With the final Women’s Pool Play games finished up, we have found our four semi-finalists.
But before we get into those semi-finals tomorrow morning, let’s see how everyone went in the group stages.
Harbour: 6-0 (W v CAN 74-64, W v TAU 89-62, W v WAI 82 – 68, W v WEL 112-80, W v AKL 77-44, W v OTA 96 – 56)
Top scorers: Sienna Maurice (15.2 PPG), Imani Rasmussen (12.8 PPG)
Harbour qualify top of the group stage as the only unbeaten team heading into tomorrow morning’s semi-finals.
Day one saw them secure two wins against Canterbury and Tauranga, and they were able to back that up on day two with another couple of wins against Waikato and Wellington. They’d finish up pool play on D3 with wins over Auckland and Otago.
This Harbour squad is stacked with experience and talent, and as they’ve proven throughout this tournament so far, will be tough to beat heading into the knockout stages of the tournament.
They’ll take on Tauranga in the first of our women’s semi-finals tomorrow morning.
Canterbury: 5-1 (L v HAR 64-74, W v WEL 97-91 OT, W v WAI 94-85, W v OTA 104-52, W v TAU 81-75, W v AKL 88 – 41)
Top scorers: Ava Jones (16.8 PPG), Emilia Ainley (14.5 PPG)
Canterbury lost their opener against a talented, and deep Harbour squad but got on a roll, winning their remaining five games.
For a team that hasn’t spent a heck of a lot of time together, they’ve used this week well.
Their opening win, a six-point victory over Wellington in overtime, then followed up the next day with a nine-point victory over Waikato.
Towards the end of pool play, this squad looks dangerously in sync and their 52-point win over Otago was a warning shot to the rest of the competition that they’ll be tough beats from here on out.
Finishing up pool play with dubs over Tauranga & Auckland, Canterbury come into the semi-finals with a pep in their step – primed to win it all.
Waikato: 4-2 (W v AKL 101-50, W v OTA 78-53, L v HAR 68-82, L v CAN 85-94, W v WEL 76-72, W v TAU 74-66)
Top scorers: Keija Miringaorangi (20.7 PPG), Lily Ashton (18.2 PPG)
Waikato’s start to this tournament was a rollercoaster ride.
Two big wins on day one against Auckland and Otago saw them level with Harbour at the top of the pile, but then they faced potentially the two toughest teams in the competition in Harbour and Canterbury on Day Two.
Waikato fought incredibly hard in their game against Canterbury, the final score in that one not a true reflection of just how close that game was.
Their close win over Wellington on the morning of Day Three was enough to secure their spot in the top 4, and their final pool play game against Tauranga would see them qualify in third spot.
It’ll be a tough task for them to beat Canterbury in the semi-final, but with the firepower and scoring abilities of players like Keija Miringaorangi, Lily Ashton and Ngahirata Jennings-Haumaha – nothing is out of the question.
Tauranga: 3-3 (W v OTA 90-68, L v HAR 62-89, W v WEL 106-93, W v AKL 116-50, L v CAN 75-81, L v WAI 66-74)
Top scorers: Charis Broughton (22.7 PPG), Graecyn Parahi (19.0 PPG)
Some big wins in the mix here for Tauranga, sees them as a real contender for the Foot Locker U20 National title.
Led at 25.7 points per game by Charis Broughton, the Tauranga women have recorded some impressive wins in Porirua, including two 20+ point wins.
Day Three was an pivotal day for this Tauranga side, falling agonisingly close to Canterbury in the morning (75-81) before a match-up with Waikato to see who would claim 3rd spot in the round robin.
Their loss means they’ll hold fourth spot, and face off against Harbour in tomorrow morning’s semi-final.
Otago: 2-4 (L v TAU 68-90, L v WAI 53-78, W v AKL 80-42, L v CAN 52-104, L v HAR 56-96, W v WEL 74-65)
Top scorers: Kiana Brown (16.2 PPG), Maddie Kerr (8.2 PPG)
Otago went winless on day one, but started day two with a solid win against Auckland.
Unfourtnately for them, they weren’t able to nab another win until late on Day Three against Wellington.
It was an impressive win against Wellington for this squad that suffered some big losses, Otago able to stick together as a group to finish pool play just a couple of wins outside of the four.
Wellington: 1-5 (W v AKL 99-34, L v CAN 91-97 OT, L v TAU 93-106, L v HAR 80-112, L v WAI 72-76, L v OTA 65-74)
Top scorers: Nahala Toeleiu (20.6 PPG), Asha Young (14.6 PPG)
The squad from over the Ngauranga Gorge got off to a great start, winning big over Auckland before coming agonisingly close to pipping Canterbury in overtime on D1.
A couple of tough games on D2 meant they’ve need to win their game against Waikato on the morning of D3 to stay within touching distance of the the fourth spot. Unfortunately for them, they’d suffer yet another close loss in that one, ruling them out of contention for a spot in the semi-finals.
If a couple of these results go the other way for Wellington, we’d be talking about them taking one of those four spots, but at tournament sometimes the ball doesn’t quite roll that way.
Auckland: 0-6 (L v WAI 50-101, L v WEL 34-99, L v OTA 42-80, L v TAU 50-116, L v HAR 44-77, L v CAN 41-88)
Top scorers: Talia Vea (13.7 PPG), Marietta Mataafa (7.3 PPG)
Auckland’s young squad fought valiantly across the course of the tournament, showing great togetherness and unity throughout it all.
They may not have won a game at tournament, but their toughness and physicality was quite evident throughout the pool play.
WOMEN’S SEMI-FINALS:
SF1
Harbour v Tauranga
Court 1
9:45am
SF2
Canterbury v Waikato
Court 2
9:45am
