The Aon Under 17 Women’s National team recorded their second resounding win in the FIBA Under 17 Oceania Championship, overpowering Guam 140-24 in L’Arène du Sud this morning.
New Zealand applied pressure from the tip, hounding any Guamanian player tasked with bringing the ball over half court. The Kiwi’s height advantage was used to pounce on any lobbed pass across the floor, with players then catching outlet passes in stride for easy layups.
Opportunities for Guam to put points on the board were slim in the opening stages and their conversion rate into makes were even slimmer. They made two of their seven shot attempts and hit double-digits in turnovers with just over a minute before the break. All of this combined with New Zealand shooting 50% from the field saw them enter the second quarter down 35-5.
There were no signs of fatigue shown by the Kiwis after chasing the ball up and down the court, with the team shifting to a press early in the period. The energy and execution shown from New Zealand proved too much for Guam, who put up two points for the entire quarter.
New Zealand took 52 shots in the first half, six were taken from behind the three-point line and only one of those found the bottom of the net. This illustrated the Kiwi’s dominance around the basket, where forward Rochelle Fourie was the main beneficiary with 17 points and just under a handful of rebounds. She and her team led 73-7 after two quarters.
The 63-point lead ensured New Zealand of their second win, with the remaining 20 minutes used to run through their sets and prepare themselves for tomorrow’s clash with fellow heavyweights Australia. The inevitable didn’t appear to deter Guam from continuing to play their game, who held their opposites to their lowest scoring quarter (30) and finished with a game-high eight points in those same ten minutes.
Six of Guam’s eight points in the period was from behind the three-point line, two of the most well-received shots in the contest. New Zealand’s Caitlin O’Connell scored seven of her 20 points in the third, with her last basket also being a triple on the last possession, which pushed their buffer out to 88.
What was close to a 90-point advantage jumped past 100 halfway through the fourth quarter and ended in a 116-point win for the Kiwis. New Zealand takes on Australia tomorrow, who both have the day off on Thursday thanks to their back-to-back wins, at 2pm (NZST), with the winner then scheduled to play in the semi-finals against the lowliest progressor from the quarter-finals.
A top-two finishers at the FIBA Under 17 Oceania Championship advance to the FIBA Under 18 Asian Championship, which is the official qualifier to the FIBA U19 World Cup.
Final Score: New Zealand 140 defeated Guam 26
Under 17 Women’s Squad:
- #6 Parris Mason
- #18 Jessica Jean Moors
- #10 Ashlee Strawbridge
- #4 Arielle Williams
- #21 Olivia Williams
- #8 Chynelle Miritia Marama
- #5 Caitlin Ellen O’Connell
- #15 Sophie Adams
- #12 Ella Paleaae Cook
- #9 Emilee Bree Tahata
- #27 Rochelle Fourie
- #33 Hannah Louise Matehaere
