Basketball: Ferns still looking for attacking edge

The New Zealand women's basketball team are still looking for a win - and the basket - in their build-up to the Athens Olympics.

They fell 46-67 to hosts Poland in the final game of a four-team tournament in Krosno, yesterday, scoring just 19 points in the first half and seven in the second quarter.

No Tall Fern scored in double figures.

"We just couldn't score in that first half," captain Leanne Walker said.

"Defensively, we did okay. We were holding them down, but just couldn't get our offence going."

After trailing by 20 at halftime, the Ferns fell just one further point behind over the second 20 minutes.

Walker said her team could no longer claim jet lag as an excuse.

"We know we did some good things and at least we kept playing... but we expect that from ourselves.

"We also know we've got a lot of work to do on our offence."

They now travel from Poland to Ankara, Turkey, where they face Lithuania, the highest-ranked opponents of their pre-Games schedule, in the opening game of a six-team tournament on Thursday.

Score:

Poland 67 (Renata Piestrzynski 21, Joanna Cuprys 14)

New Zealand 46 (Gina Farmer 8, Angela Marino 8, Donna Loffhagen 7). Halftime 39-19.

- NZPA