KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand women's basketball team lost 71-88 to Japan in Chiba on Monday.
Less than 24 hours off the plane, the Tall Ferns seemed shell-shocked when their 15th ranked opponents rocketed to the lead, exposing the rusty New Zealanders who hadn't played together for a year.
Down 17-29 after the opening quarter, the Tall Ferns were restricted to just nine points in the second quarter before they rallied in the second half.
"We virtually lost the game in the first quarter," lamented Ferns coach Mike McHugh.
"It looked like we hadn't played in a year.
"It's disappointing, but not the end of the world."
The Japanese women had passed through New Zealand on the way to Australia earlier this month, narrowly beating a Northern all-star team, coached by McHugh and containing several Tall Ferns.
"You could see they had toughened up a lot since they were in New Zealand," he said.
"They were very physical, they just out-muscled us, and it took us half a game to adjust to being back at this level of play.
"In the second half we were pretty good. We got a lot more assertive and applied some pressure defence."
New Zealand outscored their hosts 45-36 over the final two quarters and they will be hoping to maintain that momentum into tomorrow's second of three tests.
Huge centre Kumiko Yamada and guard Ryoko Utsumi scored 12 points each to lead a very balanced Japanese offence that shot 14 from 22 (63.6 per cent) from the arc.
Point guard Angela Marino topscored for New Zealand with 16 points and six assists, while centre Jess McCormack battled inside for 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The Tall Ferns are without their two most experienced players -- Olympians Donna Loffhagen and Aneka Kerr -- on this tour and lost forward Charmian Purcell early in the game with a knee injury.
Japan 88 (Kumiko Yamada 12, Ryoko Utsumi 12) NZ Tall Ferns 71 (Angela Marino 16, Jess McCormack 15, Micaela Cocks 12, Noni Wharemate 11).
- NZPA
