Day one of the Aon U19 Nationals tipped off this morning, marking it the first ever Basketball New Zealand tournament to take place at the brand new MainPower Stadium in Rangiora. With 10 Women’s teams and 15 Men’s teams representing their associations from around Aotearoa, the first day was sure to be an exciting one.
There were many high points of the first day, including a last second three-pointer for Auckland’s Women’s team against Harbour, and last year’s Women’s MVP Breeje Schuler starting off the tournament with 28 points against North Canterbury and 22 points against Counties Manakau.
Canterbury B in the Men’s made it interesting against Waikato, even with the drama of a court-change in the game which strengthened the tension between the two sides. Waikato managed to hold on for the win in a thrilling final quarter.
Some strong first day performances lead to teams such as Franklin and Waikato gunning for top spots for the Quarter Finals in the Men’s and Canterbury and Waikato setting.
Four games start off day two tomorrow with the Men’s Prelim Quarter-Finals playing at 5:45pm.
You can see all the results on Gameday or by downloading the Gameday App on the App Store or Google Play and searching for “BBNZ Tournaments”
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Check out BBNZ TV to watch select games on Day 3 and Day 4.