2012 BBNZ Annual Report - Basketball New Zealand

BASKETBALL NEW ZEALAND ANNUAL REPORT 2012NATIONAL TEAMS08/09NEW ZEALANDTALL FERNSSince the Beijing Olympics and the collapseof the Christchurch Sirens, New Zealand’s bestwomen have had to travel to all corners of theglobe to keep their basketball dream alive.Cast your eye down the Ferns roster this yearand you’ll find players based in Australia, Italy,England, US colleges and, occasionally, at homein New Zealand.It speaks volumes for their dedication to thegame, but doesn’t make the task of assemblinga competitive national team any easier. Even headcoach Kennedy Kereama plies his trade in Australia’smost distant city, Perth.With the Australian Opals still one of the bestwomen’s teams in the world – they took Olympicbronze – NZ always face an uphill battle qualifyingfor major championships out of Oceania and werealways destined to go through the back door toreach London.Presented with a tough pool at the qualifyingtournament in Turkey, they found Europeanpowerhouse Czech Republic too hot to handle andneeded to beat Argentina to progress in the event.After a physical contest, the Kiwis were still in with ashot in the final seconds, but conceded an offensiverebound off missed free throws that cost them a finalchance to win the game.For some veterans, this could be their lastappearance in the black singlet – veteran KateMcMeeken-Ruscoe indicated that she would notbe back for 2013 – so this was a disappointingend to some careers.New zealand tall FERNSofficial team 2012Four Nations TournamentSuzhou & Changzhou, ChinaMicaela CocksTownsville FireAntonia EdmondsonWest Coast WavesJillian HarmonParmaJordan HunterSouthwest MissouriKarlene KingiCasey LockwoodOceana Gold Rush OtagoCOACHASSISTANT COACHESMANAGERPHYSIOTHERAPISTDOCTORKate McMeeken-RuscoeLogan ThunderCharmian MellarsSheffield HattersErin RooneyFordham UniversityNatalie TaylorLogan ThunderLisa WallbuttonWest Coast WavesNoni WharemateKennedy Hamilton-KereamaAik HoDean KinsmanGail McLauchlanSharon ChoieChan DassanayakeLost to China B 7 3 – 7 9Lost to Emerging Opals 6 4 – 7 2Lost to China B 7 3 – 7 5Beat Emerging Opals 6 7 – 6 4Beat Angola 6 8 – 5 8FIBA OlympicQualifying TournamentAnkara, TurkeyLost to Czech Republic 5 1 – 7 0Lost to Argentina 5 1 – 5 4