Following the elation of beating Mali the previous day, New Zealand were brought down to earth in the Round of 16 tie at the FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup in Hungary on Wednesday night – losing 70-36 to Canada.
Despite Ashlyn Rean making an early basket, the opening quarter was one to forget for New Zealand. Not only was Lily Taulelei’s jump shot the only other score the Kiwis made in the opening spell, but the influential Maia Jones was forced to the side-line – destined not to return – after only seven minutes of action.
Down 15-4 at quarter-time, baskets were proving hard to come by for the Kiwis before Taulelei, Ivy Brown and Ritorya Tamilo provided a flurry of points late in the second – New Zealand 33-15 behind at the interval.
The third quartered mirrored the second. New Zealand’s defence was keeping the Canadians at bay for long periods but shots weren’t dropping – Tannika Leger-Walker, Tamilo and Rean making scores but the Kiwis behind 52-25 at the three-quarter break.
A Karereatua Williams triple opened the fourth quarter scoring and Wai Clarken made a couple of baskets, but overall it was a performance the Kiwis will have to move on quickly from.
Although staunch defensively, New Zealand were unable to get anything going offensively, highlighted by the fact that Auckland’s Tamilo was the top scorer with 8 points. Taulelei snared a game high 12 boards as New Zealand fared well on the rebounding count – edging that statistic 46-45. The Wellingtonian also had good support from Tamilo who added 4 blocks to her 6 rebounds.
Following a rest day on Thursday, New Zealand will face Argentina in a 9th-16th classification game on Friday.
New Zealand 36 – Tamilo 8 PTS & 4 REBS | Brown 6 PTS | Leger-Walker 6 PTS | Taulelei 5 PTS & 12 REBS | Rean 4 PTS | Clarken 4 PTS | Williams 3 PTS
Canada 70 – T Maria 17 PTS
Full fixtures and statistics can be found here.
New Zealand Schedule: (times NZT)
- Sat 9 July vs Germany –– (L 68-35) Re-watch at nz.basketball/tv
- Sun 10 July vs USA – (L 102-34) – Re-watch at nz.basketball/tv
- Tues 12 July vs Mali – (W 61-58) – Re-watch at nz.basketball/tv
- Weds 13 July vs Canada – (L 70-36) – Re-watch at nz.basketball/tv
- Fri 15 July vs Argentina – (3.00am Saturday) – watch at nz.basketball/tv
U17 Women’s National Team Roster
Ivy Brown – North Canterbury
Layla J Cameron – New Zealand
Waimanu Clarken – Basketball Auckland
Maia Jones – Nelson Basketball
Cassidy Lacey-Rameka – Rotorua Basketball Association
Tannika Leger-Walker – Waikato Basketball
Carly Ohia – Rotorua Basketball Association
Amy-Lee Pateman – Harbour Basketball
Ashlyn Rean – North Canterbury
Ritorya Tamilo – Basketball Auckland
Lily Taulelei – Wellington Basketball Association
Karereatua Williams – Canterbury
Head Coach – Lori McDaniel
Assistant Coach – Pina Lissaman
Assistant Coach – Ryan Dubbledam
Team Manager – Jemma Lawton
Physio – Kylie Cox
Team Doctor – Dr Kaylie Baker
About The FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022
The FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 features the world’s top 16 women’s U17 national team with 56 games played across 9 days from July 9-17 in Debrecen, Hungary.
As event hosts, Hungary gained automatic entry. The remaining 15 teams qualified through regional U16 championships with 2 from Africa, 5 from Europe, 4 from the Americas, and 4 from Asia – with New Zealand earning their place after securing a spot in the recent FIBA U16 Asian Championship.
