The Australian Men’s and Women’s youth teams opened their Oceania Youth Tournament campaigns with strong wins in Auckland, New Zealand on the weekend. The men defeated Guam 100-56 but were overshadowed by the women’s amazing 107-19 thrashing of Tahiti.

Kate Oliver top scored with 16 points for the women and was well supported by Kate Gaze with 15 points and Caitlyn Rowe who collected 12 points, 12 rebounds and 3 steals.

For the men, an aggressive Mitch Young top scored with 22 points and was ably supported by Jorden Page who netted 18 points and Dwayne Radcliffe with 14 points.

The women set the scene early against Tahiti, jumping to a 9-nil lead and once the nerves had settled the procession began and the girls moved to 65-13 lead at halftime.

With specific second half directions to focus on team cohesion, the Aussie's amassed a further 48 points whilst restricting Tahiti to just four.

Dayana Kahlert was Tahiti’s best with 4 points, 4 rebounds and 1 steal.

In the men’s game, the Aussie’s were restricted to a 19-17 quarter time lead thanks to some excellent perimeter shooting from Guam.

However, the men put the clamps on Guam in the second, limiting them to just 8 points to hold an unassailable 51-25 halftime lead.

Despite the effort of Guam captain Joe Blas, who topped scored with 13 points; Guam struggled to match the depth of Australia who ran out eventual 44-point winners.

The convincing wins leave both teams on top of their respective pools.

Both team reported no injuries.

Australia (women) 107 (Oliver 16, Gaze 15, Kunek 14)
Tahiti 19 (Kahlert 4, Lefrance 4, Iorss 4)

Australia (men) 100 (Young 22, Page 18, Radcliffe 14)
Guam 56 (Blas 13)

The women’s next game is against Papua New Guniea at 6pm AEST tonight whilst the men follow at 8pm AEST when they take on Tahiti.

Other pool game results:

Women:
New Zealand 55 d New Caledonia 33
Fiji 57 d American Samoa 32
Papua New Guinea 65 d Guam 40

Men:
New Zealand 125 d Fiji 45
New Caledonia 84 d Papua New Guinea 48
Tahiti 75 d American Samoa 49

The men are in Pool 1 against Guam, American Samoa and Tahiti while the women are in a pool against Tahiti, Guam and Papua New Guinea.