Basketball New Zealand

Forward Jillian Harmon is among six Beijing Olympians returning for the New Zealand Tall Ferns (Getty Images)

Six 2008 Beijing Olympians have been named in a young New Zealand Tall Ferns training squad, confirmed by Basketball New Zealand on Thursday.

Suzie Bates, Jillian Harmon, Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe, Angela Marino, Natalie Purcell and Lisa Wallbutton have been included in first-year coach Shawn Dennis’ squad of 16 to prepare for the FIBA Oceania Championship for Women later this month.

The Ferns squad, with an average age of 21, will assemble on Sunday, August 23 for a week-long camp in Napier, before taking on the defending world champion Australia Opals in two games.

“The great thing about this team is its youth,” said Dennis, who will be assisted by Kennedy Hamilton and Aik Ho.

“You look at these Olympians and most of them are only 21, 22, 23, so they’re just coming into their prime. They’re still young. Angela Marino has played at two Olympics and someone like Jillian Harmon has just come off a very successful college career, playing at a high level in the Pac-10 conference.”

Unavailable due to retirement, injury or personal reasons were Beijing Olympics captain Aneka Kerr, Noni Wharemate, Charmian Purcell, Jess McCormack, Micaela Cocks and Clare Bodensteiner.

“I think, particularly with the retirement of Aneka Kerr, and Charmian Purcell and Noni Wharemate not being available either, it takes away a lot of experience,” Dennis said.

“It’s a new era dawning on the Tall Ferns. We really have to start looking forward to London 2012 now. It’s going to be a young team and it’s going to be enthusiastic.

“After the Olympics last year there was a bit of a downer, so this is a chance to freshen up and look forward.”

Harmon graduated from Stanford University this year, where she averaged 9.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists as the Cardinal reached the Final Four of the NCAA Women’s Tournament for a second straight season.

Marino, Purcell and McMeeken-Ruscoe all competed in the Australia Women’s National Basketball League last summer, while Wallbutton played in Belgium and more recently with Albury Wodonga in the South East Australia Basketball League, where Hamilton was head coach.

Bates has recently returned to basketball, turning out for the Otago Gold Rush in the Women’s Basketball Championship (WBC), after playing in the New Zealand women’s cricket team at the ICC one-day and Twenty20 world cups.

Also named in the squad was former Tall Fern Toni Edmondson, the last player cut before the Beijing Olympics; Kim Barnes, based at UC-Irvine in California; and Natalie Moore, Chelsea Terei and Georgina Richards, all former Christchurch Sirens squad members.

The best talent from the WBC, NZ Women’s Academy and age-group tournaments fill out the rest of the squad – Harbour’s Pip Connell and Natasha Hall, Canterbury’s Erin Rooney, Taranaki’s Zoe Kensington and Otago’s Samara Gallaher. Hall and Gallaher are both 17.

The Tall Ferns team to compete in the two-game FIBA Oceania Championship, in Porirua on Monday, August 31 and Canberra on Wednesday, August 2 will be selected at the conclusion of the training camp.

New Zealand Tall Ferns Squad

Kim Barnes (UC-Irvine), Suzie Bates (Otago), Pip Connell (Harbour), Toni Edmondson (Albury Wodonga), Samara Gallaher (Otago), Natasha Hall (Harbour), Jillian Harmon (Stanford University), Zoe Kensington (Taranaki), Angela Marino (Adelaide Lightning), Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe (Townsville Fire), Natalie Moore (Taranaki), Natalie Purcell (Logan Thunder), Georgina Richards (Canterbury), Erin Rooney (Canterbury), Chelsea Terei (Harbour), Lisa Wallbutton (Albury Wodonga)

Coaching & Team Staff
Head coach: Shawn Dennis
Assistant coach: Kennedy Hamilton
Assistant coach: Aik Ho
Manager: Natalie Tong
Physio: Karen Sutton