Basketball New Zealand

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New Zealand’s chances of qualifying for the Beijing Olympic quarterfinals have vanished with a 59-90 loss to the Czech Republic.

With one win from four games, the Kiwis must face defending champions the United States in their final pool outing on Sunday and even an unlikely win would not be enough to progress.

The Tall Ferns, ranked 16th in the world, really needed to upset the ninth-ranked Czechs and hope hosts China could repeat that effort in two days. After sharing second-half honours with the Chinese earlier this week, coach Mike McHugh was hopeful his team was rounding into some timely form.

New Zealand scored first when captain Aneka Kerr converted a pair of three throws, but a flurry of treys allowed the Czechs to ease away midway through the opening period. The Kiwis were contributing to their own downfall with seven turnovers in the first 10 minutes as they trailed 12-26 at the first break.

Once again, they had dug themselves a deep hole early.

The Europeans soon stretched their advantage to 17, but by halftime, Ferns had achieved a 19-18 second-quarter edge and closed to 31-44. When Angela Marino hit her third three-pointer soon after the restart, the deficit was back to 10.

That was as close as it got.

The Czechs responded with 11 unanswered points, part of a 17-2 run that effectively repelled any potential comeback.

“We outscored them in the second quarter and it looked like we were starting to get their measure,” observed McHugh. “But then it was like someone put a big wall up and we just ran into it.

“We missed two consecutive lay-ups and it was like we became resigned to our fate.

“The reality is, if they’re playing well and we’re playing well, a good big man will always beat a good small man. But I really thought we were in a position to rattle them.”

Marino sparked a brief rally (11-3) early in the final period, but to no avail.

The pint-sized point guard was easily her team’s best performer with 22 points (8/12 FG, 4/5 3pt, 2/2 FT), while forward Lisa Wallbutton fell just short of a double double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Once again, the Ferns’ inability to match up against taller opponents cost them dearly. They yielded an average of 8cm per player and Marino, standing 1.65m, was obliged to match up with 1.82m Hana Machova.

The Kiwis actually achieved more field goal attempts than the Czechs, but converted just 36.1% and only 32.7% inside the arc, where eight of their shots were blocked by towering defenders.

Down the other end, the Czechs shot 60% around the basket and attempted twice as many free throws as the Kiwis were too often forced to foul.

“One of the reasons we are here is so, at the next Olympics, we will have eight or more players with this experience,” said McHugh, who is realistic about his team’s chance against the dominant Americans.

“We have got to find ways to get wins that probably won’t show on the scoreboard. Can we use our pressure defence to force turnovers … can we keep the rebounding count down and not turn the ball over like we did today?

“I don’t think you’ll find a person in the world who would put $10 on us to beat American, so we have to find ways to achieve other victories.”

Beijing Olympics

Friday, August 15
Women
Czech Republic 90 (Hana Machova 23, Eva Viteckova 21, Ivana Vecerova 14, Jana Vesela 13) New Zealand 59 (Angela Marino 22, Aneka Kerr 12)
Q 26-12
HT 44-31
3Q 65-38
FT 90-59