Breakers may have to be based in Australia
BASKETBALL
WELLINGTON: The New Zealand Breakers may have to follow the lead of the Wellington Phoenix and the New Zealand Warriors by basing themselves in Australia for the next Australian NBL season.
Breakers’ owner Matt Walsh said yesterday it was a ‘‘5050’’ prospect his team would relocate for the new season, which starts on December 3, after Australia imposed another round of Covid19 restrictions.
‘‘I’d love to say I anticipate having home games this season,’’ Walsh said yesterday.
‘‘But I think its 5050 whether we’re calling a city in Australia our home, or whether we load up with all our home games at the beginning or end of the season.’’
Walsh said officials had been hopeful a transtasman bubble would be set up by the time the season began, allowing people to move between New Zealand and Australia without quarantine restrictions.
But a spike in infections in Victoria, which has placed both of the NBL’s Melbournebased teams in isolation, and border closures between states, made that unlikely.
Walsh said there was also the possibility Australian teams could relocate to New Zealand and operate in a hubtype competition, similar to that employed by the NBA which has based itself in Orlando to restart its season in the United States.
‘‘We’re being assured there will be a season, whatever that looks like even if it’s a hub model. I’m strongly endorsing New Zealand as the hub. It’s the only place in the world where you can do safe travel at zero risk of coronavirus and it makes a lot of sense.’’
While there was no risk, at this stage, of the season being cancelled, one option could be to delay its start, he said.
‘‘We do have the ability to push the season back all the way to a February start and still get a full season in.’’ — Reuters
AJAX remains unbeaten.
A threeway tie for second follows.
That is the outlook at the completion of the first round of women’s club basketball on Tuesday night.
The South Pac Magic, Andy Bay Kavanagh and Varsity have three wins each from the first five games.
Kavanagh was made to work for its win over South Pac OGHS in the battle of school teams.
OGHS put up its most competitive display yet, but was pipped 6658.
Annabelle Ring had a gamehigh 26 points for Kavanagh.
However, she was matched by fellow impressive young big Abby Harris, who showed her quality lefthand and footwork inside to post 20 points.
Ring was key early on, scoring 14 firstquarter points as Kavanagh shot out to a 2012 lead.
But that flipped in the second quarter, Harris having 10 points of her own as OGHS pulled it back to trail 3231 at halftime.
Kavanagh opened up an eightpoint lead at the final break and always held that buffer, as guard Dre Whaanga (17 points) proved crucial in closing out the game.
In the late round, Ajax rode a dominant first half to remain unbeaten, notching a 6141 win over the Andy Bay Falcons.
Ajax led 4019 at halftime, before the Falcons hit back to win the second half by a point.
They held Ajax to 21 secondhalf points — including seven in the final quarter — while getting scoring from a range of players
It was inside that Ajax did its damage.
Zoe Richards topscored with 20 points, while Natalie Ivamy had 10. Guard Nicole Ruske chipped in with three triples from the outside.
Falcons guard Jordyn Chin was top scorer with nine points.
Varsity beat a depleted Magic side 5248 to join it on three wins.
Tara Clement and Gabby Arnott had 13 and 12 points respectively for Varsity, while Fay Fualau scored 19 for the Magic.