Basketball - Auckland Championships - Extracts from College Sport Article
In the premier girl's final, Rangitoto prevailed 81-72 over MAGS.
Heading into the match it was level pegging as both teams had scored a win against each other during the round robin. The first quarter was level, with neither team being able to stamp their dominance, however Rangitoto went into the break with a narrow three-point lead. They then began to show their class and pulled away to a nine-point lead at halftime.
Mt Albert Grammar came out firing in the third quarter to close the gap to within two, but Rangitoto regrouped to take their lead back out to 11 by the end of the quarter.
Morgan Tupu-Roberts fought to keep her MAGS team in the hunt, shooting four three-pointers in the final quarter to take her to a match high 35 points. However, Rangitoto, led by MVP Brooke Blair who scored 30 points, kept their composition to hold on to claim the honours.
The under-15 girls gave MAGS a winning start to finals day with their 61-43 win over Avondale.
The first two quarters were tightly contested with MAGS going into the halftime break with a narrow two-point lead. However, sharp shooting from Lyric Taurua-Wolfgramm in the last half saw her with a game high 32 points and to lead her team to a 61-43 win. Top scorer for Avondale College was Lavenia Solomon with 17.
Not to be outdone by their successful under-15 team, the MAGS under-17 girls took an early 11-3 lead over St Kentigern. St Kents fought back to close the deficit to five points but a strong second half performance led by captain Luisa Roberts, who top-scored with 11 points, saw Mt Albert Grammar claim their second title with a 34-20 win.
BBNZ Nationals
The following students from MAGS won their respective grade for BBNZ Nationals in Nelson,
They were part of the NZ U15 National title-winning team for 2011.
Boys: Geronimo Doyle, Delaney Chaney-Puata (Boys defeated Waikato in the final 67-49)
Girls: Maia Wilson, Jessica Nicholson, Lyric Taurua-Wolfgramm (Girls defeated Waikato in the final 85-48.)
Tournament Team: Geronimo Doyle, Lyric Taurua-Wolfgramm, Maia Wilson.
All students play for Waitakere West Auckland Basketball Association.
Under 15A Boys Win Division
The U15A boys won their Division 1 this week after an outstanding match against Selwyn College.
This game was always going to take some mental toughness from the boys as they had lost to this very good Selwyn side earlier in the season. Putting even more pressure on the boys were the very vocal Selwyn supporters who filled the stands at the ASB Stadium.
After going basket to basket for the first two quarters, it was strong teamwork - by far the best they had shown all season - and excellent leadership shown by their captain Delaney Chaney, who netted 32 points, that obtained the win. They were one point up at the end of the third quarter and stretched this to win 62-59 at the final whistle went.
This is a team for the future with 9 of the 10 boys being in Year 9 and with half of them competing in the Tournament Team that was second at the NZBB Junior Zone 1 Champs held in the school holidays.
This team's next challenge is the Greater Auckland Basketball Tournament, kicking off on 6th September at the North Shore Events Centre.
Basketball New Zealand Junior Secondary School Zone 1&2 Premiership - Tuesday 19 July
Sharp shooting and great team play by our Junior Boys and Girls basketball teams saw the girls team winning and the boys coming second.
Both teams stormed through the early rounds with some dominating wins. The Junior Boys were up against Westlake Boys in the Grand Final and they began strongly with Geronimo Doyle shooting a great 3 pointer right on half time. Unfortunately, the boys couldn't keep up the intensity with the final score being 57-75.
The Junior Girls were the stars of their tournament dominating the quarter and semi's against Tauranga and Rangitoto. They played Hamilton Girls in the Grand final. Displaying great team work and some outstanding athleticism and shooting by Lyric Wolfgramm they could couldn't be pegged back, steadily increasing their lead to a 86-81 win.
The Senior Girls team also did well coming second overall to Rangitoto College and they are now off to Nationals in Palmerston North which is being held in Tournament Week.
Well done to all students who took part.
Junior Premier Girls
Saturday: 1st Game vs Tauranga Moana - MAGS 83 - Tauranga Moana 48 2nd Game vs St Peter's Cambridge - MAGS 63 - St Peters 47 Sunday Quarter finals vs Tauranga Girls College - MAGS 74 - Tauranga Girls 45 Monday Semi Finals vs Rangitoto College - Win
This tournament has been a great development opportunity for new and developing players. Our more senior players have shown great leadership and perservence, this was shown with some outstanding play by Te Ao Frandi. Defence and offence work by both Jessica Nicholson (Capt) and Kerryn Poto have been exceptional, as they have needed to safeguard both ends. Lyric Taurua-Wolfgram has shown some great offence skill. Opportunities have been open to these senior players and some have shown exceptional team work. Great skills and promise have been shown by Sophie Ripton, JJ Perry, Teuila Satele, Riverlina Gavet and there have been very good development opportunities for Leilani Satele, Jonique Purcell, Kelani Patolo.
Maia Wilson joined the team on Monday, as she has just returned from her time in Australia with the NZ u16s Girls. This can only offer our team more dimensions and opportunities. Thanks to Wiki Wolfgramm and George Gavet for stepping in to coach this team, due to the Chile volcanic ash which made delayed the JK trip overseas. I believe this tournament is a good opportunity to help with development of basketball and offer vision for the school and goals for promising players in Year 9 & Year 10. It provides a great pathway towards the Senior Prems team. Wendy Nicholson (Manager, Girls Jnr Prems) PS: MAGS Boys Junior Prems has had some great wins but one of the best was against Rangitoto College Sunday.
Morgan Roberts Represents New Zealand
NZ Basketball Representative, Morgan Roberts, recently played in Tasmania in the Australian State U18 Champs.
Although their team ended up placed 11th, they narrowly lost their quarter final match against WA Country 50 - 53. A comment made on the Australian state champ website after their game against WA Country, "For the New Zealand side, Morgan Roberts had a stand out game, dropping 21 points to go with 11 rebounds."
Morgan played extremely well throughout the tournament, especially in their last three matches where she averaged 21 points per game.
