The opening round of the Sky Broadband Rapid League came in hot with big shots and bigger swings. Dive in as Mike Lacey gets you up to speed with the Round 1 Rapid Wrap.
The 2025 Sky Broadband Rapid League opened with three road wins as Yellow i Glass Mainland Pouākai, ANZCO Tokomanawa Queens, and Southern Hoiho denied their hosts.
The season opener doubled as the southern derby at Cowles Stadium in Christchurch, where Southern Hoiho held off a second-half comeback from Yellow i Glass Mainland Pouākai to win 39–36.
Kavanah Lene had the honour of scoring the first points of the new season and, when Charlotte Whittaker added her first Pouākai bucket, the hosts led 10–5.
Samara Gallaher, back for a fourth Hoiho season, beat the quarter-time buzzer with a three to edge her side ahead. It signaled a long-range surge from the Dunedin-based team: Eva Langton, Alana Paewai, and Tia Pavihi all connected from deep as Hoiho went 6/9 from three to build a 26–16 half-time lead.
Paewai — showing the form that made her a Waikato junior standout — scored on the resumption, although the Cantabrians had the better of the third spell. A three from Hana Lacey-Rameka trimmed the margin to six at the three-quarter mark (32–26).
A classy reverse lay-up in traffic from Lene cut it further, but the Hoiho response was immediate — a Lil Dart triple. Another Lacey-Rameka trey made it a two-point game with 57 seconds to play before Dart iced the win at the free-throw line.
Yellow i Glass Mainland Pouākai 36: Emma Rogers 11p, 3a; Kavanah Lene 10p; Hana Lacey-Rameka 6p, 6r
Southern Hoiho 39: Alana Paewai 11p; Samara Gallaher 8p; Lil Dart 7p; Tia Pavihi 6p; Eva Langton 3p, 5a
In Tauranga, ANZCO Tokomanawa Queens posted a Rapid League record in a 53–32 win over The Northern Group Tauranga Whai. Former Junior Tall Fern Keriana-Maria Hippolite was in slick touch with a game-high 18 points (4/6 3P, 4/4 FT).
After a relatively even first quarter, the Whai were held scoreless in the second to trail 26–9 at half-time — Stella Beck had 8 for the visitors. Whai scored the first six of the third, but any hope of a run was quickly quelled by the trio of Beck, Lou Brown, and Briarley Rogers, pushing the lead to 40–21.
The largely academic fourth featured threes from Rogers and Hippolite for the Queens and Tayla Dalton and Jade Kirisome for the hosts.
The Northern Group Tauranga Whai 32: Jade Kirisome 14p; Sophie Rogers 9p; Tayla Dalton 7p
ANZCO Tokomanawa Queens 53: Keriana-Maria Hippolite 18p, 4a; Stella Beck 13p; Lou Brown 10p, 8r, 4a; Briarley Rogers 7p
To close the round, Yellow i Glass Mainland Pouākai erased the memory of their opening loss with a 28–18 win at BNZ Northern Kāhu on Sunday afternoon at Eventfinda Stadium.
Tall Fern Esra McGoldrick (4-of-6 FG) scored 12 first-half points to help build a 16–9 advantage. Kāhu trimmed two points off the margin in a low-scoring third, but despite the best efforts of Azure Anderson and Mary Morton-Jones (née Goulding), they could make little impression on the Cantabrians’ lead. Emma Rogers added five in the fourth to seal it.
BNZ Northern Kāhu 18: Azure Anderson 8p; Abi Curtin 5p; Mary Morton-Jones 2p, 9r
Yellow i Glass Mainland Pouākai 28: Esra McGoldrick 12p; Emma Rogers 12p, 4a
A number of Rapid League players were in action at the Secondary Schools National Championships last week, while others represented New Zealand at the 2025 FIBA U16 Asia Cup in Malaysia. Expect to see many of them back on court in the coming weeks.
The Queens’ 53 points surpass the previous Women’s Rapid League record of 50 set by the Northern Kāhu against the Queens last season.
Keriana-Maria Hippolite’s 18 was the highest individual score of the round and equals her Rapid League best, set against the Pouākai last season.
