The 2024 Winter Club Season for Senior Basketball Teams concluded with 14 teams taking the court on Senior Finals Day
Our 2024 season finished off largely to plan, with August 31 being the date our weekend senior grades wrapped up their seasons. Photos from Senior Finals Day available here.
Miles Toyota Men’s Premier League: Gators vs Pioneer
Pioneer’s Premier Men’s team was back in the Grand Final for the third straight year – facing an extremely motivated Gators team (who was last in the final in 2018).
Despite facing a size disadvantage, Gators’ gameplan was focused on the tempo of the game, trying to keep it high, and using lots of off-ball movement to attack the Pioneer defence. Early in the third quarter it seemed like the task may be too big for them, as one of their key players, Josh Nickel, left the game with a serious leg injury.
Pioneer was able to feed League MVP Ben Constable, who only missed two shots en route to 28 points and 12 rebounds against the much smaller frontline, but Gators was able to keep Pioneer at bay with some important baskets.
Louie Gordon’s clutch 3-point shot brought the Pacers within two points with :27 remaining, after Seth Bryant’s floater extended the Gators’ lead to five points immediately beforehand. Finals MVP Zach Hannen’s consistent free-throw shooting under pressure was also pivotal in securing the win for the Gators, scoring the final two points for Gators (from his 25 in total) in a thrilling 105-101 game, as Pioneer wasn’t able to score in the final twenty seconds before time expired.
Overall, it was a game marked by a high level of shot-making and intense defensive plays, showcasing the high level of competition between these two teams, with both teams exchanging leads multiple times.
Miles Toyota Women’s Premier League: Checkers vs Atami
North Canterbury owned the top spot in the ladder for most of the season, but were without their three players selected to be part of the grade’s first team when they played #4 Atami in the semi-final. Atami made the most of this, playing one of their best games of the season to book a place in the Grand Final.
Checkers had a very tough win against LU in their Semi-final, and came out of the gates with a mission in mind, easily jumping out to a 23-6 lead. Atami showed some resolve and fought back to close the margin to eight (17-25), before Checkers well and truly took the game over – using a 22-0 run in the third quarter to remove any doubt who would be putting their name on the trophy.
Ophelia Powell did a little bit of everything, being named as the Finals MVP after she finished with 23p, 5a, as her Checkers team waltzed to an 80-41 win.
Men’s Division One: Atami Casa de Banos vs Gators Black
Gators Black and Atami held down the top two spots on the ladder, so it was no surprise that these two teams met for the second straight year in the final game of the season.
Gators initially led after the first quarter, before Atami Casa de Banos grabbed the lead with a 35 point outburst in the third quarter, which Gators Black could never recover from, eventually seeing Atami gain the right to etch their name in the S. A. Bell Trophy for the second consecutive season..
Cam Costley (22) was recognised as the Finals MVP again, en route to his Atami team winning 96-69.
Women’s Division One: University of Canterbury vs Halswell (4 Teams)
2024 was the ninth consecutive season that a Halswell team had qualified to play in the Grand Final for the Women’s Division One Grade, with the matchup against UC being the fourth straight Grand Final where the two clubs met. In addition to this, the Grand Final was their fourth meeting of the season, with Halswell holding a 2-1 edge here (with all three games decided by double figures). All of the Women’s Division I teams played five crossover games against the French Cup teams to give them some extra variety in terms of their opponents this season.
Halswell’s normally potent offence, struggled mightily against the UC defence, only amassing a paltry 22, allowing UC to win all four quarters in the game. Kali Zygmant dropped in thirteen points, and was named as Finals MVP for the competition.
University of Canterbury successfully reversed 2023’s result, winning the 2024 Grand Final 60-22, pushing the alternating championships out to four straight seasons now.
French Cup: St. Andrew’s College Checkers vs Halswell
The French Cup’s second season had five teams competing, so included four crossover games for each French Cup team with the Women’s Division I teams, to provide some extra variation in the style of teams these five would face.
Halswell shocked Gators in their semi-final 59-56, whilst the StAC Checkers faced off against their club-mates Checkers in a 86-60 semi-final win. The Grand Final was about as one-sided as you could get though – St. Andrew’s racing out to a 23-point lead at half time, and never being seriously in danger of losing after that, eventually closing out the game with a 82-42 win.
Ophelia Powell’s 25 points saw her named as Finals MVP for the French Cup.
Men’s 23U Championship: Checkers Red vs University of Canterbury A
15 teams in total entered our Men’s 23U competition, with the teams here competing for the championship cup, or plate. The Lincoln University Bulls locked up the plate with a comprehensive 100-78 win over Checkers Black.
The Championship was guaranteed to have a new name engraved on the cup, with Gators missing out on a top four spot, and Pioneer going down to Checkers Red in the playoffs. A tremendous back and forth battle between the two finalist teams ensued, with 16 ties or lead changes taking place between UC A and Checkers Red. A tough step back three from Finals MVP Jake Holmes (25p) rattled in to give Checkers their final lead of the game early in the fourth quarter.
Aidan Tonge had the ball and a chance to force overtime, but a smart defensive play by Checkers, who double-teamed him, threw the timing of the set off for UC, Checkers ecstatic with a 63-61 win.
Men’s 20U Division I: UC Christ’s Black vs Checkers Red
Men’s 20U Division II: Lions vs Checkers White
The Division I Grand Final featured two very evenly matched teams, Christ’s College Black and Checkers Red – with 25 ties or lead changes taking place in this game. This was a drastically different game from the regular-season meeting the two teams had back in May, where Checkers won by almost 40 points.
The fourth quarter proved to be the turning point in the game. It was only a two-point game after thirty minutes of action, but Christ’ owning the final quarter by a 30-15 scoreline, which made the 91-74 win for Christ’s 91-74, unreflective of how closely matched these two teams were for the vast majority of the game. Tawhiri Cate dropped in 31 points to help his team win, and be named as Finals MVP.
Division II saw Lions win comfortably, 89-56, over Checkers White, with Armar Peralta (15p) named Finals MVP.
