Basketball New Zealand

Women's Basketball Championship

The Harbour Breeze, Canterbury Wildcats, Otago Gold Rush, Waikato Wizards and Taranaki Trojans will battle it out for the title at the final tournament of the Women’s Basketball Championship next month.

The five teams will make up the championship section for the three-day tournament at Wellington’s Southwest Stadium from August 20-22, culminating the inaugural three-tournament WBC.

The Breeze, back-to-back tournament winners in Harbour in June and Dunedin last weekend, topped the standings with the maximum 40 points after the first two tournaments, with a clear gap back to second.

The Wildcats, after third and fifth-place finishes, head up the logjam behind Harbour on 28 points, the next five teams separated by six points. The Gold Rush and Wizards sit on 26 points, while the Trojans snuck into the top-five on 24, ahead of the Wellington Swish on 22.

Taranaki were a long-shot to make the championship section before the Dunedin tournament but a second-place finish, coupled with the Swish’s poor seventh-place performance, saw them leap three teams in the standings.

The Swish will compete with beaten Harbour finalists, the Waikato Cougars, NZ Academy, GABBA Gators and Hutt Valley in the plate section in Wellington, with the first-placed team meeting the fifth-placed championship section team for the plate title.

Women’s Basketball Championship

Wellington Tournament

Southwest Stadium, Wellington

Thursday, August 20

Championship Section
9am: Taranaki Trojans vs Harbour Breeze
11am: Waikato Wizards vs Otago Gold Rush
2pm: Canterbury Wildcats vs Taranaki Trojans
6pm: Harbour Breeze vs Otago Gold Rush
8pm: Canterbury Wildcats vs Waikato Wizards

Plate Section
9am: GABBA Gators vs Hutt Valley
11am: Wellington Swish vs NZ Academy
2pm: Waikato Cougars vs GABBA Gators
6pm: NZ Academy vs Hutt Valley
8pm: Wellington Swish vs Waikato Cougars

Friday, August 21

Championship Section
9am: Waikato Wizards vs Taranaki Trojans
11am: Canterbury Wildcats vs Harbour Breeze
3pm: Taranaki Trojans vs Otago Gold Rush
6pm: Waikato Wizards vs Harbour Breeze
8pm: Otago Gold Rush vs Canterbury Wildcats

Plate Section
9am: NZ Academy vs Waikato Cougars
11am: GABBA Gators vs Wellington Swish
3pm: Hutt Valley vs Waikato Cougars
6pm: GABBA Gators vs NZ Academy
8pm: Hutt Valley vs Wellington Swish

Saturday, August 22

Semifinals
8.30am: 1st Championship Section vs 4th Championship Section
8.30am: 2nd Championship Section vs 3rd Championship Section

7th-8th Classification
10.30am: 2nd Plate Section vs 3rd Plate Section

9th-10th Classification
10.30am: 4th Plate Section vs Hutt Valley

Plate Final
1pm: 5th Championship Section vs 1st Plate Section

Championship Final
3pm: Winner Semifinal 1 vs Winner Semifinal 2