Basketball: Rotorua hosting top New Zealand women

New Zealand's best female basketball players will grace the court in Rotorua for the first time.

The country's top female basketball competition, the Women's Basketball Championship, was due to tip off today at the Energy Events Centre.

The championship includes three tournaments, the first of which is being held in Rotorua this weekend. Nine teams will compete in the weekend tournament including the home team Rotorua Lady Vols.

Rotorua coach Darrell Pene said the locals finished ninth overall last season, out of 11 teams, and would like to improve that placing this year.

"We are playing four games this weekend and we would like to win two or three of those," he said.

Pene said the top six teams after two tournaments would go into the finals and play off for the New Zealand title.

"We would like to get into the top six this year."

The Rotorua side is being captained by ex-Tall Fern Aroha Jennings, who grew up in Rotorua and played in the United States.

The side also includes three of Pene's daughters including 14-year-old Pareunuora Pene.

Coach Pene said the side had been training hard for the tournament and had even faced off against local men's teams on Wednesday nights.

Games were to start at 2pm today, with the first Rotorua Lady Vols match starting at 7pm against Taranaki.