Recapping The Tall Ferns Efforts At The 2024 Olympic Qualifiers
The Tall Ferns will not be going to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. A narrow defeat against Puerto Rico in their qualifying tournament made sure of that, as a very inexperienced and injury-ravaged Aotearoa side fell agonisingly short of their goal. They got close enough that it’s hard not to believe they would have gotten it done had they been blessed with the services of players like Charlisse Leger-Walker, Penina Davidson, or Tahlia Tupaea. Or any of the several other regulars unavailable. Or even a fully fit McKenna Dale and Tera Reed on the day itself, the injury curse afflicting the squad the whole way through – with Dale unable to play the second half against Puerto Rico due to an ankle injury and Reed battling through it after copping an elbow to the brow. But you know how it goes: close isn’t close enough.
As captain Stella Beck said afterwards: “that’s sport”. Sometimes the fates make it extremely clear that it’s not meant to be, no matter how hard you try. The Tall Ferns did enough to potentially win that Puerto Rico game despite all the absentees, and in any game that tight you can pick out dozens of individual plays that potentially affected the outcome. But it wasn’t a missed lay-up or a fumbled turnover or a failed box-out that kept us off the Paris invite list. It was the injuries. Through no fault of anyone involved, the Tall Ferns weren’t able to put their best foot forward when it counted. It’s cruel but that’s sport.
The consequence is that the Tall Ferns will not end their Olympic drought with the 2008 edition remaining out most recent appearance – back when, keeping it a hundy here, the pathway to the Games was much simpler. Of our three appearances, two came because Oceania used to have two entries meaning we could get thrashed by Australia and still make it. The other appearance was because Australia had just won the World Cup so Oceania’s one spot fell to the New Zealanders instead.
This was the first time that the Tall Ferns have even come close to qualifying since the format changed. For the 2012 edition, the TFs lost 70-51 to Czech Republic and 54-51 to Argentina in their wildcard tournament to miss out on progress to the knockouts where they would have also needed to win one further game to qualify. For 2016, we lost 83-67 to France then 64-62 to Cuba to lose out in the exact same fashion. Then for 2020 we didn’t even attend the qualifiers due to financial constraints amidst the pandemic.
The TF’s fourth-placed finish at the Asia Cup was what got them to this stage. That Asia Cup squad had felt like a fresh, young group at the start of a new era. No Michaela Cocks, no Jillian Harmon, et cetera. They then lost several of their best players from that already inexperienced group to injury and still got within a wonky three pointer of qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
It’s brutal but it’s also further proof that basketball, like so many other sports in Aotearoa, has an unprecedented amount of talented youngsters coming through. This squad had four debutants, including 16yo Pahlyss Hokianga who is now the youngest ever Tall Ferns international (beating Charlisse Leger-Walker’s record after replacing CLW in this squad after the ACL injury). New players stepped up, slightly older players grew into more responsibility. The potential is massive... but it just wasn’t meant to be on this occasion. This team’s time is yet to come.
Tall Ferns vs China
As detailed in the preview yarn, there was only one game that mattered. China and France were always going to be far too much for the Ferns to handle. Both amongst the very best teams on the planet, no dramas there. The Puerto Rico match always shaped as the do-or-die contest... though first the Ferns did need to get that China match over with. The Asia Cup champions from last year, who had easily beaten that stronger version of this Aotearoa side along the way.
The NZers were initially able to hang around thanks to a very physical approach, drawing several offensive fouls to prevent the tournament hosts (these games were all played in Xi’an) from finding much early momentum. Not that it mattered because China’s SIX FOOT NINE centre Xu Han knocked down a couple of threes on her way towards eventually scoring 21 points on 9/9 shooting in just 18 minutes. NZ coach Guy Molloy seemed to make a point of searching for size when naming his squad with 8/12 players standing over six foot, including 6’3 Lauren Whittaker and 6’4 Ritorya Tamilo and Amy West. But they all shrink into the shadow of Xu Han.
China’s athleticism was an insurmountable hill. Their size down low and their speed on the perimeter offered zero reprieve. At no stage did the kiwis look comfortable on offence – even when they did manage to work good looks they weren’t necessarily able to convert the shots, including a number of misses around the rim. And alas their three-point attempts were downright disastrous which proved to be a theme that plagued them throughout all three games. They missed their first 12 triples, shooting 2/21 overall from deep. China missed a bunch of threes too, which was helpful, but they still burst things open with a 16-0 run in the second quarter built on the foundation of their hounding defence. They also sprung a 13-0 run in the third quarter. It ended 94-47 to the hosts.
China spread things out with only two players getting more than 20 minutes. New Zealand leant more on their starters (with Esra McGoldrick scoring 11 points and Tera Reed 10 points) but still managed to find time for everyone except for McKenna Dale who sat out the game due to an injury concern. Some really nice stuff from 18yo Lauren Whittaker on debut, flexing plenty of skill and shooting for a young big (she had 4 points, 6 rebounds & 5 assists). This game was only preparation for the big show against Puerto Rico, though.
Tall Ferns vs Puerto Rico
McKenna Dale returned to face PR, going straight into the starting five on debut. Not only that but she nailed a couple of quick three-pointers to put the Ferns into the lead - already matching the entire team tally of made threes from the China game by herself. Ritorya Tamilo also got elevated into the starting five (alongside Stella Beck, Tera Reed, and Esra McGoldrick – after Tayla Dalton and Lauren Whittaker had started in game one), and she did some nice things rolling to the rim and getting up shots. The first quarter ended with Stella Beck beating the buzzer with a lay-up to give Aotearoa a 25-16 lead.
So far so good... until Puerto Rico rode an 11-0 start to the second frame as turnovers and missed shots (including free throws) began to torture NZ. After making 3/5 threes to begin with, they missed their next 18 in a row. Had to double-check that stat and it’s true. It was Lauren Whittaker who finally snapped it late in the fourth, having barely played in the first half due to foul trouble. Meanwhile Tera Reed took a knock to the head which saw her holding an ice pack over her eye during a timeout and McKenna Dale limped into the sheds at half-time unable to return with what looked like an ankle issue. She’d be on crutches with a moonboot during the France game the following day. Reed didn’t play against France either but she did continue against PR... shooting 2/13 for her 7 points and a team-worst -11 plus/minus. 5 rebounds and 5 assists helped make up for some of that but blown lay-ups made it clear that she wasn’t quite herself... and the head-knock may well have been the cause.
This was the Tall Ferns struggling to catch a break, yet again. They must be due some positive karma sooner or later because they’ve sure had plenty of the other stuff... yet the hustle never dipped. Despite scoring just five points as a team in the second quarter, they very quickly hauled things back to restore a narrow lead at the 3Q break. It was Reed, Esra McGoldrick, and especially Stella Beck who got things back on track. Beck was outrageously good, the captain carrying the team on her shoulders with a performance of immense courage and mana. She was taking charges. She was fighting for rebounds. She was instigating things as the makeshift point guard. She was getting to the hoop and scoring herself. If her team had won then this deserved to be remembered as a legendary individual performance... and perhaps it still does. 21 points (8/15 FG), 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals. An unstoppable machine.
Neither team was able to take control in a back-and-forth second half but New Zealand was in a good place when Lauren Whittaker nailed that three, Tori Tamilo made some free throws, the team got a couple of defensive stops, and then Lauryn Hippolite popped up with her first points of the game via a swirling lay-up to give NZ the lead with 48.4 seconds remaining. Assisted by Beck, of course.
65-64 inside the last minute with a spot in the Olympics on the line... but you already know how it went. Arella Guirantes got a quick score for Puerto Rico before McGoldrick missed a three. Puerto Rico scored again through a Tayra Melendez finish, then Reed missed from deep with seven seconds left, partially blocked by the superb Myra Hollingshed (20 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocks). 69-67 was the final score. Puerto Rico will be heading to Paris instead.
Devastating. It was such a close game and almost all of the statistical categories reflected that... except for those bloody three-pointers. McGoldrick and Reed are probably the two best deep shooters in the squad and they were a combined 0/10 here including both missing inside that last minute of action. The team was 4/28 overall. They also only made 13/22 free throws and despite shooting 50% on twos there were some bad misses there too. Lacking that extra finesse – the hustling spirit could make up for pretty much everything else except that crucial wee aspect of actually putting the ball through that net. In contrast, Puerto Rico made 11/33 threes.
Tall Ferns vs France
No surprises, the France game was then a bit of a fustigation. Having to play again less than 24 hours after the heartbreak of that Puerto Rico loss, with nothing on the line and two key players out injured (Dale & Reed), things got ugly real fast. Tayla Dalton, back in the starting five (along with Sharne Robati, making her first start after a DNP in the Puerto Rico game – West and Hokianga also didn’t play that one), hit on a triple for a 3-2 lead inside the first minute. That lead lasted 23 seconds and next thing you knew it was 24-6 to France. Then it was 41-11. At half-time the score read 61-17. The lead peaked at 57 points and finally the merciful final buzzer confirmed a 94-39 defeat.
Esra McGoldrick topped with 10 points, while Dalton had 9. Gabby Williams led the way for France with 21 points, as they gave 11 different players at least 12 mins each. Amongst them was Iliana Rupert, the sister of former Breakers player Rayan Rupert – she had 10 points and 5 rebounds. The scariest stat of all was that France had 30 assists and 8 turnovers, while New Zealand had 9 assists and 30 turnovers.
These two teams were in different worlds. Even a full-strength and fully motivated Tall Ferns team would probably lose heavily to this French side (who surprisingly thrashed China 82-50 a day prior), but an understrength NZ side with nothing to play for was in for a scheduled hiding. To be fair, France were spectacular. China thrashed us due to their physical and athletic advantages. France thrashed us due to a thrilling, quick-passing, tactically-advanced style that flowed like water but stung like ice. Eh, that game didn’t matter anyway.
Stats & Conclusions
Here are the overall stats for the Tall Ferns across these three games. Obviously the approach and the task were very different for the China and France games than for the Puerto Rico clash so keep that in mind. Also, click the pic to enlarge it if you need...
Those three-pointers. Yikes. As a team they shot 9/70 triples at 12.9%, with every player except Amy West attempting at least one, but only two players making more than one: McGoldrick at 2/16 and Dale who played the fewest minutes of anyone and hit 2/7. For all those injuries to key players from the Asia Cup campaign, the Tall Ferns might still have made the Olympics had McKenna Dale simply been healthy throughout.
Did the Tall Ferns rely on that three-ball too often considering their obvious deficiencies? Yeah possibly... but then if you’re open, you’re open. They need to keep trying them in order to clear room for those lanes to the basket where so much of their offence stems from. And there are good shooters here. Reed has been one of the best in the WNBL this season, shooting 41.5% (after hitting them at 47.9% in the 2023 Tauihi). McGoldrick made 26 threes at 51% in the last Tauihi season. Dale a league-leading 47 at 38.5%. Stella Beck, Sharne Robati, and Lauryn Hippolite were up there too. Got to trust the process. Plus, ultimately, this has been an offence built upon the silky skills of Charlisse Leger-Walker and the sturdy presence of Penina Davidson and neither of them were there to run the show.
This team also shot 63.8% from the free throw line. That’s less than ideal. Teenager Whittaker was the only one over 70% (she made 4/4). Whittaker also led the side in steals with six of them, so jot this down as a breakthrough tour for the Christchurch prospect, soon to join Gonzaga University. Whittaker’s already been established as a huge emerging talent having represented Aotearoa at Basketball Without Borders and winning MVP at the U19 nationals last year (this after missing most of 2022 with an ACL injury). Whittaker does those C/PF things that you’d expect, rebounding and screening and challenging around the rim, but she’s also got some passing prowess and a sweet jump shot and active hands on defence. She was playing clutch minutes in the Puerto Rico game and having a positive effect. That’s incredible for a player of her age.
Young players aren’t supposed to have that kind of impact. Usually their inexperience leads to risky decisions and extra pressure. Pahlyss Hokianga was like that – the TFs were outscored by 24 points in the 14 mins that she played, with PH losing 5 turnovers without contributing any points or assists. That’s a very clear example of not quite being ready for this stage. Which we knew would be the case, that’s why she only played in the China and France games. This was a development opportunity for Hokianga and whenever she had the ball in her hands you could see why they gave it to her. Smooth handles. Great speed. Confident intent. Hokianga replaced CLW in the squad and then broke her youngest player record... already more than a couple parallels between the two.
McGoldrick led the way with 32 points while Beck was close behind on 30. Reed was next with 17 despite not playing the third game. That was the trinity. Those were the big three. Only Beck had really been in that kind of position before so it was asking a lot of McGoldrick and Reed to help carry this side, though if it weren’t for the three-pointers they’d have done so near-flawlessly. Reed earned this boost on the back of her huge first WNBL campaign with Melbourne Boomers where she’s been a starting-level player for the best side in the competition. Granted she did struggle with her shooting percentages here. McGoldrick only plays sparingly for Bendigo Spirit but there was no choice - with the players who were missing she simply had to step up... and as the leading rebounder and top scorer you’d have to say she did that. EM looked a different player to the one we saw at the Asia Cup. She commanded that bigger role, she craved it. It’s just that the threes didn’t drop for her either.
Already mentioned the magnificence of Stella Beck against Puerto Rico. Beck was largely tasked with ball-handling duties without any Leger-Walker sisters in attendance, which did lead to a few too many turnovers. Not that she was alone in that problem: seven different players had 5+ turnovers. Beck’s shooting range was also sketchy in Xi’an but the captain was otherwise the best of the lot. The only player with double-digit combined points, rebounds, and assists... not to mention the way she raised the bar for her team with her complete disregard for self-preservation. Every team needs a player like Stella Beck.
Elsewhere Tayla Dalton brought the energy as usual, splitting a lot of the guard duties. Didn’t see much of Amy West, Sharne Robati, or Zoe Richards. Deserved call-ups on the back of strong domestic form, though if we’re being honest they’re the players who’d have made way if some of those regulars had been around. McKenna Dale was injured for all but one half and that was a damn shame because there’s genuine international scoring potential there. Hopefully she gets a few more games for Bendigo as the Aussie season rounds the bend. Lauryn Hippolite wasn’t at her best thanks to turnovers and missed threes. She’s got that smooth left-handed shooting action but they weren’t dropping for her in China. Good to see her back in the mix again though – it was a little surprising that she wasn’t at the Asia Cup.
Finally, Ritorya Tamilo had a rough time against China where she got bullied by stronger bigs but then she popped up in the starting five for the next two games and looked great. She rolls well and has a decent jump shot in her bag. One of the better free throw shooters on this tour too, believe it or not. She will need to bulk up to get to the next level but she’s in the right situation to do so, as one of three New Zealanders at the Bendigo Spirit this WNBL season. What’s also cool is that she’s the same age as Lauren Whittaker yet offers a different style of play. That pair mostly alternated at the five, though there was a portion against France where Whittaker played power forward and they were both out there together. Love that variety. Can easily see that being a Tall Ferns centre rotation for the next decade and beyond.
Do you see what we’re saying about the potential of this side? Plenty more where this came from too. There is a case to argue that perhaps the coaches leaned too far into that potential when they picked the squad, whereas a few more established options might have given them some extra efficiency (though it was the older ones who were missing all the threes tbf). But that potential is real and it’s the massively encouraging silver lining to an Olympic Qualifying tour that would otherwise linger in pain and despair.
What Comes Next?
Sadly, by missing out on the Olympics the Tall Ferns also miss out on valuable games. They’d probably have lost those games heavily but it would have been a great achievement just to get there... as well as giving them more time together as a unit to continue the growth. Hopefully BBNZ can find more reasons to keep this team active because it all counts towards the next aim: qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
The Tall Ferns have only been to one World Cup and that was even further ago than their last Olympics. Way back in 1994 (qualifying as Oceania’s reps because Australia were hosts). But the possibility is suddenly there to get back, with a very similar pathway ahead of them to what this Olympic quest offered up. As reigning fourth-placers, the Ferns are already guaranteed a spot at the 2025 Asia Cup. There they’ll need to repeat the dose with another top four finish in order to advance to the World Cup qualifying tourneys.
Last time 16 teams went to that stage, with four groups of four providing three qualifiers each, but three of those teams ended up withdrawing. One due to covid (Belarus), one due to warmongering (Russia), and one due to political situations (Nigeria). Russia and Nigeria qualified before withdrawing whereas Belarus hadn’t been able to attend. So one group saw all three attendees advance regardless, while two of the three teams that missed out ended up going anyway (one of which was Puerto Rico who went on to make the quarter-finals).
That’s where we’re at. In two years, Charlisse Leger-Walker will be playing in the WNBA. Nobody else from the Asia Cup or OQs ought to have retired, in fact most of them should be better and more established players – whether at college or in Australia or elsewhere. This team was already good enough to qualify for the Olympics but they were cursed by the injury bug at the worst possible time, causing them to have to dip deeper into kiwi basketballing depth... yet they almost made it anyway. Give it two more years and see what happens.
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