Pouākai Rally From Behind In Southern Clash

After having been down as much as 17 points to our southerly rivals, a determined Mainland Pouākai team made haste and secured a 91-78 win over the Southern Hoiho.

POUĀKAI – 91
Cann – 14 pts, 6 ast, 10-10 ft
Brown – 20 pts, 7 rbs, 4 stl
Forbes – 17 pts, 6 rbs, 6 ast

HOIHO – 78
Bradley – 17 pts, 4 ast, 2 stl
Bowman – 15 pts, 11 rbs, 5 stl
Hurst – 14 pts, 5 rbs, 4 3pt

12/10/24 BOX SCORE

It took just 12 seconds for the Pouākai to get on the board in Dunedin, with McKenzie Forbes threading the needle to Esra McGoldrick for a quick two points.

Zoe Richards of the Hoiho stepped up to the challenge, taking it straight at McGoldrick for a physical Kiwi-on-Kiwi finish at the rim.

The Pouākai came out firing on all cylinders, with McGoldrick flying in to reject Samantha Bowman’s shot and Cassandra Brown cashing a corner triple down the other end.

Ultimately, the story of the first quarter was told by the Hoiho who went on a 16-2 run to pull ahead 18-10 after a three-pointer from Samara Gallaher.

Natalie Chou closed out the opening period with a nice run, beating the shot clock on a quick release triple, finding Hurst on a cross-court dime for her second three-pointer of the night, and drilling a spinning fade to bring her first quarter total to 6 points.

Robati injected some energy back into the Pouākai to start the second, collecting her own miss and muscling it back in.

Hitting the offensive boards appeared to be in fashion, with Forbes joining the party and finding a cutting Haliegh Reinoehl to bring it back to 37 apiece on the and-one play.

Mainland entered the half-time break trailing the Hoiho 44-41.

McGoldrick opened the second half with a hook shot off yet another offensive rebound.

The Hoiho continued to go inside to do their damage, as Richards brought her scorecount to 9 points off a fake dribble handoff.

Bowman stretched the Hoiho lead out to 10 after a tough contact finish and converting on the free throw.

Tensions rose late in the third quarter. The physicality of both squads stepped up a notch and plenty of bodies hit the floor as the game grew old. 

Cann quietly continued to make her mark on the match, getting into the paint and finding her teammates in the right spots.

With a minute left in the period, Reinoehl knocked down the first triple of her Pouākai career, followed by another couple long-range bombs from Brown.

The Pouākai started the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run, capped off by a putback by McGoldrick to push the lead to 13 points.

In response, Bradley decided to put the Hoiho on her back, powering her way to the basket for two and bringing the score to 81-68.

A huge rejection by Bowman and an and-one finish by Bradley kept the Hoiho hopeful and within 10 points in the final stretch. 

However, the Hoiho were fighting an uphill battle against a winding down game clock and a connected Pouākai unit. 

An excellent team defence in the final minutes of the match was the cherry on top to a strong showing for the Pouākai, who walked away with a satisfying 13-point win.

With the first road trip of T3 settled, the Pouākai now return to Christchurch for our home opener against the Northern Kāhu on October 19th.

Tickets are available now!