One win, two losses for Gold Rush

The Otago Gold Rush has begun its season with a win and two losses.

After beating opening-weekend tournament host Tauranga City Coasters 66-46 on Friday, it went down to the Harbour Breeze 63-47 and Auckland Dream 74-62.

The side was without several of its top players, but there were strong performances from American Dana Goularte and Natalie Visger.

Goularte had 16 points against Harbour and 15 in the other two games, while pulling in six rebounds twice and five once.

Meanwhile, Visger shot seven from 10 against both Tauranga and Auckland, recording 16 points in each.

That meant the duo contributed nearly half the points in the side’s win, although its ability to limit Tauranga’s scoring was key.

It held Tauranga scoreless for the last five minutes of the first quarter, going on a 15-0 run to lead 21-5 at the first break.

Tauranga fought back, but a similarly strong defensive display held the hosts  to seven in the third quarter.

That gave the Gold Rush a 53-34 lead at the final break, which it extended by a point in the last quarter.

Saturday brought a tough game against a strong Harbour side, and Otago  got off to the better start.

The score remained tight for most of the first quarter, before three late baskets from Natalie Smith gave the team  a 20-13 lead.

Otago was unable to keep it up, though. It was held to seven in the second quarter, while Harbour scored 23  to take a handy 36-27 lead into halftime.

That proved the key period.The Gold Rush got the deficit back to five early in the third, but Harbour ultimately extended its lead to 49-38 before holding Otago to nine points in the final quarter.

Yesterday it was late in the first quarter and early in the second that Auckland did its damage in Otago’s second loss.

Two Kelly Thompson free throws brought Otago to within two at 14-12 with two minutes left in the first quarter. However, an 8-0 run increased that deficit to 10, before Visger scored to keep the margin in single digits at the break.

Auckland carried on its momentum, though, leading 35-19 three minutes into the second. At that point the Gold Rush stemmed the flow — Auckland scored just twice more before halftime — but the damage was done.

The Gold Rush managed 10 points in that time, six of them to Aleisha Ruske, to get the score back to 39-29 at halftime.

It held that margin at 59-49 heading into the final quarter and got it back to six points twice in the fourth. However, Auckland closed it out to win.The Gold Rush’s next game is in Dunedin against the Waikato Country Cannons on May 26.

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