2026 World Cup Pre-Qualifiers: Off-key Tall Ferns thumped by Montenegro

New Tall Ferns coach Natalie Hurst has seen her young team crumble in its first game at the Fiba women’s World Cup pre-qualifying tournament in Mexico City. An inexperienced New Zealand group, featuring just four players from last year’s Asia Cup campaign and a quartet of debutants, were thumped 88-64 first up by a polished Montenegro side in their Group B opener. Bojana Kovacevic (191-F/C-1996, agency: BIG) scored 18 points to lead the Balkan team. The New Zealanders, with Aussie Hurst at the helm for the first time, hung tough for a half with the slick Europeans but paid the price for a massive turnover count (25) and a huge shot imbalance (minus-26) as the Europeans cruised to victory with dominant third and fourth quarters. The Ferns trailed by just two (16-14) at the end of the first term and five (37-32) at the major break as they stayed in the contest via 10 first-half points from centre Rirorya Tamilo and nine from Penina Davidson (190-F-1995, college: California). But Montenegro put the squeeze on in a 29-15 third period to put the game on ice as they led by as many as 22 and by 19 at the final break. From there the Ferns were playing for respectability only over the final term. The New Zealanders were paced by 11 points, on 2-of-8 shooting, from veteran forward Davidson and by 11 (5/7 FG) and 6 boards from 19-year-old Tamilo, while Tera Reed (183-G-1998, college: USC) added 9 points and 4 dimes and McKenna Dale (183-G-1999, college: Virginia) 8 points. The New Zealanders paid dearly for that 25-13 turnover count, giving the Europeans a 33-13 advantage in points off giveaways, while a 12-7 steals edge and 16-11 offensive rebounding advantage added to Montenegro’s 26 extra field goal attempts. The Ferns shot just 39% from the floor (20 of 52) and were 4 of 16 (25%) from beyond the arc, while Montenegro went at a 44% overall clip and made 37% of their triples. New Zealand will now probably need to win both their remaining Group B fixtures against Mexico (Thursday) and Mozambique (Friday) to qualify for the seminials in the eight-team tournament. Only the winner progresses to the next stage of the World Cup qualifying process, though the Kiwis could also make it with a high finish at next year’s Fiba Asia Cup.
Courtesy of: thepress.co.nz