Westlake Girls’ High School were crowned the 2025 Girl’s ‘AA’ Secondary Schools National Champions at Fly Palmy Arena, Palmerston North. Westlake beat Hamilton Girls’ High School 102-72 to claim the C.A.Clarke and Stone Trophy for the fourth straight year joining Church College and Mairehau High School as the only girl’s schools to have enjoyed success in four consecutive years.
Westlake were led by guards Emma Schroeder and Sahara Katene with 23 points apiece – Schroeder also with 7 assists. Lily Fotu set the tone early with 14 points while the twin towers of Imani Rasmussen and Katie Moors provided the cornerstone of Westlake’s success. Rasmussen produced 15 points, 10 rebounds and 5 steals, Moors was equally impressive with 8 points, 18 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocks while Charlotte Mawston mopped up 11 rebounds an 9 points.
Captain Theresa Biladi led the Hamilton scoring with 15 points, Aotea Nordstrom scored a dozen, Keija Miringaorangi 8 and outstanding young forward Kharrington Kershaw-Ryan tallied 14 point,s on 7 from 13 shooting, to go with 8 rebounds.
The defending champions were out the gates at pace racing to a 10-2 lead and despite a couple of scores from Hamilton’s Teia Koopu the lead ballooned to 22-10.
The pace of the Westlake transition offence was eye catching and their quarter time lead of 39-16 commanding – Schroeder and Fotu with 13 points and 12 respectively.
Kharrington Kershaw-Ryan converted with a neat inside move before Westlake brought up 50 points via Riley Sina’au – their lead 26 points.
Kershaw-Ryan continued to impress, her front court battle with Katie Moors and Imani Rasmussen an intriguing contest.
Hamilton, finalists on three occasions and winners in 2012, had the better of the closing stages of the first half but still faced an uphill battle trailing 57-38. Schroeder led all scorers with 16 points, Westlake making 23 from 47 from the field at 49%.
Katene, into double figures, made 5 points to open the third frame and with Moors and Rasmussen controlling the glass the Westlake lead was soon out to thirty points (70-40) and 83-51 with ten minutes to play.
Tayla Wallace and Aotea Nordstrom went back to back for the Waikato champions before Katene dropped her third triple.
Miringaorangi landed a corner three as Hamilton remained competitive to the end but there was no denying Westlake a place in the history books with a quartet of titles – co-captains Schroeder and Fotu featuring in all four!
Result:
Westlake Girls’ High School 102 – E Schroeder 23, S Katene 23, I Rasmussen 15/10r, L Fotu 14, C Mawston 9/11r, K Moors 8/18r
Hamilton Girls’ High School 72 – T Biladi 15, Kershaw-Ryan 14A Nordstrom 12, Keija Miringaorangi 8
Grand Final Officials: Olivia Murray & Zyon-Skylar Pinamonti
3rd/4th Play-off
Tauranga Girls’ College 87 – P Hokianga 31, S Sadler 19, G Parahi 18, V Aukuso 14
St Kentigern College 72 – K Tuineau 23, J Tuumaialu 22, A Tuumaialu 11, G Forster 8, M Mclister 8
Officials: Leo Shaw & Blake Rosanowski
Girls All-Star Five
Pahlyss Hokianga – Tauranga Girls’ College
Emma-Kaye Schroeder – Westlake Girls’ High School
Kaelani Tuineau – St Kentigern College
Theresa Biladi – Hamilton Girls’ High School
Emma-Kaye Schroeder – Westlake Girls’ High School
Foot Locker Defensive Player of the Tournament: Katie Moors – Westlake Girls High School
Tournament MVP – Emma-Kaye Schroeder – Westlake Girls High School
The C.A. Clarke and Stone Trophy is presented annually to the Secondary Schools Girls’ Champions and was first awarded to Waimea College in 1969, played in Rotorua.
The final was played between the South Island winners Waimea College and Western Heights College; final score 31-26. The result was documented in the minutes of a N.Z. Women’s Indoor Basketball Association Inc executive meeting, held on Monday, 1 September 1969.
The trophy is steeped in tradition as the donors (C.A. Clarke and Stone Ltd) were at the time producing aerated water and cordial, and had been doing so since 1883. It is believed that it was the only cordial factory in the world operating on geothermal steam. The factory was on Tutanekai Street in Rotorua, now the site of the Novotel Hotel.
Mairehau High School won nine consecutive titles from 1972 to 1980. Church College of New Zealand won 22 titles of which 14 were consecutive from 1990 to 2003.
In just the second ever all South Island Boy’s Grand Final and the first between two Christchurch schools the 2025 Boy’s ‘AA’ Secondary Schools National Championship game saw Shirley Boys’ High School, in their first final appearance beat Christ’s College 94-81 with a stunning fourth quarter performance.
Christ’s looked likely winners as with Hoana Ifopo-Togia and Ihaka Cate controlling the tempo and scoring, they led 80-77 with under four minutes to play. However from there they were outscored 17-1 by a rampant Shirley Boys in the closing three minutes.
Toby Hunt, Milan Newton and Hozay Tito-Haitana were the scorers benefiting from an impressive defensive effort by the Spartans down the stretch.
Hunt finished with a game high 31 points, Newton added 9 assists to 29 points (3/4 3PG) with Tito-Haitana nabbing 4 steals to 14 points. Captain Kobe Costley had 6 assists to accompany 10 points while Liam Marshall pulled down 10 rebounds to go with 6 points.
Ifopo-Togia (28 points and 11 rebounds) and Ihaka Cate (24 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists) were outstanding in defeat with Bruno Thompson (14 points) and Tawhiri Cate (11 points and 7 assists) also in fine form in Christ’s quest to win a third title in four years
Christ’s established a 15-10 lead at the mid-point of the first quarter with Ihaka Cate quickly into double figures but a brace of threes from Hunt helped Shirley to a 22-21 quarter time lead.
The crowd were treated to dunks from both teams – Tito Haitana for Shirley and Ifopo-Togia for Christ’s as the holders forged a 45-37 lead. Hunt helped Shirley trim the deficit to 6 points at half-time (51-45) and he led all scorers at the interval with 17 – Ihaka Cate with 14 for Christ’s.
An Ihaka corner three from his brothers assist kept the Christ’s lead at six and although Ifopo-Togia stretched that advantage to nine scores from Newton and Costley meant Shirley trailed by just four points (68-64) with a quarter to play.
Ifopo-Togia scored 6 straight points for Christ’s but to the delight of their travelling fans Shirley were not going away. Far from it they were about to gather an unstoppable head of steam.
Result
Christ’s College 81 – H Ifopo-Togia 28, I Cate 24, B Thompson 14, T Cate 11
Shirley Boys’ High School 94 – T Hunt 31, M Newton 29, H Tito-Haitana 14, K Costley 10
Grand Final Officials: Elijah Mareko & Elijah Vaeliki
3rd/4th Play-off
Westlake Boys High School 90 – N Duncan 19, L Wilson 17, H Wilson 17, J Pauga 9
Auckland Grammar School 70 – L Pryor 20, J Couper 12, C Gibson 11, S Anderson 8
Officials: Lucian Plaumann & Aimee-Jo Clark
Boy’s All-Star Five
Toby Hunt – Shirley Boys’ High School
Ihaka Cate – Christ’s College
Carver Gibson – Auckland Grammar School
Daley Pohio – Westlake Boys’ High School
Milan Newton – Shirley Boys’ High School
Foot Locker Defensive Player of the Tournament: Tawhiri Cate – Christ’s College
Boy’s Tournament MVP: Toby Hunt – Shirley Boys’ High School
The inaugural New Zealand National Schoolboys’ Tournament was played in 1968. The tournament consisted of the top four teams from across New Zealand (Otago Boys’ High School, Mt Albert Grammar School, Nelson College and Tokoroa High School). They assembled in Palmerston North to play for the Doug Harford Memorial Trophy.
The Doug Harford Memorial Trophy is presented in memory of former New Zealand player Doug Harford who was tragically killed in a car accident in 1967. Harford was in his prime at the time of his passing having represented New Zealand the previous year.
Harford represented Nelson and the South Island until 1962 when he moved to Wellington and went on to represent Wellington and the North Island teams. He was a recipient of the Keith Carr Trophy for Outstanding Guard at the 1962 Senior National Championships and debuted for New Zealand the following year.
The trophy was purchased from funds kindly donated by the Harford family. Church College of New Zealand won 14 titles of which five were consecutive wins from 1984 to 1988.
