Day one of the Aon U15 Nationals started this morning in Auckland, with 40 teams from across the motu competing. Some players, teams, coaches and officials are experiencing Basketball New Zealand tournaments for the first time, after the cancellation of Aon U13 Regionals tournaments from previous years.
There was plenty of excitement in the first day, with games such as Waikato Country’s close encounter with Hawkes Bay in Pool B for the boys (76-82) and Franklin’s narrow loss to Canterbury in the same pool. Counties-Manakau and Rotorua faced off in another exciting match that came down to the wire. Counties-Manakau managed to take the win 49-44 and secure a good looking spot in the middle of Girls Pool C.
A few standout performances took the cake on opening day, with Pahlyss Hokianga of Hawkes Bay Girls dropping 36 points against Counties-Manakau, taking her average to 29.5 points per game for the tournament. She averaged 13 points in the previous Aon U15 Nationals in 2021. Mya Tipene-Tagoai from Hutt Valley made 33 points against Northland B in their Girls Pool C matchup.
For the boys side, Hayden Jones had a standout performance in their 88-87 overtime win against Wellington, clocking in 52 points. He also managed to secure 31 points against Harbour A in their 74-83 loss. It puts them at 3rd on the Pool D table.
Tomorrow will be the last games of pool play before the Quarter-Finals on Friday. You can keep up to date with photos and action shots from the day on our social media channels. Search for “Basketball New Zealand.” There’s plenty more action to come on Day 2 and we look forward to continuing with another great day of basketball.
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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