Business time for basketball
North Canterbury had too much power for Minties in the Women’s Premier basketball championship, pulling away in the second half to win 58-39 to end teh regular seson on Saturday.
Led by player-coach Hayley Gray and reinforced by Mary Goulding (20 points), North Canterbury surged from being down 24-26 at the break to record a comfortable win. North Canterbury, Halswell and Canterbury University were tied in second place with a 5-2 record behind Lincoln University heading into the playoffs. On countback North Canterbury booked third place take and will take on defending champions Canterbury University in the quarter-finals.
The North Canterbury Men’s U23 had a resounding 107-60 win over Gators White. The tall Lawson Morris-Whyte returned to the side with a powerful 22 point effort while six others made double figure returns with Lauchie Weston contributing a reliable 18 points.
Rangiora High School finished sixth in the top section of the Boys U17 grade with Jack Exeter contributing a healthy 21 points as the side tumbled to a 81-55 loss to Middleton Green.
The two North Canterbury boys under 15 teams squared off in the quarter-finals where NC 2 nearly caused the upset of the season leading for all but the last five minutes against NC 1, before the top team escaped with a 68-61 win. NC 1 advanced to meet Wharenui Gators in the semifinals on September 10.
Led by 27 points from Mason Whittaker, NC 2 side had led 16-5 at quarter-time, 38-22 at half-time and then 49-41 at three-quarter time only to be hauled in over the final quarter. Jayden Garrick continued his recent strong efforts for NC 1with 23 points, backed up by Daniel Stockdale (18) and Kaleb Chamberlain (16).
North Canterbury’s run in the men’s division one was halted by Placemakers 79-103 to end their shot at the semi-finals. Warena White (30) scored well for North Canterbury but the team couldn’t hold the strong fourth quarter finish by Placemakers after having led for most of the first half. The North Canterbury women’s U20 produced a bold effort to thump Rangi Ruru 67-41 in third place playoff but will play them again this Saturday under the PageMcIntyre play-off system. Helen Mathews stood out with 19 points.