Otago teams made a promising start to the National Basketball Championships in Auckland yesterday.
The women's side demolished Counties Manukau 77-57 in their opening game but were defeated 83-73 in the late game, while the men prevailed 84-82 in a tight contest with Porirua.
Otago women's coach George Robinson said his side started well against Counties Manukau, establishing a big lead in the open quarter but failed to maintain its defensive intensity in the third quarter.
''We had a bad third quarter when we stopped playing defence and boxing out,'' he said.
''That allowed them to get back into the game. But in the fourth quarter we really shut them down.''
The scoring was spread evenly, with Anita Snowdon and Amiria Koopa grabbing 13 points apiece. Natalie Smith added 12 and Claudia Flaws was a revelation with 11 points.
''Claudia Flaws was really good coming off the bench. She gave us scoring punch. She played above her size on the post and had to defend girls who were bigger than her.
''Anita Snowdon played some really good defence in the fourth quarter to help us get back out to 20 points.''
Tall Fern guard Jordan Hunter scored 34 points for Counties Manukau but had a quiet fourth quarter thanks to Snowdon's defence.
Former Junior Tall Black Sam King led the charge for the Otago men's team with a double double of 31 points and 10 rebounds.
Point guard Micah Lepaio was also impressive with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Otago trailed for most of the match but got a break early in the fourth quarter thanks to some ill discipline by Porirua's coaching staff, which resulted in back to back technical fouls.
Lepaio made the shots count at the free throw line and it proved a turning point in the game.
The Otago men played Counties Manukau late yesterday evening.
