Recapping The Tall Ferns at the FIBA World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournaments
It may have snuck under the radar but the Tall Ferns were in Mexico last week playing some games. They had a Pre-Qualifying Tournament for the next FIBA World Cup. Very similar to the format they went through with Olympic Qualifiers earlier in the year, with three games in a mini-group stage followed by a semi-final and then an actual final with only the winner of the whole tournament progressing automatically to the next round of World Cup qualifying. This was one of two identical tournaments being held concurrently, with the other one in Rwanda.
Only 16 teams will compete at the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup in Germany. The proper qualifying stuff will take place in March of 2026 where the final 24 teams will be whittled down into the sweet 16. This after 16 other teams just did battle in these pre-qualifiers to earn two of those 24 entries... there’s probably a more efficient way to do this. Especially because the Tall Ferns will probably finish top six at next year’s Asia Cup and therefore get through to the qualifying tournament by that path instead. That’s probably why even the commentators on FIBA’s official channel didn’t seem to understand what this tournament was or how it worked. It seems the idea was mostly to offer more competitive international basketball for developing national programmes, with the dangling carrot of World Cup qualifying just there to give them a reason to do so.
Again, they could have done this more efficiently... but the purpose was served. The Tall Ferns, and 15 other nations, got to play at least three competitive games across the two PQ tourneys. Much-needed games in most cases. The Tall Ferns struggle to get these types of opportunities outside of FIBA tournaments (last year they took a development squad to play against Australian NBL teams, for example) so more FIBA tournaments is all good over here... and it’s nice to know that their World Cup qualifying hopes remain untouched regardless.
By the way, the Tall Ferns have only ever qualified for one World Cup and that was way back in 1994 when Australia hosted the thing and we got the automatic Oceania spot instead. Australia also hosted the 2022 edition but these days only the hosts and the Olympic champs get automatic entry with everybody else having to go through the Qualifying Tourneys.
The Squad
This wasn’t only an important tour for a number of young players – more on them soon – it was also the first major task for Natalie Hurst as Tall Ferns head coach, the former Aussie international point guard (who won seven WNBL championships with the Canberra Capitals during her playing career) having been awarded the role on an interim basis after her countryman Guy Molloy stepped aside following the Olympic qualifiers. Hurst helmed a trip to Japan back in July with what was classified as a “Tall Ferns Select” team. Now she’s had this tour as well to effectively audition to continue in the long term. Hurst has said she hopes to, so that’s up to BBNZ to decide.
As to the squad that she had to work with, obviously there was no Charlisse Leger-Walker as she continues her recovery from an ACL tear. There were a couple other notable absentees (Stella Beck, Tayla Dalton, Tahlia Tupaea) but on the whole it was a stronger team than the injury-affected group that tackled the Olympic quals. Here’s the 12-woman squad that went to Mexico...
McKenna Dale, Penina Davidson, Bailey Flavell, Ella Fotu, Pahlyss Hokianga, Esra McGoldrick, Tera Reed, Ashlee Strawbridge, Ritorya Tamilo, Ella Tofaeono, Charlotte Whittaker, and Lauren Whittaker.
Of this group, only Reed, McGoldrick, Dale, Tamilo, L.Whittaker, and late replacement Hokianga remain from that previous crew which failed to progress to Paris 2024... though that’s a good thing because it meant that the likes of Penina Davidson and Ella Fotu were able to return to contention. Davidson, McGoldrick, Reed, and Tamilo were also part of the Asia Cup fourth-placed squad from last year – meaning that only Reed, McGoldrick, and Tamilo have been part of all three of the significant squads over the past two years.
| Asia Cup 2023 | Olympic Quals 2024 | Pre-WCQ 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Stella Beck | Stella Beck | McKenna Dale |
| Tayla Dalton | McKenna Dale | Penina Davidson |
| Penina Davidson | Tayla Dalton | Bailey Flavell |
| Grace Hunter | Lauryn Hippolite | Ella Fotu |
| Charlisse Leger-Walker | Pahlyss Hokianga | Pahlyss Hokianga |
| Krystal Leger-Walker | Esra McGoldrick | Esra McGoldrick |
| Parris Mason | Tera Reed | Tera Reed |
| Esra McGoldrick | Zoe Richards | Ashlee Strawbridge |
| Tera Reed | Sharne Robati | Ritorya Tamilo |
| Josephine Stockill | Ritorya Tamilo | Ella Tofaeono |
| Ritorya Tamilo | Amy West | Charlotte Whittaker |
| Tahlia Tupaea | Lauren Whittaker | Lauren Whittaker |
For Ella Fotu, this was her first Tall Ferns squad since 2019 having recovered from an ACL injury (after a few years in which Tall Ferns basketball went missing due to the pandemic). Bailey Flavell was the funkiest addition, the 17yo having averaged 18.9 points per game at the recent U17 World Cup which made her the third top scorer at the entire event. Yes, she’s the daughter of Judd Flavell. She also wasn’t even the youngest player in the squad. That honour instead goes to Pahlyss Hokianga (16yo) who debuted alongside Lauren Whittaker (18yo) at the OQT. Hokianga was CLW’s injury replacement and subsequently also took CLW’s record as youngest ever Tall Fern. Tori Tamilo is also still a teenager so that makes a quarter of the squad. But there was still some solid experience on tour thanks to Nina Davidson, Tera Reed, and Ella Fotu... plus Esra McGoldrick and McKenna Dale who are starting to become regular internationals themselves.
Charlotte Whittaker is the older sis of Lauren. She was one of four potential debutants along with Flavell, Ashlee Strawbridge, and Ella Tofaeono. Other than Flavell, the other three debutants have all been playing NBL1 in Australia so they were match-fit and that surely had to be a factor in selection. Tofaeono was recently signed by the UC Capitals as a development player for the upcoming WNBL season, having been a DP for Townsville Fire last year... she’s a new recruit to the Aotearoa cause, born in NZ but raised in AU. Sweet as. Always keen for more centre depth, especially after the absence of Davidson proved so crucial at the Olympic quals.
Sidenote: As it stands, Ella Tofeaono is the only NZer contracted for the next Aussie WNBL season. Penina Davidson & Tera Reed (Geelong United), Tahlia Tupaea & Jade Kirisome (UC Capitals), and Esra McGoldrick, McKenna Dale & Ritorya Tamilo (Bendigo Spirit) are all currently free agents after playing last year. Plenty of time for that to be sorted out... although it’s going to be harder now that Tauihi has moved its season to span October until December and is therefore going to have some serious overlap with the WNBL – which last year ran from November to March.
Ella Bradley, Maia Jones, Eva Langton, Tara Manumaleuga, Kaylee Smiler, Dominique Stephens, and training player Olivia Williams were also part of the extended travelling squad. They missed the cut for the real stuff but all still got plenty of reps in training and in practice games as the squad spent time in California prior to their Mexican efforts.
The Games
The Ferns were drawn in a group with Montenegro, Mexico and Mozambique. The other side of their tournament draw featured South Korea, Mali, Czechia, and Venezuela. These were the teams that the Aotearoa side had to get past – of which they were ranked somewhere in the middle range. Definitely games they were capable of winning but it was always going to be tricky with a squad that hadn’t played a whole lot of basketball together – let alone with a fresh head coach.
Game one against Montenegro served up a starting five of: Ella Fotu, McKenna Dale, Esra McGoldrick, Lauren Whittaker, Penina Davidson. On paper this looked like their toughest task... but it was going alright to begin with. NZ only trailed by two after the first quarter and by five at half-time. Then came a shocking third quarter. Montenegro soared out of the gates with a 16-4 run and the Tall Ferns never came close to recovering. 22 turnovers reflected their disjointedness as they struggled to find direction without Charlisse Leger-Walker to run the show (Ella Fotu did her best but the lack of point guard depth here was pretty stark... the other two options being Hokianga and Flavell who both played at the U17 World Cup in July).
Even with different squads each time, the Tall Ferns always seem to have issues with their outside shooting and it was no different here, shooting 4/16 from threes. The altitude wouldn’t have helped in that second half… though at least the nature of the defeat meant that everyone got at least eight minutes on the floor, thus ensuring debut caps for: Charlotte Whittaker, Ashlee Strawbridge, Ella Tofaeono, and Bailey Flavell. Ritorya Tamilo was about the only one to emerge with positive credit thanks to her 11 points on 5/7 shooting with 6 rebounds as Montenegro won by 24 points. Final scoreline of 88-64. Check out a box score here.
The second game was against Mexico and saw Tamilo and Reed enter the starting line-up in place of Whittaker and McGoldrick. Tera Reed was superb at getting to the rim and either finishing or drawing fouls. McGoldrick hit a couple of threes. Tamilo carried on where she left off. Ella Fotu had a more imposing performance at point guard. The vision was shining bright as the Ferns outscored their hosts 26-9 in the second quarter to take a double-digit lead into half-time.
Alas, three things happened in the second half:
Mexico started hitting some threes after going 1/13 in the opening two quarters
The Tall Ferns started to show fatigue and missed too many shots from in close, stumbling against the rolling momentum of Mexico with a loud crowd behind them
Aaaaand some hometown calls went the way of the Mexicans - particularly a few offensive fouls
That lead had begun to feel like a slippery slope long before Esra McGoldrick fouled out and Tera Reed rolled an ankle which kept her off the court in the closing minutes. Mexico, led by a wonderful 22 points from Gabriela Jaquez (whose brother Jaime Jaquez was recently drafted 18th overall by the Miami Heat), roared to the finish line for a 71-64 win. Mexico had outscored Mozambique 28-13 in the fourth quarter to win their first game. They outscored NZ by 27-13 in the fourth to win the second one. Bummer. Reed had 14 points and 6 rebounds. Tamilo had 13 points and 8 rebounds. Box score here.
That made the Mozambique game into a dead-rubber between two winless teams. Once again there were changes to the line-up with Fotu/Dale/McGoldrick/L.Whittaker/Tamilo getting starts while Reed and Davidson were both inactive. The two best players in the squad unavailable... yet the Kiwis still strode out to a 10-2 lead on the back of some strong defence. Shooting issues kept it close until Esra McGoldrick went nuts in the second quarter. She had a double-double by half-time with NZ leading 44-30, a thirty-point second quarter for a team that had only scored 64 total points in each of their previous games that was capped off when McGoldrick grabbed an offensive board and flipped it to Lauren Whittaker who nailed a buzzer-beating triple.
Those two were the stars of the show. Mozambique would hit sporadic threes to hang around but Lauren Whittaker took the baton from McGoldrick with a superb array of scoring (outside, inside, cuts, dribbles, spot shots, post-ups, free throws, etc) as the Tall Ferns cruised towards victory. New Zealand never trailed and eventually won 79-63. Box score. Happy days. Incredibly, the Ferns won the rebounding stakes 65 to 32, more than doubling their opponents on the boards. Lauren Whittaker scored 27 points (9/13 field goals) with 8 rebounds & 4 assists – making her the youngest player to score 20+ for the Tall Ferns in a full international. McGoldrick had 15 points and 18 rebounds – that rebound tally equalling Kalani Purcell’s national team record. Huge from those two but credit also to McKenna Dale who had trouble with her shot overall during the tournament but scored 12 points (4/11 field goals) with 7 rebounds & 4 assists here.
The Aftermath
Okay, so the Tall Ferns didn’t emerge with that lone World Cup qualifying spot. In the end, the other group turned out to be the superior one as Czechia beat South Korea in the final (and Hungary won in Rwanda, if you were curious). But there was plenty to like about Aotearoa sending a squad with four teenagers, four debutants, and only one player who applied to both of those categories, and competing as they did. They made steady improvements from game to game to game, culminating in a victory against Mozambique even with their two top players rested.
They dished out at least 21 minutes to every player in the squad across the three games and all but one of them chipped in with the scoring (Ashlee Strawbridge missed all seven shot attempts). In fact, eleven players scored at least 10 points... and nobody got to 30. Not even Lauren Whittaker. 0 points, 2 points, 27 points for the 18 year old. The first couple matches showed that she’s still raw, still very inexperienced, but then, just like she did at the Olympic Qualifiers, she showed exactly why she is one of NZ’s very best young players in that third game. Same with Pahlyss Hokianga who seemed to play with huge confidence despite her age. Same with Bailey Flavell who looks so smooth and efficient even as a youngster on her first national team trip.
Same as how they shared the points around, they also shared the turnovers around. Strawbridge had none. Davidson only had one. The rest of the team were all between 4-10 combined turnovers. Ella Fotu led the way but then she also played the most minutes and she got most of those minutes as a point guard so fair enough. Hokianga actually led the way with assists – 11 of them in 49 minutes, the only one of the guards with more assists than turnovers. Didn’t see much of Ella Tofaeono but her rebounding numbers were fantastic for limited minutes. Similar with Charlotte Whittaker who jumped in there and brought the physicality every time without fail – as nine fouls in 38 minutes can attest.
Missed free throws weren’t too consequential however this team did only shoot 68% from the line so that’s another area for improvement. Tera Reed missed five of her dozen attempts. The three-point shooting wasn’t any better with the team slumping at 26.9% overall. McKenna Dale’s 3/17 triples were a large part of the problem, a player who is clearly capable of better than that. Better will come in due course though. It’s all experience. It’s all development.
Ritorya Tamilo was the only Tall Fern who shot over 50% from the field – her mid-range game was one of the more exciting aspects of the whole tour. Four blocks too. There were some very young players in this squad but they can play, mate. Don’t doubt it. Makes you wonder what this team could look like with Charlisse Leger-Walker back in the mix. By the time the 2025 FIBA Women's Asia Cup rolls around next July we might just get to see that manifest once again... assuming the WNBA complies.
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