15 Jun 2012

Tall Ferns beat Australian side

2:32 pm on 15 June 2012

The New Zealand women's basketball team has bounced back to beat Australia's Emerging Opals 67-64 in their four nations tournament at Changzhou in China.

After having victory over the hosts stolen from their grasp 24 hours earlier, the Tall Ferns began strongly to hold a 32-29 half-time lead.

A dominant 22-14 third quarter gave them a double-figure advantage heading down the home stretch, but the New Zealand side had to withstand an Australian comeback over the closing minutes to close out the win.

The Tall Ferns suffered a heart-breaking 73-75 loss to the Chinese on Wednesday night, thanks to some generous hometown officiating to shoot 29 free throws to the Ferns' 11 and edge ahead down the stretch.

At one point, the New Zealanders incurred seven consecutive fouls.

The Tall Ferns play the last of their four-nation tournament fixtures against the London Olympics-bound African champions Angola tonight before heading to Turkey for the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament later this month, where they hope to snatch one of five remaining spots in the women's draw at London.