6 hours Ago
The climax to the third edition ofthe New Zealand women's basketball league has arrived withthe Wellington based Tokomanawa Queens, facing the TaurangaWhai in the Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa grand final on Sundayafternoon. Since early October, both sides plus threeothers, the , Christchurch's Mainland Pouakai and theSouthern Hoiho from Dunedin, have been playing out a closelyfought regular season, which culminated in the Queens comingback from a 16-point deficit to beat the Pouakai 75-70 inone semi-final last weekend, and the Whai winning over thedefending champion Kà„hu 76-63 in the other. Thestandard of play and competitiveness of the league has beenbetter than ever in 2024, with all teams regularly beatingeach other, meaning no clear favourite for the title emergedall season.
That means no stone can be left unturnedfor both coaches - the Queens' Tania Tupu, whose team wonthe title in 2022, and the Whai's Alex Stojkovich, whoseteam has won six of their last seven games. "They'refast, they get up the floor, they shoot the majority oftheir points in transition, or off the catch," Tupusaid. "So we just need to know our scout, and makesure we have our rules in place, and do a goodjob," Both sides know each other well, having metthree times during the regular season, with the Queenswinning two of them.
But Whai player American AshleyJoens reckons those two losses do not mean much now, withtwo other key Whai players, Mikayla Cowling and MorganYaeger, injured for those games. "They're going togive us their best game, and we have to do the same inreturn," Joens said. .
"No matter what, the season'sover at the end, so you want to go out on top." Joens,who has played 19 WNBA games, has been a star for theWhai. She has topped the points-scoring ladder,averaging just under 24 a game, while also claiming ninerebounds a game.
Tupu said she loved how the leaguewas evolving. "We've got to lift the standard of ourKiwi girls and the only way to do that is to be playingamongst or be around these keyinternationals. "Bringing in these players does setthat pace and standard for our Kiwi girls to rise to, andthey need to be around that and experience it, to get toit.
" Joens, who has loved her time in New Zealand,said she agreed. "Just getting those experiences at ayoung age definitely help and you can see them kind of grow,not only in their basketball, but also in theirconfidence." Joens will be straight back to the Statesafter Friday's game as she chases her next opportunity, butwill leave having impressed many, includingTupu.
"She's a killer scorer, like it's pretty crazyhow many times that she'll put the ball up but she doesn'tcare, she just goes go for it," she said. ,.
