Sue Garden hits form for Canterbury

Press, 26 June 1989, Page 21

Sue Garden hits form for Canterbury

The Canterbury’s women’s basketball team beat New Plymouth 93-54 at Cowles Stadium on Saturday night to enhance its chances of winning a finals position in the national league. Canterbury moved back into a clear second place after the New Zealand Basketball Institute’s match against the unbeaten Auckland team was abandoned at halftime by match officials because of condensation problems, with Auckland ahead 37-32. pWaikato overcame

Southland 72-58, although Earnesta Grace was restricted by an ankle injury. Canterbury delighted the crowd with some of the best women’s basketball seen in the stadium for some time. Sue Garden made a timely return to form with 28 points, 10 baskets from just 11 shots and eight out of nine free throws. She won the “player of the match” award, and received good assistance from Sue Bennett, with 20 points, made from seven out of 11 shots, one

pointer and three free throws. Other useful contributions came from Sonja Akkerman 13, and the play makers, Rhonda Milner, 12, and Edith Duffey, 14. Duffey shot two three-pointers but also had seven assists and four st€dls Canterbury’s teamwork also pleased its coach, Russell Berry, his side hitting 35 out of 56 shots, a high 75 per cent from two-point shots and 19 out of 25 free throws. Other key statistics showed 18 assists, 22 steals and 25

rebounds while New Plymouth shot only 24 baskets from 51 attempts, but made 29 turnovers. The first quarter was evenly matched, with Canterbury leading - 20-13 after 13 minutes. A former Canterbury player, Leonie Erb, pulled New Plymouth back to 19-20 with successive baskets before Bennett and Garden swung into top gear to rattle in II baskets to one to push Canterbury clear (44-23) at the break. Canterbury ran its starting five for much of the thi?d quarter, stretching

the lead to 67-35 after 9 minutes. Berry even subbed five players on and five off, with a bench warmer, Barbara Carr, making the best use of her time, slotting three baskets from only four attempts. New Plymouth was well contained, with Akkerman commanding the defensive board and helping shut down the normally high-scoring American, Karen Skemp. Skemp was restricted to eigh tpoints while a national trialist, Sharon L’Ami, used her height well to nofrch 22

points, slotting nine baskets from 14 attempts. Jo Clark also proved adventurous at times. Scoring details: Canterbury 93: S. Garden 28, S. Bennett 20, E. Duffey 14, S. Akkerman 13, R. Milner 12, B. Carr 6. New Plymouth 54: S.L’Ami 22, J. Clark 8, K. Skemp 8, L. Erb 6, J. Russell 4, T. Wells 2, L. O’Rorke 2, M. Aarts 2. Half-time: Canterbury 4423. Referees: B. Scoullar and K. Fastier.