BASKET BALL

Southland Times, Issue 20201, 11 June 1927, Page 19 (Supplement)

BASKET BALL

(By “Defence.”), lhe play of Pirates senior team has much improved. Several players now show quite a large amount of promise, and their chief shoot, when on her game, is someone to be reckoned with. The intermediate match, High School v. Pirates, played at Waihopai on Wednesday, resulted m a win for Hign School, the score being 25 to 15. The absence of Beryl Bailey from jumping centre made a tremendous difference to the Bluff senior team on Wednesday. The play was at all times ragged, and none of the usual* quick passing was in evidence. The chief shoot of the Bluff team, who received a nasty knock during a match on June 3, was unable to play up to her usual standard on Wednesday. The intermediate match, St. Peter’s v. Bluff, was most interesting. This was partly accounted for by the fact that both teams were playing one short in the centre third. Bunching and scrambling for the ball are still faults to be overcome. If players would only remain in their correct positions instead of rushing excitedly all over the court, they might show some sign of improvement’. The Collegiate v. Convent match was quite a good one. Convent have shoots who show promise, but who are at present too prone to pass in the third—they take very few long shots at goal. Their defences are quick and know their game. The Convent girls make use of a very short pass, in fact sometimes it looks as if the ball has merely been handed from one girl to the next. This develops into very bad play, and the members of the team should guard against such a fault. Make your passes shoulder high, swift and short, but don’t feebly bat the ball into the hands of a girl standing only about three feet away. Rugby Park has been lent to the Southland Association for next week. The executive, I understand, will stage all the matches there, and has arranged an attractive draw. The next interesting match will be Bluff v. High School, which will possibly decide the holder of the Senior Cup. The Rep. team will be chosen on this day, too, and as the Southland Association hope by charging admission to make some money towards travelling expenses, it is to be hoped that all those who are interested in the game will make a point of being present. SEVEN-A-SIDE TOURNAMENT The 1927 seven-a-side tournament was most successful—and that is scant praise, but it did not bring forth any very good basketball. Most players forgot all they had been told about not giving long throws, not batting the ball and not bunching on to it. These faults were much in evidence, and in the eagerness of all girls to get the ball through the ring, there was at times a good deal of roughness. That a referee in one game lasting 15 minutes should find it necessary to give two fouls and various penalties tells its own tale. Some of the games were keenly contested, however, and afforded quite interesting fare for the spectators. It was good to see some of the old lona players back again. The lack of practice was evidenced in their games, but all the same they put in some good work. Over-guarding was a noticeable fault. The school girls were in good training and seemed nearly as fit at the end of their strenuous day as they did when playing their first game. The junior matches were much

more vigorous than many others I had seen, and there was some promising material in some of the teams. Dorothy Strang (High School) played a really good game and I still wonder why she is not in the Intermediate team.

St. John’s School have a wonderfully game senior team. They have only four girls, Marion Royds, Anita Tapley, Lou Camm, and Dorothy Jones, who are really senior players, and yet they manage to obtain quite good scores. Lou Camm is an able assistant for Anita Tapley, but should take a longer time to throw. Every shoot is allowed to hold the ball for three seconds. Anita Tapley can on some occasions put the ball in from anywhere, but there are other days when she makes almost no score. Marion Royds is not as good a player as she was a year ago. She still catches very well, but she plays the whole of the centre third, and that ruins her value when playing in a team with other girls equally good. The High School Senior team can always be depended on, and last Friday was no exception. The Squire twins were throwing goals as easily as I have ever seen them. In fact after watching carefully all the Invercargill goal throwers, I am of the opinion that these two players are the only two that can be relied on consistently.

Rata has changed the personnel of its teams so often that it is not surprising that they did not secure better place. Stella Murdoch throws well, but on Friday the score for the Rata Club was very small, and it wasn’t the fault of Mona Basstian, jumping centre. Kiwi, Collegiate and Bluff have all goal throwers who are excellent sometimes. I have been watching the position of jumping centre very carefully also, and was disappointed that Ivy Dempster (Kiwi) was not playing on Friday. This position is the key of the whole team. Southland has four or five good players here, and I think the selectors will have difficulty in deciding among them. Rose Hinchey, Beryl Bailey, Ivy Dempster, Mona Basstian and Eileen McStay are all good and are the jumping centres from five of our seven teams. Collegiate’s low score was the fault of the shoots, the centres played well. Convent had a comparatively easy victory in the Intermediate grade. Their first match against Collegiate was uninteresting and resulted in a draw, but they afterwards wakened up and in the next round defeated Kiwi 11—0. Their hardest victory was won against Technical College the score being 9—7. The shoots of the Convent team did their work well and were ably supported by the other players. The very short low pass which is this team’s most outstanding fault, was much in evidence. The play of the Rata team was good, and it is rather astonishing that in their match with Convent they were beaten by six points. The first half of their match with Makarewa was very even, the half time score being 2 all. In the second half, however, they proved themselves superior, the final score being B—6. Both teams in this match were over-keen and at times there was a tendency towards roughness. Josephine Timpany played an excellent game as goal thrower. Makarewa gained some very good victories during the day. Dorothy Dennis, jumping centre, played a good quick game. She is losing her tendency to bat the ball. Makarewa has a goal thrower of great promise. Technical College who also have an outstanding goal thrower, won seven matches during the day, and were beaten* in the others by only very small margins. High School had two good shoots, but the defence third was weak. The players did not remember to keep beside the shoots they were defending. High School were beaten in the first round by Technical College the score being 10—3. They were, however, playing one short. They afterwards won five matches, drew one, and lost two. Collegiate B played under a decided disadvantage, having only six players during the morning. As in the senior and junior grades the standard of basketball wa« not high. All players were over-eager and excited, and rough play and bunching was the result. Several teams had one short in some of the matches, and this fact tended to make many games uninteresting. Even seven players on a full sized court means much strenuous work. CANTERBURY BASKETBALL The first basketball pavilion to be erected in New Zealand, and probably the first of its kind to be built in either Australia or New Zealand, was officially opened by the Mayor (Mr J. K. Archer) on Friday, June 3, writes a Christchurch paper. The pavilion is situated in South Hagley Park, and has accommodation for players’ wraps, lockers for playing material and a kitchenette. It was built with £9OO collected through the girls’ own efforts. Mrs H. Muir, the president of the Canterbury Basketball Association, welcomed the Mayor and Mayoress and spoke of the interest his Worship had taken in the Association’s affairs. The Mayor afterwards declared the pavilion open. Mrs Muir being the first to enter, followed by the Mayoress and Mr Archer. In the five-minutes-a-side tournament played on the same day, Sacred Heart A, with 11 points out of 12, won the Brown cup for the A grade contest. The C grade tourney was won by Sacred Heart C with no losses, the B grade competitions being unfinished.