Canty v. Waikato in women’s basketball

Press, 22 July 1988, Page 19

Canty v. Waikato in women’s basketball

By

BRUCE MARTIN

The Canterbury womens basketball team will be well tested tomorrow evening at Cowles Stadium when it meet;; Waikato, the second placed team in the national women’s league. The match is Canterbury’s last home game of the season. Waikato’s fitness allowed it to overrun Canterbury on the away leg, 73-45, but not before Canterbury had proved it could run with them, leading 25-21 in the first spell but fading badly in the last quarter. The Canterbury coach, Bill Whelan, expects a difficult job against a talented team that contains four New Zealand representatives, including Sheryl George, Sue Haldane, Veronica Thompson and Aho Perfect, while its player coach, Carolyn Grey, was unlucky to roll an ankle before New Zealand’s recent overseas trip. The 33-year-old had represented New Zealand from 1974 to 1986.

George leads Waikato’s scoring with 173 points from 12 matches (a 14.5 average) closely followed by Perfect with 153 points (a 13 average). Other players to feature in the top 25 scorers’ table are Haldane (130 points) and Julie Rowan (116 points), a promising junior player who spent the last two seasons with the New Zealand Institute. Cara Calvert, a former Mairehau and Canterbury representative, is also in the side, having remained in Hamilton after attending the Institute last season. Waikato showed its resilience recently, bouncing back from a upset loss to Wellington, 49-51 in early July to trounce the defending champion, Auckland, 67-44 the following week.

Waikato’s other strengths are its rebounding, with four players among the top 25 rebounders’ list, speed and fitness.

Canterbury comes to the match after successive wins over Southland, Palmerston North, the Institute and Otago. These wins have put Canterbury into sixth place on the table and only two points behind Otago and the Institute, which share fourth place. Mr Whelan said Canterbury had a good training run this week but will be without Dianne Woodhouse, who will be attending a national golf trial. The team was approaching the game with a positive attitude said Mr Whelan, and was looking to upset one of the top two sides, Auckland or Waikato in its remaining three matches.

The three guards, Shona Salomen (playing . her last home game before going to Japan for several years), Mandy Collins and Raelene Forde can expect to be worked hard with Waikato reknowned for its full-court pressure.

Canterbury's Canadian player, Sheri Sturmey, has increased her points tally to 254 from 13 matches (a 19 average) and is also highly placed on the rebounders’ table, with Salomen next best with 111 points to date. The teams are:

Canterbury: Raelene Forde, Sheri Sturmey, Yvonne Crich-ton-Hill, Sue Bennie, Wendy Lester, Mandy Collins, Shona Salomen (captain). Sue Bennett and Trina Whittaker. Waikato: Veronica Thompson, Sheryl George, Eileen Stobie, Cara Calvert, Sue Haldane, Julie Rowan, Mary Bates, Ann McLouglin, Carolyn Grey and Aho Perfect.