Basketball: Tall Ferns crushed by Aussies

The New Zealand women's basketball team have been well beaten by Australia in their latest match at the four-nations tournament in Yulin, China overnight (NZt).

After beating China the previous night the Tall Ferns found themselves on the wrong end of a 53-82 loss to Australia's Opals, after trailing 33-36 at halftime.

Jillian Harmon was again the Tall Ferns' top scorer with 17 points while captain Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe chipped in with 13.

"We shot 34 per cent from the field and that's not going to cut it in international play. We got only three from 14 from the three-point line.

"Statistically they played great in the third and fourth quarters - we didn't," Tall Ferns coach Kennedy Hamilton-Kereama said.

The Tall Ferns play Brazil on Saturday morning in their last match of the tournament.

Score:
Australia 82 (Kayla Francis 14, Elyse Penuluna 14) New Zealand 53 (Jillian Harmon 17, Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe 13). Halftime: 36-33.

- NZPA