LACEY LOWDOWN

Charlotte Whittaker (North Canterbury) had a fine game against Poland

The New Zealand Junior Tall Ferns continued their tour of China with a third defeat in three days against a much older Polish team in Foshan on Tuesday. The Polish Under 23 team eventually proved too strong for the JTF’s winning 65-48 after opening up a 34-25 half-time advantage.

North Canterbury’s Charlotte Whittaker came close to a double double with 8 points and 7 rebounds and she was aided on the boards by Nicole Ruske and Darci Finnigan.

Report filed by Brent Matehaere (JTF’s head coach).

The JTF’s finally got the start they were after going out to an 8 – 2 lead in the first quarter.  Poland struggled to convert and the youngsters from NZ were able to take the Poles out of their offense keeping them to one side of the floor.

Poland was able to then adjust and use their physicality and length to challenge us at the defensive end and while we were able to create open looks we struggled to convert consistently.  This may have been due to the extra contact that we were receiving on offense.  The JTF’s only got to the line 12 times to Poland’s 23.  A lesson in loud screaming and flailing limbs may be in order on the Bullet train trip to Yuqing Guizhou Province.

The Poles finished strongly in the first quarter to finish 15-13 ahead.  This gave them moment heading into the 2nd quarter when they were able able to take a substantial lead through excellent perimeter shooting from players who had not demonstrated that skill in the earlier two games.  This combined with an inability to find the bottom of the net shooting only 21% saw the Polish team take a lead of 34-25.

The JTF’s were able to create 6 turnovers through full court pressure in the quarter but were unable to convert these into points.  Our own turnovers were a major factor with the team coughing the ball up a total of 21 times to their 19.

North Harbour forward Katie Daikhaby had a stand out performance scoring 6 points and using her strength to negate the talented 6″6″ Weronica Telenga.

Aliyah Dunn also continued to make steady improvements in understanding the international game and utilising her skill set against quality opposition.

The JTF’s unlike in the previous two nights were unable to close the gap as the Poles continued to keep our disruptive guards at bay.

Darci Finnigan picked up 3 steals in a quality defensive performance and Tiarna Clarke was at her creative best as she caused havoc going to the basket.  Clarke only scored 6 points but numerous assists went begging as we failed to convert scoring opportunities.

The game came to a humourous end when the Polish Coach called a time out to advance the ball with 11 seconds remaining.  The 5 tallest players were subbed in to disrupt the play.  They did just that, all putting their hands up to play the point on the final possession

Final Score

Poland 65

JTF’s 48 – Whittaker 8/7rebs, Diakaby 6/3rebs, Penese 6/3rebs, Clarke 6, Ruske 5/6rebs, Finnigan 4/4rebs/3st, Dunn 4/2rebs/2stls, Hirawani 4/3rebs, Leger-Walker 3/2rebs, Jillings 2/1block.

Southland’s Aliyah Dunn was in the thick of the action for the JTF’s

The New Zealand Junior Tall Ferns went down 59-53 in their second outing of their tour of China at the hands of the hosts in Foshan on Monday.

The JTF”s trailed 29-17 at half-time but stormed back in the third period to reduce the arrears to just six points. The final quarter was tied but the slow start left coach Matehaere a little exasperated.

Report filed by Brent Matehaere (JTF’s head coach).

Frustrated, would be a word that we would use often in the battle between the Junior Tall Ferns and the Chinese U17 World Championships bound team.  We were hindered by aggressive defense and did not get offensive flow going until the late in the 3rd quarter where we got back into the hunt through our own form of disruptive defense.

In the first half the shooting stats are separated into 2 pt field goals and 3 point field goals.  Our 3 of 11 from beyond the arc was better than the 4 of 18 from inside and we were yet to create a percentage from the free throw line with zero, yes zero attempts.

It was a switch to a small line up and playing defense up the court that allowed us to be within 4 points with under a minute to go.    Alyssa Hirawani, Darci Finnigan, Tiarna Clarke, Nicole Ruske, Sariah Penese and Captain Zara Jillings created havoc in the final quarter producing turnovers, running the lanes and knocking down perimeter shots.

It will be a big day for physio Janet Main who has arrived from her Oceana Gold Rush Otago commitments at the WBC as she will be treating the bruised and battered after one of the most physical games they would have played in.

A match up against a Polish U23 selection on Tuesday will again test the group.  They possess good length across the whole team and shoot the ball well from all areas of the floor.

That will be the last game in this province before taking the Bullet train north into central China where we play in “really small cities” of around a million people!

Final Score

China 59

JTF’s 53 Hirawani 12pts/3rebs, Jillings 12/6rebs Finnigan 8/3steals, Clarke 6/1reb, Leger-Walker 6/2rebs, Dunn 4/7rebs/2blks, Whittaker 4/3rebs Ruske 2/2rebs, Watling 2/1reb,

Mature display from Charlisse Leger-Walker

The New Zealand Junior Tall Ferns opened their tour of China with a defeat at the hands of the experienced USA select team in Foshan on Sunday.

The performance was a creditable one given the USA team have all completed their four-year college scholarships and some have already embarked on professional careers.

Report filed by Brent Matehaere (JTF’s head coach).

As a group we really didn’t have a great start to the contest with shots not falling and having to get back quickly to try to negate the speed that the US team possess.  We were able to defend well in the half court but it was the trans – defense in the quarter that let us down.

Trailing by 13 to begin the 2nd period, we scored on a par with the US team led by Tai Webster’s former school mate from University of Nebraska Teara Laudermill’s 22 points.  An experienced campaigner with a stint in the Finish League and on her second trip to China she proved to be the difference down the stretch.

We had cut the difference to 4 on the back of a Tiarna Clarke triple when Laudermill took control of the games scoring 3 of these herself.

The JTF’s through Charlotte Whittaker, Aliyah Dunn and Katie Diakaby managed to contain the 2015 West Coast Conference Player of the Year Morgan Bailey.  Bailey has just come off a professional stint in Portugal.

Charlisse Leger-Walker at the tender age of 14 proved to us all that she can foot it with professional women’s basketball players like Jordan Sullivan who was recently named to the Danish Leagues All-Star Five, splitting traps, controlling the tempo and getting to the basket. She finished equal top scorer with 15-year-old teammate Charlotte Whittaker.

Zara Jillings, Nicole Ruske, Sariah Penese and Darci Finnagan provided perimeter scoring and were also able to get to the basket.  The JTF’s were able to get to the foul line a total off 22 times but will be disappointed with only converting 12.

Maia Wattling and Coola Baudry were undersized but proved they could be disruptive defensively and keep players off the boards, Coola in 11 minutes of playing timed picked up an impressive 4 rebounds including 2 offensive boards.