Basketball New Zealand

Tall Fern point guard Angela Marino (Imagesport NZ)

The NZ Tall Ferns began the final touches of their Olympic preparation with a 63-71 loss to European side Belarus in Beijing.

In their first competitive outing since early June, the Kiwi women got out to a bright start to lead through the opening quarter, but fell behind during the second period and could not wrestle back the initiative.

“We got back to within six points in the last quarter,” observed coach Mike McHugh. “But we had to foul and just couldn’t get over the line.”

Far from being discouraged, McHugh was satisfied to have his team back on the court and battling against bigger opponents, mindful that the Ferns may have to beat a European team – either Spain or Czech Republic – to progress to the Olympic quarterfinals.

Belarus finished fourth at last year’s European Championships and earned a spot in Beijing through the repechage tournament in June.

“It was more a size thing … they were just too big for us. Every time they needed a basket, they just went inside, whereas we would have to try and force a turnover or beat them in transition.

“We didn’t shoot very well. We hade probably our worse game from the foul line all year and missed a couple of easy lay-ups that might have made a difference.

“But this game wasn’t about winning or losing … it was about blowing out the cobwebs and learning how to deal with their size. For the most part, we did pretty well.”

It was also about getting game time for veteran Charmian Purcell, who missed much of last year with a knee injury and was omitted from the Ferns’ earlier tours this year.

“Charmian was probably our best player, grabbing five or six offensive rebounds,” said McHugh.

Point guard Angela Marino led the Kiwi scoring effort with 15 points.

The Tall Ferns have another practice game scheduled against Brazil later in the week and hope to arrange a third, possibly another against Belarus, before tipping off Olympic pool play against African champions Mali on August 9.