The U16 New Zealand Women’s team have opened their FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship campaign on Tuesday, with a 44-75 loss against Japan.
Bailey Flavell and Pahlyss Hokianga, with 19 points and 15 points respectively, were the shining lights for New Zealand – with Sophia Hickey (5 points) the only other Kiwi making a meaningful scoring contribution.
Japan’s aggressive style of defence created a number of turnovers, which in turn allowed them to put up 75 shots compared with New Zealand’s 48. Japan’s shooting percentage (37%) was only slightly better than New Zealand (33%), but it was this volume of shots that proved to be a major difference.
After Japan had scored the first 6 points of the contest, Keriana-Marie Hippolite had the distinction of registering the first points for New Zealand at the tournament. Bailey Flavell was the next scorer, before Japan nailed back to back threes to lead by ten points. New Zealand hit back strongly through co-captains Flavell and Hokianga to trail by just 5 points (18-13) late in the period – however turnovers proved costly as Japan scored the last seven points of the period to lead 25-13 at the first break.
Hokianga produced a brace of scores early in the second but New Zealand, despite creating good looks, couldn’t get their shots to drop. In contrast, Japan were shooting at almost fifty percent as their lead climbed to 39-18. Hickey finally produced points in the paint but New Zealand were faced with a 44-21 deficit as they headed to the locker room at half-time; Hokianga leading New Zealand with 9 points.
The Kiwis produced a much stronger showing in the third quarter, winning the spell 18-14 on the back of 11 points from Flavell and an arching triple from Rica Enriquez-Paea. Down 58-39 at three-quarter time, New Zealand struggled to add to their points tally in the fourth. The tireless Hokianga converted a spinning lay-up and Hickey knocked down a corner jump shot but Japan were able to take the convincing win.
Next up for New Zealand is a must-win match-up with Samoa on Thursday morning, followed by a date with their other Group B opponent – China – on Friday. If New Zealand can finish top two of their pool, they will advance to the semi-finals.
The Asian Champs serves as a qualifier event for the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup, with the top four teams heading to Mexico in July 2024. Meanwhile three teams (the last two ranked teams from Asia and the last ranked team from Oceania) will be relegated to Division B at the completion of this tournament.
Stats:
New Zealand 44 – Flavell 19 PTS & 3 STL |Hokianga 15 PTS & 7 REB | Hickey 5 PTS | Enriquez-Paea 3 PTS | Hippolite 2 PTS | Mailei 7 REB
Japan 75 – Kanazawa 19 PTS | Goto 14 PTS | Abe 13 PTS
Box score: http://bbnz.link/ov2od
Quarter scores: 13-25, 21-44, 39-58, 44-75
FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championships – NZ Draw
11 July – NZL vs JPN, 1pm local time / 10.00pm NZT. (Lost 44-75)
12 July – Sam vs NZL, 3.30pm local time / 00.30am NZT. Watch here.
14 July – NZL vs CHN, 1pm local time / 10.00pm NZT. Watch here.
FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship Squad – NZ
Waikimihia Douglas-Karauna, Rotorua Basketball Association
Rica-Chanel Enriquez-Paea, NZ
Bailey Flavell, Harbour Basketball
Sophia Hickey, NZ
Keriana Hippolite, NZ
Pahlyss Hokianga, Basketball Hawkes Bay
Jennifer Mailei, NZ
Anaiya Nelson, Waikato Basketball
Graecyn Parahi, Basketball Hawkes Bay
Hana Paterson, Waikato Basketball
Emma Rogers, Tauranga City Basketball
Cassidy Thomson, NZ
