WC start with emphatic victory
Wellington College have started strongly in their quest to dominate Wellington premier basketball and qualify for the national secondary schools tournament.
On Friday night they ended three rounds of premier qualifiers with a dominant 81-57 victory over St Pat’s Town.
They had earlier beaten Hutt Valley High School (61-40) and defending champions Onslow College (58-44).
Captain Efrain VillalobosSantana, 17, said they had been steadily building towards the first full round-robin of premier matches, starting this Friday.
‘‘We had a slow start to be honest. Our pre-season started slowly as we had a few people, including myself, overseas.’’
The team was still getting used to each other and the new coaching structures, he said.
‘‘Now that the season has started I’m pretty happy, as are the coaches. Our chemistry is definitely getting better.’’
The team faced a rebuilding period after losing four year-13s and one player to another school from the squad that finished fourth in 2015.
Beating St Pat’s had given the team confidence it can match it with one of the stronger teams in the competition.
Knowing how St Pat’s play would help them when they meet again later in the season.
‘‘I definitely didn’t expect a score that big. Even though they didn’t have their full squad I thought the score would be within 10.’’
The team has clear goals starting with making the premier final and hopefully winning it.
They then want to do well at regionals and qualify for nationals, Villalobos-Santana said.
Areas have been identified for improvement heading into Friday’s first-round match against Rongotai College.
‘‘I think we need to run our offensive plays better, we’ve been playing a little bit of free-ball as we call it. Definitely executing our plays is an area we can improve,’’ he said.
The boys’ premier grade will be made up of Wellington College, St Pat’s Town, Hutt Valley High School, Onslow College, Rongotai College, St Pat’s Silverstream, Aotea College and Scots College.
In the last round of premier girls’ qualifiers, St Mary’s College beat Wellington Girls’ College 109-58 and Hutt Valley High School beat Naenae College 78-51.
All four had already qualified for the premier girls’ grade due to last year’s placings. They will be joined by Queen Margaret College, Aotea College, Wellington East Girls’ College and Tawa College who topped their qualifying pools.