Tall Ferns fall at semis FIBA Pre-Olympic tournament
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Tall Ferns' campaign at the FIBA Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Mexico is over after an 86-71 semifinal loss to Canada.
New Zealand matched the North American-side early in Guadalajara, trailing by just three points at the end of the opening quarter.
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Despite the promising start, Canada upped their game in the second spell, building a 14-point lead by hafltime.
That advantage ultimately proved too much to claw back.
Lauren Whittaker top-scored for New Zealnad with 21 points plus four rebounds in her 26 minutes on court. Emme Shearer put in 12 points as well as a couple of rebounds, assists and blocks in a continuation of her tournament permances.
The other big scorer was Ella Tofaeono with 18 points.
Captain Tayla Dalton said despite the loss, the tournament had reinforced the belief that New Zealand can compete at the highest level.
"We're going to win games, we're going to be really tough competitors, and I think this group of ten, and our coaching staff are hungry for it," said Dalton.
"We're going to go away and work our individual game, our team game, so that when the next tournament comes, we're aiming for the final."
Coach Nat Hurst was pleased with the Tall Ferns progress, despite the loss.
"We're really pleased with the new squad. We came here, we had four days to prep and we built every day. We've just got to keep building our squad and getting time together."
Canada 86 (Gibb 17p, Swords 17p, Bascoe 15p) NZ Tall Ferns 71 (L. Whittaker 21p, Tofaeono 18p, Shearer 12p)
Q1: NZL 18-21 CAN
HT: NZL 31-57 CAN
Q3: NZL 48-67 CAN
FT: NZL 71-86 CAN
