page 15

Basketball

Owing to the inclement weather all matches were played in the Garrison Hall. The referees were Miss Gardner and Mr. W. G. Campbell; Misses F. M. Hind, E. Stories, and Mr. B. Kean constituted the "Blues" Committee.

In the preliminary games A.U.C was drawn against V.U.C., and C.U.C. against O.U. In the first match the strength of the Auckland team was apparent from the beginning. The half-time score stood at 11-4 in favour of A.U.C., and in the second half Auckland piled up the points till they stood finally at 26-9. Great speed and an excellent combination marked the performance of the winning team and placed them far ahead of any other in the competition. However, V.U.C. played a game that kept A.U.C. moving despite the margin in the scores. V.U.C. centres and backs played well. In the defence Miss Hardy was outstanding. V.U.C. forwards did not strike accurate shooting form in this game.

In the second game, C.U.C. against O.U., the latter team proved superior. The half-time score stood at 10-1 in O.U.'s favour. The final score was 21-5. A feature of the O.U. team was its strong defence; also the O.U. centres were too quick for Canterbury.

The finals were played between O.U. and A.U.C., and C.U.C. and V.U.C. Against Auckland, O.U. put up a slightly better showing than did V.U.C. in the first round. This was more evident in the score than in the actual game. At half-time the score stood at 12-6 in A.U.C. s favour. However, the second half saw Auckland run away to the tune of 25-12, thus retaining the shield. It is difficult to discriminate among such uniformly strong members of a team, and the "Blues" selection committee must have found it so, but in an extremely fine side, Miss J. Mueller (captain), playing in the centre, and Miss M. Adams, goal-thrower, stood out. Miss J. McIntosh, also in the goal, played a splendid game.

The game between C.U.C. and V.U.C. was uninteresting. V.U.C. centres were too strong for Canterbury and succeeded in getting the ball down to their forwards who, in this match, showed much greater accuracy in shooting. The half-time score was 24-8 in favour of V.U.C., and the final score was 40-9. Our team thus added a point to V.U.C's total for the Tournament Shield.

N.Z. Blues were awarded to Misses J. Mueller and M. Adams (A.U.C.), and Miss J. A. Tobman (O.U.) Our heartiest congratulations to them!

The 1928 Basketball Contest showed a much greater evenness in the strength of the four teams than has hitherto existed. Undoubtedly A.U.C. still takes pride of place, but the other colleges are surely rising to the standard set by the winners.