Laying In Wait
Tagged in: Tournaments
While Church College have been piling on the points, last year’s beaten finalists Rangitoto College and third seeds Waimea College, almost unnoticed, have been quietly going about their business.
Rangitoto held off Christchurch Girls High 52-43 to top pool B and Waimea, beaten semifinalists in North Harbour last year, came from double-digits down early in the fourth quarter to beat previously unbeaten Hamilton’s Fraser High 84-77 to finish number one in pool C on day three of the AA Secondary Schools National Championships – presented by Furnware – in Palmerston North.
While both finished with 5-0 records after three days, neither has set the courts on fire, doing enough to get wins without being spectacular.
“It’s tournament time so you’ve just got to take care of your business and get through each day,” Rangitoto College coach Lana Kershaw said.
“The girls know that we’re here to do a job. We like coming in as underdogs. We’re getting there, we’re not at the full peak yet. Our juniors have been really good during pool play. I’m really happy with them.”
Those juniors have included sisters Shinae and Brooke Blair, who along with older sister Mikayla Blair and power forward Milika Nathan, have helped Rangitoto, the zone one and Auckland schools champions to a perfect run through pool play.
Nathan led the way with 18 points for Rangitoto, who got out to a big lead by halftime, then held off a fourth quarter rally from CGHS, who were playing for their quarterfinal lives. Rangitoto now move on to play zone one rivals Massey High, a team they have met and beaten five times this season.
“It seems like we see them a lot,” Kershaw said.
Waimea got 28 points from Jelena Vucinic and 18 points from Melissa Duff, including a pair of back-breaker threes from each, as they hauled in, then pulled away from the young Fraser High squad to take out pool C, and more importantly avoid top seeds Church, who romped to a 113-22 win over Marian College.
“It was very big because we didn’t want to meet Church College in the quarterfinal,” said Waimea coach Tatjana Zizic enthused after the game.
“We just took control and we have more experience in our team and we made a couple of crucial shots. Those two threes changed the momentum.
“I said to the girls even if we lose and get Church, we were going to have to face them at some stage anyway. I’d just rather it not be the quarterfinals. “All credit, Fraser played really well for Year 9s, they pushed us hard.”
Vucinic – daughter of Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic, and a tournament team selection in 2007 – continues to be the go-to-girl for Waimea but Zizic has increasingly been getting production from Duff, Hana Wilkinson, Summer Roberts and Nia Baker.
“Last year we were here, we were under-rated and the Cinderella but this year there’s pressure on us to perform.”
Waimea get fellow South Island school Rangiora High in the quarters, while Church meets Fraser High in an all-Waikato game featuring three sets of sisters playing on opposing teams.
The other girls quarterfinals sees last year’s semifinalists New Plymouth Girls High meet Auckland Girls Grammar. New Plymouth, who lost their opening game to Mana College before winning four straight, needed a Bella McCullum three-pointers with five seconds remaining to beat previously unbeaten Massey High 71-68 to top pool D on Wednesday.
With Mana beating Rangi Ruru Girls School, a New Plymouth loss would have seen them fall back to third in the pool on a countback, missing the top-eight.
“I thought the girls played smarter basketball. They kept their heads and were able to make good decisions at the end,” New Plymouth coach Trent Adam said.
“We played well against Mana but our mental application let us down. We were up 12 going into the fourth quarter in that game. It was probably a good loss for us, let’s say that.”
Teams ranked third and fourth after pool play will contest plate quarterfinals for positions 9-16 on Thursday, while teams finishing fifth and sixth in pools will play bottom eight quarters for positions 17-24.
AA Secondary Schools National Championships Results
Game On - Daily News (90KB pdf)
