College sport: Auckland teams rule at netball champs

By DAVE WORSLEY


It was a case of northern domination at the national secondary schools netball championships in Timaru, with three of the four top schools from Auckland.

The final featured Auckland Girls Grammar and Massey High, each of which had players in the recent national provincial championships.

Auckland Grammar defensive player Katrina Grant played for Auckland Waitakere and is also in the NZ under-21 squad. Massey's giant goal shoot, Catherine Latu, turned out for Netball North and is trialling for Samoa for next year's world youth cup championships in Florida.

Massey, coached by Sheryl Hyndman, pulled a smart move to start the game with Latu switching from her normal goal shoot position to goal attack, and Paula Griffin to goal shoot. This appeared to split the defence, including Grant, who tried to mark both Latu and Griffin.

It was Massey's first time in the final. The match was close all the way with no side gaining more than a four-goal lead, but Grammar eventually came away the winners by 25-24.

Grammar are coached by Diamonds player Kiri Adams who was over the moon with the win, especially considering her side's record in the past couple of years.

"After being runners-up for the past two years it was great to finally get the title," said Adams. "It was a great game. I was so nervous throughout the game but both sides played well and with a number of players returning next year I want to do it again."

The win was Grammar's fourth in the 10 years they have been in the 12-year-old competition.

In fact, Grammar have never finished outside of the top four.

* * *

Latu finished the tournament with a shooting percentage of 86 from seven games, followed by Lincoln's Sheree Harkness on 82 per cent, Jessie Tane 76 per cent and Jade Topia (Auckland Grammar), Maria Tutaia (Mt Albert) and Nicole Pearce (Roncalli) all played seven games at 75 per cent.

Latu was named attacker of the tournament, Rawinia Everitt (Auckland Grammar) the midcourt player of the tournament and defensive player was Kaylee Dawson of Timaru school Roncalli.

Roncalli were third in their first national tournament, followed by another newcomer, Mt Albert Grammar. Roncalli beat Mt Albert 32-27 in the playoff match.

Defending champs Hillcrest High from Hamilton finished ninth after beating Inglewood 32-19 in the playoff for ninth and tenth places. Hillcrest had lost five of their championship-winning team from the previous year.


Catherine Latu

* School: Massey High

* Age: 17

* Height: 1.96m

* Weight: 78kg

* Would like to be a school teacher.

* Trialling for Samoa for the under-21 World Youth Champs in Florida next year.

* Is a mixture of Samoan, Tongan, Maori and New Zealand European descent.

* Shooting percentage at schools champs: 86 per cent over seven games.

* * *

Basketball - Avondale College officially inherited the mantle of top basketball school in the nation with a pair of victories - one comprehensive and the other a real thriller - at the New Zealand secondary school finals at North Harbour.

Their 70-56 success in the girls' final was somewhat expected after the Aucklanders had dispatched defending champs Church College in the quarter-finals.

Avondale captured the lead in the second quarter against Otago Girls High and stretched it to 21 points early in the final period, before withstanding a spirited closing rush.

Ironically, Avondale grabbed the early initiative from Otago with their star player (and eventual tournament MVP) Arielle Parai consigned to the bench with foul trouble. Still, she returned to lead her team's triumph with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

While Avondale were clear favourites heading into the girls' final, they were underdogs for the boys' game after losing to Mana College by 18 points in pool play.

Captain Kahn Le Provost-Sheppard scored 10 of his 18 points in the last couple of minutes to carry Avondale to a 96-87 triumph.

* * *

Awards - There will be plenty of build-up and interest in the next few weeks as top sports students in the Northland region prepare for the Northland secondary schools sports awards on October 29.

More than 200 entries have been collated by Grant Harrison, the Northland Regional Sports director.