Basketball New Zealand

The NZ Tall Ferns have produced one of their best international performances in four years, running China 67-71 in Ningbo overnight.

Already confirmed as part of the New Zealand Olympic team in August, the Ferns are in China for the Good Luck Beijing, the official basketball test event and faced the hosts as part of their build-up for that event.

The Kiwi women upset China in pool play at the 2004 Athens Olympics to progress to the quarterfinals, but were beaten by 29 points when the rivals met in Shanghai last year.

Former Ferns coach Tom Maher, who masterminded the Athens result and guided Australia to silver medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has spent the past three years preparing the Chinese bid for hometown glory.

They led for most of last night’s encounter, enjoying a 31-28 halftime advantage, but had to withstand a spirited finish from the New Zealanders.
The Ferns drew within a point in the dying seconds, but had to foul to regain possession, allowing their rivals to draw away through free throws.

“I thought we were almost Olympic-like in the way we played,” confirmed coach Mike McHugh. “I was delighted.

“For me, the Chinese are a bit of a litmus test. If you do well against them, you can do well against most countries.

“We’ve made huge strides in the past 12 months and took a real big step up last night.”

Captain Aneka Kerr continued to lead from the front with 14 points and six rebounds, a contribution matched by frontcourt running mate Lisa Wallbutton.

US-based Jillian Harmon was “a warrior” in her international debut, grabbing a team-high seven rebounds in 21 minutes.

The Kiwis committed just 14 turnovers, a huge improvement on recent performances, but were on the wrong end of an overwhelming free throw count. China shot 29/40 (72.5%) from the line, New Zealand just 12/14 (85.7%).

“The local referees were incredibly patriotic, but that’s the nature of the game when you’re playing someone else’s country. The home team always get favourable calls … you just have to suck it up and try to find another way.”

Both teams now travel to Beijing where the Ferns open their “Good Luck” account against Cuba on Saturday.

China v New Zealand
Ningbo, China
Wednesday, April 16
China 71 NZ Tall Ferns 67 (Aneka Kerr 14, Lisa Wallbutton 14, Toni Edmondson 10)
Q 20-15
HT 31-28 (11-13)
3Q 51-42 (20-14)
FT 71-67 (20-25)

Box Score - China v NZ

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