Though their bid to secure a place at next year’s U19 World Cup had ended at the conclusion of pool play New Zealand rounded out their FIBA U18 Asia Cup campaign with a resounding 78-40 win against hosts Malaysia.
The Kiwis made something of a nervy start and it took a couple of baskets each from Madelin Eliadis and Issy Gillard to turn an 11-all scoreline into a 22-14 quarter time advantage.
Threes from Keija Miringaorangi and Gia Vukona helped propel New Zealand to a 40-21 half-time lead and from there it was plain sailing for the Junior Tall Ferns.
It was a contest where all twelve Kiwis made scoring contributions with Eliadis leading the way with 13 points on 5 from 10 shooting.
Lily Ashton grabbed 12 rebounds (along with 6 points) and with five other players securing six rebounds or more New Zealand had total domination on the boards (77 to 41).
Playmaker Riley McClenaghan produced 4 assists and Keija Miringaorangi harried the Malaysian guards throughout for 5 steals.
New Zealand will rue the fact that in their two close losses they were within one-point of Korea with ninety seconds to play and ahead of the Philippines with under a minute remaining.
Miringaorangi was the leading scorer for New Zealand at the Tournament averaging 12.0ppg with Lily Ashton a constant on the boards averaging a team high 8.8 rebounds along with 6.8 points.
New Zealand 78 – Madelin Eliadis 13pts, Keija Miringaorangi 9pts & 5tls, Shaliyah Forbes 9pts & 7rebs, Issy Gillard 8pts, Willow Smith 7pts & 8rebs, Lily Ashton 6pts & 12rebs, Ngahirata Jennings-Haumaha 5pts, Kiana Brown 5pts & 7rebs, Gia Vukona 5pts, Riley McClenaghan 5pts & 4asts, Kahsia Bailey-Nowell 3pts & 6rebs, Elisa Brown 2pts & 7rebs
Malaysia 40 – Teo 8pts
Results:
Sunday October 4 v Korea LOST 74-71
Monday October 5 v Australia LOST 99-34
Tuesday October 6 v Philippines LOST 69-64
Thursday October 8, v Malaysia WON 78-40
NZ U18 Roster
#2 Elisa Brown – Casey Cavaliers
#5 Riley McClenaghan – Tauranga Basketball/Tauranga Whai/Mt Maunganui College
#6 Lily Ashton – Waikato/Collin College (USA)
#7 Keija Miringaorangi – Waikato/Tauranga Whai/ Tauranga Girls College
#8 Kahsia Bailey-Nowell – Taranaki
#9 Kiana Brown – Otago/Southern Hoiho/Columba College
#11 Shaliyah Forbes – Southern District Spartans/Dodge City College (USA)
#13 Issy Gillard – Tauranga/Tauranga Whai/ Mt Maunganui College
#14 Gia Vukona – Logan Thunder/ Idaho State University (USA)
#21 Willow Smith – Ballarat Miners
#41 Ngahirata Jennings-Haumaha – Rotorua/Te Kura o Te Koutu
#43 Madelin Eliadis – Melbourne Tigers
Head Coach – Ryan Dubbeldam
Assistant Coach – Sarah Molisa
Assistant Coach – Sam Twomey
