The New Zealand Tall Ferns will have just arrived in Bangalore, India for the 2019 FIBA Asia Cup after a three-day training camp in Melbourne.
Before their flight, Tall Ferns Head Coach Guy Molloy said preparation had been excellent.
“We decided to have the camp in Melbourne rather than India. The trade-offs were being closer to home rather than being in India well in advance, which I think was a good thing. However we still have to face the travel and recover from that so hopefully that goes smoothly for us,” he said.
Molloy is liking the balance of the team which contains senior players Micaela Cocks, Toni Farnworth, Chevannah Paalvast and Toni Farnworth complimenting rookies Ella Fotu and Amy West. All four, plus Kalani Purcell, are the survivors from the Tall Ferns team that finished sixth at the 2017 edition of the Asia Cup, also held in Bangalore.
“I like the team that we have assembled although we’ve had a couple of sick payers, Ella Fotu and Stella Beck, who haven’t been 100%, but we are hoping they will improve over the next couple of days.
Ashleigh Karaitiana makes a welcome return to the international arena. Based in Australia the Waikato native played impressively at the 2018 William Jones Cup, where she made her Tall Ferns debut, leading all scorers after averaging 22 points per game.
“Ash is primarily a three-man or small forward, but very useful these days when teams often play smaller at the four. She spends a fair chunk of time in the four for us – she is athletic and strong, and can defend all over the court. She is extremely versatile being able to get to the rack as well as being an excellent three-point shooter,” said Molloy.
New Zealand will open their Asia Cup campaign against China tonight.
“China are kind of interesting because they have that combination of size and physicality plus shooting ability. It makes them different from Japan, the reigning Asia Champs, who have blinding speed and shooting ability although not so big,” said Molloy.
The next day they will face Australia who are coming off a convincing 98-63 win against China on Thursday in a pre-Asia Cup warmup and include three WNBA players Rebecca Allen (New York Liberty), Lielani Mitchell (Phoenix Mercury) and Steph Talbot (Minnesota Lynx) in their line-up.
“Australia are probably going to be the standard at Asia Cup so it’s really good for us to have a crack at them next Wednesday, I’m looking forward to that game. I think it’s fantastic that we get to play a highly ranked, super-power kind of team as it will show if we are going in the right direction.”
However, as always, Molloy is more focused on how the Tall Ferns play than worrying about the opposition.
“Eighty to ninety percent of my focus will be on us doing what we do and making an evaluation of how well we do that. It’s my philosophy to run our own race, I want the Tall Ferns style of basketball to be as good as the Tall Ferns can make it. We know the countries I have mentioned are great, but we’ll test out our schemes against them and see how we go.”
Amy West is the only American college based player in the team. The Palmerston North native who has transferred from Liberty University to St Mary’s College impressed Molloy when she debuted at the William Jones Cup earlier in July.
“Amy is coming in as the youngest of our four post players but I think there is something we can work with and mould because of her energy levels and defensive ability. She was very quick to pick up how we wanted to play and found an effective role. We are comparatively small as a team so to find a player around the 6’4” mark, but able to play with the athleticism of a smaller player it was worthwhile getting her into the programme a little earlier than we would have thought a couple of months back.
“The St Mary’s coaches have been co-operative all along and it probably helps that she is redshirting this season so that she gets some basketball without any problems. Also the lecturers and professors have been accommodating in releasing her from classes which we are very thankful for,” added Molloy.
New Zealand open their Asia Cup campaign with a game against China, number 7 on the FIBA world rankings list, on Tuesday September 24. Drawn in Group B the Tall Ferns will also play Australia (#3 in the world) on Wednesday September 25 followed the next day by an outing against the Philippines (#47). New Zealand hold a world ranking of 42nd.
FIBA Asia Cup information including the draw: http://www.fiba.basketball/womensasiacup/2019
TALL FERNS TEAM
Stella Beck (Melbourne Boomers)
Tessa Boagni (Alloyfold Canterbury Wildcats)
Micaela Cocks (Townsville Fire)
Penina Davidson (Melbourne Boomers/Harbour Breeze)
Toni Farnworth (Melbourne Boomers)
Ella Fotu (Harbour Breeze)
Ashleigh Karaitiana (Southern District Spartans, Australia)
Charlisse Leger-Walker (Waikato Wizards/St Peter’s School, Cambridge)
Chevannah Paalvast (Sunshine Coast Rip, Australia)
Kalani Purcell (Melbourne Boomers/Auckland Dream)
Natalie Taylor (Auckland Dream/Southern District Spartans, Australia)
Amy West (McAlpines M10 Mega North Canterbury Spirit / St Mary’s College, USA)
COACHES
Head Coach – Guy Molloy
Assistant Coach – Aik Ho
Assistant Coach – Jody Cameron
Manager – Lisa Wallbutton
Follow the Tall Ferns social media channels: @TallFerns Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Hashtag: #TallFerns
Asia Cup Game Schedule:
- Tuesday 24 September 5:45pm Tall Ferns vs China (00:15am Wednesday NZT)
- Wednesday 25 September 1:15pm Tall Ferns vs Australia (19:45 NZT)
- Thursday 26 September 1:15pm Tall Ferns vs Philippines (19:45 NZT)
- Friday 27 September: Quarter Finals
- Saturday 28 September Semi Finals
- Sunday 29 September Finals
