski (28) found weaknesses in the Checkers defences while Cam Chalmers (27) marshalled the Gators from the rear. Gators had a narrow first quarter lead 19-17 but by half time extended it to 49-34. The third period was pretty much even but Gators finished strongly in the final quarter, winning 103-80.
Lincoln University had too much depth for defending champion Pioneer Pacers, pulling away to a solid 97-70 win through the efforts of Sam Smith 31, Ben Bowie 17, Jayden Chan 12, James Levings 11 and Ben Williams 11 points. By half time Lincoln lead 47-28 but Pioneer, through the efforts of Adrian Taylor (18) and Nick Erwood (11) started to close the gap to trail 47-60 but their efforts were shortlived and Lincoln extended the score to 75-55 by the third break.
In the final quarter both sides had stronger defences, the baskets being reduced to a trickle until later in the quarter when Lincoln pulled clear to take the game 97-70.
Results were:
Miles Toyota Premier Men’s League
Lincoln University 97 (Sam Smith 31, Ben Bowie 17, Jayden Chan 12, James Levings 11, Ben Williams 11) Pioneer Pacers 70 (Adrian Taylor 18, Nick Erwood 11, Oli Davies 10, Dan Mulder 10). HT: 47-28,
University 88 (Tony Tolovae 19, Josh Petermann 17, Paul Stephenson 16, Konrad Tota 15) Atami 71 (Zacc Dwan 20, Derek Albertsen 17, Joel Jeffrey 13, Aled Jones 11). HT: 52-26,
Gators 103 (Matt Mischewski 28, Cam Chalmers 27, Jozeph Knottenbelt 14, Connor McLaughlin 10) Checkers 80 (Joshua Lowe 18, Sam Riley 17, Joe Cook-Green 12). HT: 49-34, Bye: Wolverines
Miles Toyota Premier Men’s League placings with games played in parenthesis: University 20 (11), Lincoln Univ 18 (12), Gators 18 (11), Checkers 16 (11), Atami 16 (11), Pioneer 15 (11), Wolverines 14 (11).
Other North Canterbury basketball results were:
Division One of the Thomson Trophy Secondary schoolboys playoffs are now set. A three-way tie eventuated between Christchurch Boys’ High, Rangiora High, and St. Andrew’s College, after each of the teams won last Tuesday night. After using the FIBA classification procedures, Christchurch Boys’ finished in fourth place, Rangiora fifth, and St. Andrew’s in sixth. Rangiora HS plays Middleton Grange on Tuesday 7th August.
Week 9 results:
Thomson Trophy Division One: Rangiora HS 73 Burnside HS 65.
Division 2: Kaiapoi HS 88 Linwood Coll 80.
Whelan Division One: Rangiora HS 62 Ashburton Coll 56.
Other Club results were:
MU20A: Pioneer Cashmere 81 NC 57 (Canaan Tarawa 17, Soloman Tarawa 15).
BU17A Shirley Spartens A 85 Rangiora HS 76.
BU17Mid: NC 70 (Hunter Archbold 11, Matt Price 11) Gators 47.
BU15A: CBHS 107 NC One 79 (Thomas Barrett 17, Josh Doody 13, Wade McIntosh 12).
BU15Dev: Burnside B 81 NC Two 47
BU13: NC White 91 Pioneer Yellow 51, NC Maroon leads the grade unbeaten but had bye.
MD1: Wolves White 97 NC 84 (Scott Edwards 31, Ricardo Pimenta 23).
WU18 Minor Premiership: NC 74 (Lauren Whittaker 25, Jemma Hughes 18) Halswell 44.
Girls U15: NC One __ NC Two __ . Result to follow. NC One leads the grade unbeaten.
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