Basketball New Zealand

Church College girls (Dave Litnott)

Their fans called out for “one more time” … and the Church College girls obliged with a 65-42 victory over New Plymouth GHS for their third successive title at the Furnware NZ “AA” Secondary School Championships.

With the Mormon campus closing at the end of the year, it will also be their last.

“This was very emotional for us,” said coach Tyler Wilkinson afterwards. “People had come from all over the place – from Australia, and up and down the country – to support us.

“That in itself was a lot of pressure, but we were able to send them away happy.”

Church came back from a first quarter deficit to unleash a 16-2 second quarter that turned the tide of what began as a very competitive contest.

They came into the final in senstational form, employing their superior depth and fitness to dispatch pool opponents by an average of 68 points and their knockout rivals by more than 30. Obviously, no one had challenged the notion that they would easily retain their title.

By contrast, New Plymouth had looked decidedly shaky in their early encounters with Hutt Valley HS and Waikato Diocesan, but were rampant in their semifinal result over Fraser HS.

Fijian international Letava Whippy opened the scoring with a baseline drive and the Church defence had their opposition scrambling to beat the shot clock on their first two possessions.

But New Plymouth finally opened their account with a three from Bella McCallum and snatched a 7-6 lead off free throws from Terai Sadler. Moments later, Caitlin Preston hit a trey and then converted three freebies when she was fouled attempting another.

Suddenly, the champions were five points down and under pressure for the first time all week.

“New Plymouth came out and played tough defence on us, forcing our girls to make errors,” said Wilkinson. “As a result, our offence didn’t flow.”

With Tall Fern guard Zoe Kensington controlling the offence expertly, New Plymouth went on a six-point run to extend their advantage to nine and they led 23-16 after the opening quarter.

But forward Moengaroa Subritzky inspired an 11-point run that carried Church back into the driver’s seat, and after a 16-2 second period, they were 32-25 up.

Their smothering defence had held PGHS kingpins McCallum and Kensington to a combined five points off 2/16 shooting.

“I could hear our coach telling me to step up if I wanted to win,” admitted Subritzky. “We could also hear the crowd motivating us to keep going.”

When Subritzky converted a three-point play soon after the restart, the lead was in double figures.

New Plymouth wasn’t quite done yet, though, and McCallum struck from afar to revive hopes of a comeback.

They were still within nine points entering the final quarter, but struggling to even get across halfway within the allotted time, let alone set up good looks at the basket.

They needed something special from either of their leaders, but it never came.

“They stayed with us for three quarters, but we knew they had come out of a hard pool and crossover,” said Wilkinson. “We knew they would tire.”

Instead, Freda Riwai connected with three successive baseline shots midway through the fourth period, the last from long distance, to finally put the result beyond doubt.

“It was pretty sad, knowing this was the last time we would ever get to play in these uniforms,” said Subritzky.

“But we knew we had to come off with a win for all those that had played for Church and were here to support us.

“We’re happy and proud to represent the last of a generation.”

Furnware NZ “AA” Secondary School Championships

Palmerston North
Girls Final
Church College NZ 65 (Moengaroa Subritzky 21, Freda Riwai 13, Letava Whippy 11) New Plymouth GHS 42 (Zoe Kensington & Terai Salder 9)
Q1 16-23
HT 32-25 (16-2)
Q3 45-36 (13-11)
FT 65-42 (20-6)

3rd/4th
Waimea College 83 (Jelena Vucinic 22) Fraser HS 71 (Kalani Purcell 21)

5th/6th
Mt Albert Grammar 52 (Ashleigh Kelman-Poto 22) Waikato Diocesan 42 (Georgia Agnew 15)

7th/8th
Rangiora HS 89 (Gemma Hazeldine 26) Northcote College 73 (Shaumee Hiha 18)

9th/10th
Rangitoto College 79 (Hope Thompson 18) Napier GHS 44 (Josie Stockill 13)

11th/12th
Nelson College for Girls 75 (Shannon Perrett 25) Hutt Valley HS 43 (Shontelle Weston 10)

13th/14th
Rangi Ruru GS 63 (Georgina Papahadjis 12) Christchurch GHS 39 (Marlia Lisala 9)

15th/16th
Manurewa HS 77 (Marleen Williams & Brianna Jones 20) Sacred Heart College 61 (Kayla Bartlett 14)

17th/18th
Marlborough GC 79 (Jaime Campbell 19) Cambridge HS 60 (Amelia Palmer 21)

19th/20th
Freyberg HS 60 (Danielle Pomare-Mackay 22) Auckland GGS 56 (Kendal Keung 16)

21st/22nd
Rotorua GHS 76 (P Purdie 30) Mana College 70 (Jardene Tipa 17)

23rd/24th
Hauraki Plains College 76 (Kelly O’Hallahan 22) Kristin School 46 (Habiba Tawfik 15)

Final Placings
1 Church College
2 New Plymouth GHS
3 Waimea College
4 Fraser HS
5 Mt Albert Grammar
6 Waikato Diocesan
7 Rangiora HS
8 Northcote College
9 Rangitoto College
10 Napier GHS
11 Nelson CG
12 Hutt Valley HS
13 Rangi Ruru GS
14 Christchurch GHS
15 Manurewa HS
16 Sacred Heart College
17 Marlborough College
18 Cambridge HS
19 Freyberg HS
20 Auckland Girls Grammar
21 Rotorua GHS
22 Mana College
23 Hauraki Plains College
24 Kristin School

Tournament Team
Ashleigh Kelman-Poto (Mt Albert Grammar), Zoe Kensington (New Plymouth GHS), Bella McCallum (New Plymouth GHS), Kalani Purcell (Fraser HS), Freda Riwai (Church College), Bailey Ross-Waitai (Fraser HS), Terai Sadler (New Plymouth GHS), Moengaroa Subritzky (Church College), Jelena Vucinic (Waimea College), Letava Whippy (Church College)

MVP
Letava Whippy (Church College)