Source: Radio New Zealand
Nat Hurst , head coach of the Tall Ferns. www.photosport.nz
The Tall Ferns have lost their second successive match at their World Cup qualifying tournament, going down 74-51 to a classy Italy combination.
As coach Natalie Hurst noted, it was an improvement on their opening 99-50 defeat to sixth-ranked Spain on Thursday.
After a slow start in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the New Zealanders outpointed Italy in the second quarter and got to within two points of the Italians seven minutes into the third stanza.
But Italy pulled away late in the third quarter with a couple of big three-point plays, and the Tall Ferns were well-contained the final quarter, scoring only seven points.
It’s been a big step-up in intensity for the youthful Tall Ferns to be taking on European sides such as Spain and Italy, and Hurst said she was happy they had learned from the loss to the Spaniards.
“It was quite a big improvement on yesterday, just the way we went about it after the first quarter,” Hurst said at the post-match media conference.
“There were still way too many turnovers for us, too many points scored against us in that category, but we’ll take a lot of positives out of that,” Hurst said.
“We just want to keep building, that was another building block for us, and we walk away from it relatively happy.”
Tegan Graham led the scoring for the Tall Ferns, with nine, one more than Emilia Shearer and Ella Tofaeono, while Cecilia Zandalasini showed her class with 18 for Italy.
There was a big cheer in the New Zealand camp when guard Briarley Rogers scored her first international points in the fourth quarter.
Italian centre Lorella Cubaj paid tribute to the Tall Ferns, saying they put her team under pressure in the second and early in the third quarter.
“We were affected a little bit by their physicality. They are a very physical team, they are a very good team honestly.
“They were able to put us in a bit of a struggle there. I’m just happy we responded.”
The New Zealanders play Senegal on Sunday (7am start NZ time), and take on defending champions the United States and Puerto Rico next week.
The top three teams (excluding the US who have already qualified) from this six-team tournament will earn spots at the World Cup in Germany in September.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
