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Palmerston North Girls’ High School year 9 player Kiri Skudder drives for the basket.
The national secondary schools basketball championships have returned and so has Palmerston North Girls’ High School.
The national tournament, which draws hundreds of students from across the country, is on at the Arena in Palmerston North this week. It is the first time the tournament has been held in three years after Covid-19 led to its cancellation in 2020 and 2021.
Girls’ High are competing and it is the first time the school has qualified in seven years. Their last appearance was in 2015 when they were given a wildcard entry.
Palmerston North Boys’ High School is also entered in the competition, while Manukura has a boys team and a girls team entered in the A competition for smaller schools.
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Girls’ High coach Rachel Craig said there hadn’t been much of a basketball programme at the school recently, but had got one going in the past two years.
“There’s so much potential. It’s just a beautiful group of girls, they have a great attitude.”
Craig said the team did well at the regional tournament, where they finished fifth to qualify for nationals, and she had enjoyed seeing the team improve.
For a lot of them the regional tournament was their first time at a big competition, and this week was even bigger.
WARWICK SMITH/Stuff
Palmerston North Girls’ High School’s steals the ball against Whangarei Girls’ High School.
“This is a massive step up for us. It’s just a great experience. We knew the first three games were going to be hard.”
They have a young group with only two year 13 players in the squad. They have two year 9s and two year 10s.
In their first two games they lost 83-69 to Hamilton Girls’ High School on Monday and 76-31 to Whangarei Girls’ High School on Tuesday. They were to play Hastings Girls’ High School on Tuesday night.
Craig said they were aiming to qualify for the 9 to 16 bracket of teams depending on what happened on Wednesday.
Captain Alexia Davis, who has developed into a strong leader, and Kyra Craig are two of the key players in the Girls’ High squad.
WARWICK SMITH/Stuff
Girls High player Eva McKenzie poised for a pass.
Craig wanted the players to see there was a pathway in New Zealand for women’s basketball. During the season she took the team to Wellington to watch the Tokomanawa Queens play in the new Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa league.
Palmerston North Boys’ High School beat Hamilton Boys’ High School 95-88 and lost to St John’s College Hamilton 111-102 in their first two games.
They were to play St Thomas on Tuesday afternoon and New Plymouth Boys’ High School and Auckland Grammar School on Wednesday. Playoffs start on Thursday.
In the A tournament for smaller schools, the Manukura boys team made a strong start, beating Stratford High School 76-37, Aquinas College 70-56 and John Paul II High School 95-40.
They were to play Te Aroha College on Tuesday night and Opunake High School on Wednesday, with playoffs starting on Wednesday.
Hato Pāora College lost to Nga Taiatea Wharekura 83-63, beat Aparima College 91-73 and beat Te Kura O Te Koutu 66-59.
They were to play Greymouth High School on Tuesday and Hornby High School on Wednesday.
The Manukura girls lost to Paeroa College 65-59, beat Waihi College 71-35 and beat Aquinas College 73-59.
They were to play Te Kura O Te Koutu on Tuesday night, then playoffs start on Wednesday.