Otago began the day with a comfortable 80-43 win over North Harbour, before producing three strong quarters to beat Wellington 56-55 in its second game of the day.
A sluggish first quarter from Otago allowed Wellington to take a 16-9 lead after the first quarter before Otago coach Lauren Piebenga decided to swap goal attack Te Paea Selby-Rickit and goal shoot Kate Shearer, giving Shearer more space to roam and leaving Selby-Rickit to focus on her shooting.
''We struggled to punch through the middle [in the first quarter] really,'' Piebenga said.
''They played a good zone defence on us and we stood and watched for a bit. The injection of pace with Kate in at goal attack really helped.''
The change, helped by turnovers at the defensive end by Storm Purvis and Rebecca Purvis, seemed to improve the flow into the circle and Selby-Rickit nailed 35 of her 41 shots in the final three quarters.
Four quick goals at the end of the second quarter gave Otago a 27-26 lead at halftime, a lead it maintained for the final two quarters, despite Wellington still forcing turnovers through its no-nonsense defence.
Otago led 56-52 led with 90 seconds to go and a late barrage of three Wellington goals was not quite enough for the visiting side to tie the scores.
''It was a really physical encounter, so we had to take it to them and stick to our guns,'' Piebenga said.
''We did enough to get the four points on the board and that's what counts, but there's plenty to think about going in to Canterbury tomorrow.''
Otago's first match of the day against North Harbour was a lot more one-sided but it came at a cost for Otago.
Shooter Olivia Bates made a brief and painful appearance off the bench, suffering a small fracture in her left ankle.
''She only got about 30 seconds, took a hit early on and that's her tournament,'' Piebenga said.
Bates' injury aside, Otago's slick passing pleased the coach as plenty of shooting chances came to Shearer, Selby-Rickit and Bridget Thayer.
Shearer was on the mark at goal shoot against North Harbour, making 45 of her 51 shots for a 88% success rate.
Selby-Rickit was not far behind, shooting 30 from 35 (86%), and Thayer made all five of her shots when she came on late in the game.
''We punched into the space really well in that first game and created a lot of opportunities,'' Piebenga said.
''We'll take a nice casual start to the day tomorrow and get ready for that 5.30pm game.''
The 5.30pm game is likely to decide which side will top pool A, as Otago takes on Christchurch, also unbeaten after two games yesterday.
Christchurch took care of Otago B 71-32 before knocking off North Harbour 66-48.
Auckland has a strong chance of topping pool B after two wins on day one, beating Waitakere 69-33 and Hamilton 54-49.
The invitational side cobbled together after the withdrawal of Bay Of Plenty will give teams plenty to think about, even if the team is unable to qualify for the post-section.
The invitational team beat Southland 54-47, but Southland picked up the points for the game, as will all teams in pool B when they play the invitational side.
Results: Otago A 80, North Harbour 43; Wellington 62, Counties Manukau 31; Christchurch 71, Otago B 32; Hamilton 66, Manawatu 38; Auckland 69, Waitakere 33; Centre Invitational 54, Southland 47; Christchurch 66, North Harbour 48; Counties Manukau 71, Otago B 32; Otago A 56, Wellington 55; Auckland 54, Hamilton 49; Southland 54, Manawatu 51; Centre Invitational 45, Waitakere 64.
National championships
Today's draw
11.30am: Otago B v Wellington
1.30pm: Auckland v Manawatu, North Harbour v Counties-Manukau
3.30pm: Hamilton v Invitation, Southland v Waitakere
5.30pm: Otago v Christchurch
