Another exciting day of Aon U19 Nationals action is complete with a set pathway to the Championship for eight teams in the Men’s and six teams for the Women’s.
With two days remaining, the drama continues in the race for Semi-Final spots.
Men’s Competition
Old rivals Porirua and Hutt Valley went into battle in the Preliminary Quarter-Finals, with Porirua keeping a lead over Hutt Valley the entire game, finishing off with an 89-70 win and securing a spot against a strong Canterbury A team in the Quarter Finals. Levi Ware proved to be too hard to defend, scoring 20-points.
Waikato had a challenge to face against Otago with Patrick Freeman averaging 31.6 points per game in his last three matches. Freeman fired up and didn’t disappoint, making 15 field goals and topping the points chart with a solid 46 points, pushing Otago out to a 108-82 win. Otago will now take on Auckland in their Quarter-Final match tomorrow morning
Harbour took out the next Prelim Quarter-Final with a stand-out team performance over Tauranga City. Shooting out to a 20-point lead at half-time, they continued to apply pressure and eventually six of Harbour’s players clocked 10+ points. Jacob Fotu stood out with 22 points from the field. The 113-75 win will see them take on Wellington in tomorrow’s Quarter-Finals.
Stuck in the same pool as Canterbury A, Canterbury B looked to upset Taranaki in the last Prelim Quarter-Final of the day. Jacob Banks had it in mind to make the upset a reality, scoring four three-pointers and high scoring with 21 points. But it was not meant to be, with Taranaki proving too strong for the Canterbury B side, taking them out 104-64. Cameron Quinnell top-scored for Taranaki with 19 points. Quinnell was one of five players for Taranaki to cross the double-digit mark in points. Taranaki will take on Frankin in the final Quarter-Final tomorrow morning.
Women’s Competition
Waikato and Canterbury topped their pools and remained undefeated, sending them straight into the Semi-Finals. Canterbury managed to hold off Wellington to top their pool in a 80-70 victory.
Wellington will take on hosts North Canterbury in the first Preliminary Semi-Final. Lily Gaughan for North Canterbury will be looking for another big performance as she looks to help her team as she averages 7.5 points per game. Wellington’s dynamic duo Lauren Tewhata and Lilly Taulelei are combining for an average of 32 points between them.
In the other Prelim Semi-Final, Maddie Tinnock for Otago will be looking to capitalise on her 18.5 points per game average as they take on Auckland. Otago will rue their free throws that kept them out of a win against Waikato, as they narrowly lost in Pool Play to be forced into an extra playoff match. Lilly Parke, who is scoring 17 points average per game will be looking for a big performance as they hope to make it to their first ever U19 Semi-Final.
Select games will be streamed at BBNZ TV from 10:45am so tune in to see who will keep their Championship dream alive. Check the broadcast schedule below to see what games will be taking the show court. The afternoon streaming schedule will be uploaded to our social media channels around 1PM.
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”
Make sure you’re following Basketball New Zealand on Facebook and Instagram for photos, updates and videos!
