Canterbury and Harbour Put Last Year’s Finals Defeats Behind Them – Aon U19 Nationals 2023 Recap

After four huge days of basketball action, the Aon U19 Nationals have come to a close and our Champions have been named.

Women’s Grand Final – Waikato vs Canterbury

In 2022, Waikato stormed home with a 10-point victory over a young Canterbury side. Today, fast forwarding to 2023, Canterbury made their victory look like a walk in the park, beating Waikato by 18 points. The first quarter saw Canterbury take the lead by three, 13-16. With Alana Paewai out who is one of the more experienced players on the Waikato team, it was going to be a challenge to deal with an on-top Canterbury squad. Lauren Whittaker who had dropped 32 points and 17 rebounds in their Semi-Final against Auckland was looking to play a big part in their Final. Top scoring with 17 points, and also leading the rebounds with 16 including 7 offensive, Whittaker was determined to push past the pain of last year’s 10-point loss and take out the championship.

Waikato’s third quarter was not one they wanted to remember, being outscored by Canterbury 14-29, and giving Canterbury a lead that would be hard to catch up to. Taiana Day would look to help Waikato gain some points back, scoring 12 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Being the team’s top scorer and coming off the bench, it wouldn’t be enough to see Waikato go for the three-peat. Waikato shot at 29% throughout the game, while Canterbury took more of their chances at 40%, giving them a more dominant approach, and more chance to secure points, which is exactly what happened.

Canterbury’s Ivy Brown scored 15 points off the bench and included a solid 8 rebounds to the mix, while Maia Jones came in with an impressive statline of 10 points, nine rebounds, six assists four steals and four of the team’s nine blocks. She contributed in every positive team stat with the exception for blocks received.

Canterbury went on to take out the game 56-74, with a pretty solid and impressive team effort.

Waikato 56 – Taiana Day (12 PTS, 10 REB, 3 STL)

Canterbury 74 – Lauren Whittaker (17 PTS, 16 REB), Maia Jones (10 PTS, 9 REB, 6 AST, 4 STL, 4 BLK),  Ivy Brown (15 PTS, 8 REB)

Officials – Toni Smith-Hunwick, Tamatea Bennett & Jayden Rosanowski

Men’s Grand Final – Harbour vs Taranaki

Harbour last year had a rough Aon U19 Nationals, finishing second after Canterbury dominated, but this year, their mindset changed and they were ready to take on the Grand Final once again, this time against Taranaki. Beating Canterbury in their Semi-Final 79-95, Harbour had their eyes set on the top spot. The game opened with an eight-point lead to Harbour, and Taranaki struggled in the first half to top more than twenty points per quarter, giving Harbour a 56-37 lead at the half break. Charlie Dalton and Thomas Beattie combined for a total of 53 points in the game, with Dalton putting up 25 points, 10 rebounds and three assists, while Beattie contributed with a game-high 28 points and three steals, along with the odd rebound and assist.

Taranaki struggled on the shooting end, making to shoot at 34% and making 25 field goals total, in comparison to Harbour’s 49% shooting at 41 made field goals. Taranaki struggled under the basket, with Harbour gaining 52 rebounds to Taranaki’s 41. For Taranaki however, Cooper Ohlson came to the party with a solid 22 points. Riley Tuuta contributed a solid 20 points and captain Cameron Quinnell worked hard on the offensive basket with four offensive boards for a total of 10 rebounds and 12 points. Despite having the same number of offensive rebounds as Harbour, they couldn’t capitalise with only eight second-chance points coming from those rebounds.

Harbour ended up running away with the game and flourishing in their 102-62 win.

Harbour 102 – Charlie Dalton (25 PTS, 10 REB), Thomas Beattie (28 PTS)

Taranaki 62 – Cooper Ohlson (22 PTS), Cameron Quinnell (12 PTS, 10 REB, 4AST), Riley Tuuta (20 PTS)

Officials – Mikayla Sharp, Kobe Lucas, Aimee-Jo Clark

Tournament Teams

Final results and Team Placings will be displayed on the Aon U19 Championships page. You can also find all of the games with LiveStats as well as the replays of select games from day three and day four.