It remained unbeaten in the women’s club competition on Tuesday night after a 69-58 win over Varsity.
The win leaves the team joint top of the table with Ajax after two weeks, following on from a strong third-place finish in last year’s competition.
Kavanagh — made up primarily of its defending ‘‘A’’ national champion school team — led by just one point heading into the final quarter. But Annabelle Ring scored 12 of her 30 points in the final quarter and the side managed a handful of key stops to close out the win.
Kavanagh cleaned the offensive glass early and jumped out to a 10-2 lead.
Varsity began to get penetration and its scoring came with it.
But a Dre Whaanga (12 points) three-pointer gave Kavanagh a 17-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Varsity responded in the second quarter, securing rebounds to stop conceding second-chance points.
Two threes from Holly McCleery (eight points) kick-started its scoring, before Tara Clement (17 points) took over towards the end of the quarter.
She got to the line, then hit two threes of her own to give Varsity a 33-28 halftime lead.
But Kavanagh took back a slight upper hand in the third quarter to lead 47-46 at the final break.
Ring and Kyra McEntyre (nine points) both hit threes early in the quarter as Kavanagh established a small buffer.
A run of baskets by Elly Koehler (nine points) helped Varsity stay in touch.
But Kavanagh’s defence locked in to get stops down the stretch and hold its lead.
Ajax pulled away to a 77-49 win over South Pac OGHS.
OGHS battled well early and went to halftime at 30-30.
But 15 second-half points from Zoe Richards sparked Ajax to remain unbeaten.
In the late game, Lisa Wallbutton top-scored with 16 points as South Pac Magic notched its first win, beating the Andy Bay Falcons 74-33.
