The Roncalli Premier Girls Basketball Team finished a creditable 5th at the recent Schick Southern Cup in Ashburton.

With a number of Year 13 girls playing in their last games for Roncalli, this tournament was the result of 3 years of commitment in cementing the place of basketball as a primary sport of choice for Roncalli girls. Coached by Julian Dale, the team possessed determination and commitment that made up for the lack of physical presence.

The girls opened their tournament against Nelson Girls, Britney Young leading Roncalli to the front in the first three quarters, with Anne Newmarch being solid on defence and Kyra Whyte typical of the girls commitment, making a strong drive and took the contact to go to the line. Unfortunately Nelson had a great 4th winning it 24 to 12 and took the game 62- 67. 

Roncalli started out strong against pool toppers and traditional basketball powerhouse Papanui High School, only down by 5 after the first quarter, but a horror second put the game out of reach with a final score of 35-63. Things did not get any easier by facing the well resourced St Margaret's College the following day and despite a second half comeback, again the loss of concentration in the second quarter proved costly, losing 47 to 60. However the younger girls were starting to find their place with Morgan Oudemann probably putting in her best performance of the year becoming a great 2 way player and Ruby Esler, despite giving away size and strength to bigger players, managed to hold her own and move around the key.

The girls then managed to finally string together 4 solid quarters and come away with a win and a 4th in pool finish over Hagley College. They managed to win every quarter and lead start to finish, final score 63 to 50.  With a momentum shift impending, it was hoped that something special would occur in the semi finals of the 5th-8th playoffs. Stacked with North Otago representative players, Waitaki Girls High School was an intimidating prospect but the girls adapted and found a level of toughness not seen this season. The relentless pressure saw  the lead fluctuate constantly, and Waitaki found themselves in foul trouble, with Brittney Young capitalising from the free throw line to seal the win 51-47. 

A 5th and 6th playoff against Nelson was a rematch of day one, a game we lead until the 4th and lost by 4 points, so Roncalli knew they had a chance.  The girls started strong again in low scoring affair, leading 9 to 7 after the first and managed to overcome the second quarter blues to lead 23 to 12 at the half. Nelson adapted and found some energy having a great quarter, wiping the lead away to just being 1 ahead at the fourth . The intensity and nature of the game drew a crowd to the court for excitement. Tenacious and committed defence proved to be the telling difference, Roncalli winning 37- 35, taking out 5th overall and a moment for the Year 13s to savour in their last game. 

 A big thanks to coach Lynda Mulholland, whose skills on and off the court are incredible and Julian Dale for his insightful game knowledge and tireless work with Roncalli basketball. Teams now cannot attend these BBNZ events without their own referee, so a special thanks to Ryan Dale who helped with trainings and traveled with the team as our official. Ryan is one of many Roncallian officials currently operating at an elite level across netball, rugby and basketball. Over the tournament Ryan conducted himself at the highest level and completed our weekend by being awarded the Senior Boys Grand Final.