KEY POINTS:
A first-half blitz allowed hosts China to overwhelm the New Zealand women's basketball team 99-73 at the Good Luck tournament in Beijing yesterday.
Twenty four hours after toppling world champions Australia at the official Olympic basketball test event, the home team never gave the Tall Ferns a sniff of a chance, jumping on them early with 12 unanswered points during a 27-12 opening period and then keeping their foot down.
"They came out firing in the first quarter and we were down by 22 at halftime," New Zealand coach Mike McHugh said. "We played them even in the second half, but they had too big a lead." New Zealand ran within four points of China in a warm-up match last week.
Point guard Angela Marino again led the Ferns' scoring, with 13 points and four assists, while back-up point Noni Wharemate had 11 points and six rebounds.
New Zealand's remaining two games are against the United States on Thursday and Australia on Saturday.
Scores: China 99 (Nan Chen 26, Lan Bian 15, Fan Zhang 12) New Zealand 73 (Angela Marino 13, Noni Wharemate 11, Michaela Cocks 10). Halftime: 50-28.
- NZPA
