The Otago Goldrush started its defence of its national title with a 62-51 win against competition debutante Rotorua in the women's championship in Nelson yesterday.
The Goldrush was playing the first of four matches over the duration of three days in the opening round of a three-tournament national championship.
Goldrush coach Brent Matehaere said he was pleased with his team's first-up performance.
"We didn't start that well and even in the third quarter it was still pretty close."
In the fourth quarter the Goldrush got out to a 16-point lead and with three minutes to go the game was essentially sealed, Matehaere said.
He said Rotorua might have been fatigued from its morning game, but he was still pleased with how his team played.
"First game up, I'm ecstatic to have the win."
Players to stand out for the Goldrush were guards Janet Main (19 points) and Renee Johnson (12).
The Goldrush will face Hutt Valley Flyers this morning before playing Waikato Wizards tonight and Harbour Breeze in its final match of the tournament tomorrow.
Matehaere said those teams were three of the top five teams in the country and he would be happy if the Goldrush could come away from the tournament with two wins.
The Goldrush is missing three key players from last year's championship side.
Forward Casey Lockwood has been called into the Tall Ferns, former guard Suzie Bates is concentrating on captaining the White Ferns cricket team, and Matehaere was unsure of the plans of last year's centre/forward and star netballer Daneka Wipiiti, although he remained optimistic she would return for the second and third tournaments.
He said he would like to have Lockwood back, but because of her national aspirations he hoped she stayed in the Tall Ferns.
To make matters worse, centre Nicole Hellyer was unable to play after she injured her ankle in training on Tuesday and would take no further part in this tournament.
Matehaere said he was unsure how long the 1.86m Hellyer would be out of action, but a best-case scenario would be to have her back for the next tournament.
The second tournament will be played in Wellington on July 20-22 and the final one will be played in Dunedin on August 23-25.
There are 11 teams competing in this year's competition, one more than last year.
