Basketball: Another win for Tall Ferns

8.15am

The New Zealand women's basketball team completed their pre-Olympic tour on a high note by beating Romania 91-82 in a six-nation tournament in Turkey today.

The Tall Ferns won two of eight matches in Europe, both in successive days at the tournament after they also beat Germany yesterday.

They made a shaky start against Romania, but recovered from a 10-point deficit in the first quarter to trail 20-27 at the break.

They managed to overturn their opponents by halftime to lead 47-43.

Foul trouble in the third quarter prevented the Tall Ferns from building on their advantage and in fact they found themselves 62-67 behind at end of the period.

Fatigued players played above themselves to win the fourth quarter 29-15, and subsequently the match.

Vice captain Gina Farmer, who topscored for the Tall Ferns with 28 points, said that while breaking their losing drought was important, making significant improvements regardless of the result was paramount before they arrived in Athens for the Olympics starting on August 13.

"We're getting our plays right and running our offences better," she said.

"We are still lacking consistency. There is still work to do, like making the free throws and lay-ups, so it's nice that we will have time in Bulgaria to work on those things."

The team now head to Bulgaria for their final Games training camp.

Farmer said most of the team were not used to a rigorous competition schedule and had been drained by playing five consecutive internationals in the type of hot conditions they are likely to face in Greece.

Angela Marino also made it into double figures for the Tall Ferns today by scoring 22 points, while Ildiko Vass had a game-high 29 for Romania.

The Tall Ferns were missing Megan Compain, who had a calf injury, and Tania Tupu, who sat out the match after suffering a severe stomach complaint.

Compain is expected to train during the five-day camp in Sofia, Bulgaria, and be ready to take the court for New Zealand's first game against the United States in Athens on August 14.

New Zealand 91 (G Farmer 28, A Marino 22) Romania 82 (I Vass 29). Halftime: 47-43.

- NZPA