Top female players chasing national titles in Dunedin

THE cream of New Zealand’s domestic women’s basketball talent has descended on Dunedin this week.

Eight teams are set to contest the tier one Women’s Basketball Championships finals, starting today at the Edgar Centre, while a further four will contest the tier two title.

Played over three days, the finals are played tournamentstyle.

The eight tier one teams have been split into two pools of four, seeded by their final plac ing in the regular season.

To advance to tomorrow night’s semifinals, teams must finish in the top two of their pool.

The final will be played on Saturday at 4pm.

Among the teams will be plenty of nationally and inter nationally recognised talent.

The Otago Gold Rush will come up against some of that during pool play as it faces Canterbury, Auckland and Tauranga.

Canterbury brings back recent United States college graduate Tessa Boagni, while sisters Natalie Taylor and Charmian Mellars will turn out for Auckland.

On the other side of the draw, Harbour’s Penina Davidson, also a returning college graduate, will be among the tournament’s stars.

Likewise the league’s lead ing scorer, Charlisse LegerWalker, will be one to watch for Waikato.

At just 16yearsold, the guard has already impressed for the Tall Ferns and been hailed as one of the best junior players New Zealand has ever produced.

Taranaki and Waikato Country round out the pool.

In the second tier section, all four teams will play each other, before facing off in semifinals and finals.

The second tier final will be played at 2.15pm on Saturday, before the tier one final.