After the final round robin results, the Hoiho finished third on the ladder and will be heading to Christchurch to meet the Mainland Pouākai in the 2 v 3 semifinal on Sunday.
The Pouākai thumped the Northern Kāhu 102-62 on Friday night to jump into second spot and secure a home semifinal, while the Hoiho lost 93-84 to the Whai on Saturday to slip back to third.
It will be a big match-up between the two, but one that might suit the Hoiho after they beat their rivals twice during the regular season.
The Tokomanawa Queens — who beat the Kāhu 88-72 yesterday — held on to top spot and will host the fourth-placed Whai in the other semifinal on Saturday.
It was a congested top four, with three teams finishing with a record of seven wins and five losses and were separated through points percentage.
Whai centre Hannah Hank was immense for the home side on Saturday. She cleaned up with a double of 23 points, 17 rebounds and three assists.
It was a great game that could have gone either way, but the Whai held on for the victory.
Early on, Paige Bradley’s deep three went just astray, but Claire Jacobs picked up the crumbs and finished off the second-chance play.
Lil Dart picked up where she left off last week, banking a triple with her first real look of the game and then a nice jumper to give the Hoiho a five-point lead.
The Whai kept forging ahead but Bradley put up a three as the shot clock buzzer went to give the Hoiho a lead.
Taylah Simmons got her shot away with seconds to spare for the Hoiho to lead 24-20 at the break.
Hank’s prowess started to come to the fore, as her team-mates got a better look in to the centre in the paint.
She showed her strength, rolling around the Hoiho defence and getting up to the bucket.
Mikayla Cowling picked off the Hoiho ball, and Zoe Richards returned favour on transition, as the defensive battle between the two teams started to heat up.
Emme Shearer drove hard to the bucket to put the Whai within one.
Bradley kept the Hoiho offence moving, finding Claire Jacobs on the move.
But the Whai came back strongly through the back end, keeping the Hoiho scoreless and adding six points to take a 44-40 lead at the break.
The Whai had a six-point lead for much of the third quarter that the Hoiho struggled to eat into.
Cowling’s back-to-back threes extended the Whai lead to 11 late in the quarter.
Dart added two from the strip and then nailed another from beyond the arc to make it 69-65.
The Hoiho trailed 69-67 at the break.
Tauihi Basketball
The scores
Whai 93
Hannah Hank 23, Emme Shearer 21
Southern Hoiho 84
Jessie Edwards 18, Lil Dart 16
Quarter scores: Hoiho 24-20, 40-44, 67-69
