Following a successful week in Taipei where the Tall Ferns finished the William Jones Cup with a 4-1 record, the focus has now switched to a three game series against the Singapore national team.
Led by 18 points from Jillian Harmon and a near double double of 16 points and 9 rebounds from Kalani Purcell, New Zealand won the opening game 80-55 at the Singapore Basketball Centre on Wednesday.
The Tall Ferns won the opening stanza 17-10 but couldn’t break clear of the hosts and only led 36-32 at half-time.
Singapore grabbed the lead briefly in the third quarter (43-40) before the Kiwis, on the back of a dominant rebounding count (58-32) cleared out to a 57-48 three-quarter time lead.
The final quarter was largely one-way traffic as the Tall Ferns eased to a fifth win in six games on tour.
“We made a very slow start in the first half but credit to Singapore they really came out and took it to us, they came out fighting and made us have to work hard for anything we got on the floor,” Tall Ferns coach Kennedy Kereama commented.
“The second half was much better for us – we dominated the game in all areas doubling their rebounding count including 25 offensive rebounds. We had 22 assists and only 14 turnovers although we need to continue to improve on that.
“80 points for the game is not bad for us although we failed to execute and finish as well as we might of. So although the performance is statistically pleasing we know we can get a lot better for the next game,” Kereama added.
Toni Farnworth scored 10 points and there was a nice return of 9 points and 7 rebounds from Natalie Taylor.
