New Zealand Tall Ferns lose opening World Cup Qualifier

The New Zealand Tall Ferns were beaten 99-50 by Spain in their World Cup Qualifying Tournament opener in Puerto Rico.

Sharne Robati got the first points of the game, courtesy of a triple as the Tall Ferns drew first blood. Tegan Graham followed not too soon after, with a triple of her own as the Tall Ferns took an early 6-2 advantage after four minutes of action.

Spain, seemingly struggling from the field early, particularly down low with the trademark Kiwi physical in-your-face defence. Southern Hoiho forward, Rebecca Pizzey, the main architect in this space early.

A few turnovers gave the Spanish the chance to get back into the game, as they entered the lead with just over four minutes left in the quarter.

Jade Kirisome, seeing her first minute of international court time in the first quarter.

From that point, the European powerhouses would go on a big 14-1 run to close out the first, giving them the 22-9 lead at quarter time.

Spain would open up the second quarter on another run, scoring the quarter’s first seven points, before Robati hit her second triple of the night to stop the Spanish run.

Pahlyss Hokianga got on the scoreboard with a tough driving lay-in for the Kiwi’s, as she looked to re-ignite her side.

Robati and Graham continued to do a job for the Ferns on the offensive end, combining for 17 of the Tall Ferns first 22 points on the night.

Spain continued to push the pace of the game, and force turnovers as they opened up a 25 point margin at the half-time break.

Las Vegas Aces center, Megan Gustafson, began the second half with a couple of buckets moving herself to 9 points on the night. That was before Robati knocked down two free throws to become the game’s first scorer in double digits.

Five Spanish third quarter triples would extend the lead out some more, before Emma Rogers made her official Tall Ferns debut.

Pizzey knocked down a triple before the end of the quarter, as the New Zealanders looked to build a little bit of momentum heading into the final quarter of action.

The final quarter saw Briarley Rogers, take to the floor to complete the trio of all three newbies in the Tall Ferns squad notch their first international caps.

Ella Tofaeono (190-C-1998, college: Texas Tech) celebrated her 28th birthday with 14 points, including twelve in the final quarter, to go along with seven rebounds.

A good first hit out, to get rid of the rust for the 2degrees Tall Ferns with plenty of positives and work-ons for Coach Nat Hurst.

“Obviously turnovers killed us from the start of the game. Spain are a realy good team, lots of length, super athletic and we struggled with that.”

“Positives out of this, you know, we win the rebound count 39-31. I thought we hung in there together as a team for 40 minutes. We’ve got to learn quickly and move on quickly as well.”

NZ Tall Ferns 50 (Tofaeono 14p, 7r, Robati 12p, Graham 9p) defeated by Spain 99 (Gustafson 20p, 6r, Conde 12p, Martin 11p)