photo credit: Mike Hill @pickandroll.nz
The tenth and final round of the 2025 Sky Broadband Rapid League was notable for the ANZCO Tokomanawa Queens rounding out an impressive 11-1 campaign, while a number of individual records were also set. Mike Lacey takes you through those key details and everything else you need to know in the last Rapid Wrap of 2025.
Emma Rogers made an immediate impact on her return to Rapid action, scoring a season high 17 points as Yellow i Glass Mainland Pouākai pulled away from the BNZ Northern Kāhu in the second half to record a comfortable 37-21 victory.
Early on, with Azure Anderson in good form, Kāhu trailed by just three (19-16) and would have been eyeing a repeat of their Round 6 performance when they walked away from Cowles Stadium with a 32-27 win. However, eight points in the third spell from Rogers propelled the hosts to a 28-17 advantage.
Sienna Maurice hit back for Kāhu, but with Emilia Ainley (14 rebounds, 8 points) dominating the paint and Hana Lacey-Rameka finding her range from deep, Pouākai were untroubled in closing out a seventh win to the delight of the Canterbury faithful.
Yellow i Glass Mainland Pouākai 37 – Rogers 17pts, Lacey-Rameka 11pts, Ainley 8pts & 14rebs, O’Neill 6asts
BNZ Northern Kāhu 21 – Anderson 9pts, Tini 5pts, Maurice 4pts
Despite Australian centre Sophia Locandro posting a new Whai single game scoring record with 18 points, Southern Hoiho claimed a 41-36 victory in Tauranga.
The Broughton twins, Charis and Shamar, were paired in the Whai line-up for the first time this season and both were prominent as the home team forged a 19-16 lead, before Eva Langton and Alana Howdon combined to carry Hoiho to a 25-21 half-time advantage.
The sweet shooting Lil Dart and the dependable Zoe Richards edged Hoiho into a 34-28 lead, only for Locandro and a Shamar Broughton triple to level proceedings at 36 apiece with two minutes remaining. Hoiho went back to the tandem of Richards and Dart, and both featured on the scoreboard as Hoiho claimed win number five and third place on the Rapid League ladder.
Whai 36 – Locandro 18pts, S Broughton 10pts, C Broughton 6pts & 5rebs
Southern Hoiho 41 – Dart 12pts, Langton 8pts, Howdon 6pts, Richards 4pts & 5rebs
It was far from straightforward for champions elect ANZCO Tokomanawa Queens in their 34-33 win against BNZ Northern Kāhu at Eventfinda Stadium.
As the scoreline suggests, it was a contest that could have gone either way. After the scores were locked at 23 apiece at three-quarter time, and 28-28 with two minutes to play, teenager Pahlyss Hokianga (12 points) and veteran Josie Trousdell gave the Queens a four point buffer inside the final minute. Azure Anderson reduced the margin with a free throw, but needing a three to force overtime, Emma-Kaye Schroeder could only make a layup as time expired.
Briarley Rogers, the league’s leading scorer, finished with eight points for the Queens, as did Paige Burrows, while Hokianga scored a dozen. Keeley Tini had 10 for Kāhu, with the dependable Anderson adding five rebounds to seven points.
So the curtain fell on the 2025 Rapid season with the Queens, runaway champions, posting an outstanding eleventh win in twelve games.
BNZ Northern Kāhu 33 – Tini 10pts, Anderson 7pts & 5rebs, Schroeder 5pts
ANZCO Tokomanawa Queens 34 – Hokianga 12pts, Burrows 8pts, B Rogers 8pts, Trousdell 6pts
11-1 Tokomanawa Queens
7-5 Mainland Pouākai
5-7 Southern Hoiho
4-8 Whai
3-9 Northern Kāhu
102 Briarley Rogers (Queens)
93 Emma Rogers (Pouākai)
90 Keriana Hippolite (Queens)
90 Lil Dart (Hoiho)
84 Sophia Locandro (Whai)
80 Jade Kirisome (Whai)
79 Emma Schroeder (Kāhu)
78 Azure Anderson (Kāhu)
75 Hana Lacey-Rameka (Pouākai)
65 Sophie Rogers (Whai)
64 Samara Gallaher (Hoiho)
190 Pahlyss Hokianga (Whai/Queens)
189 Azure Anderson (Kāhu)
168 Eva Langton (Queens/Whai/Hoiho)
167 Jade Kirisome (Whai)
149 Emma Rogers (Whai/Pouākai)
141 Keriana Hippolite (Queens)
137 Jacinta Beckley (Queens/Pouākai)
126 Tyler Mitchell (Hoiho)
119 Steph Bairstow (Kāhu)
112 Sophie Rogers (Whai)
109 Alana Howdon (née Paewai) (Hoiho)
108 Keeley Tini (Kāhu)
102 Briarley Rogers (Queens)
With 18 points against Hoiho, Sophia Locandro set a new single game scoring record for Whai.
Emilia Ainley pulled down a Pouākai record 14 rebounds (vs Kāhu), the second highest in Rapid League history. Only Jennifer O’Connell has bettered that number with 18 for Hoiho in 2023.
Also vs Kāhu, Emma Rogers’ 17 points equalled the Pouākai single game record set by Jacinta Beckley in 2023.
Pahlyss Hokianga will head to the University of Portland as the all time Rapid League leading scorer (190 points), one clear of Azure Anderson.
The following 11 players played every game for their respective team this season:
Kāhu – Azure Anderson, Keeley Tini, Vitolia Tuilave, Mary Morton-Jones
Whai – Laura Kuka, Sophie Rogers
Queens – Briarley Rogers, Keriana Hippolite
Pouākai – none
Hoiho – Samara Gallaher, Zoe Richards, Eva Langton
