Basketball: Tall Ferns suffer first loss in Taiwan tournament

The Tall Ferns suffered their first defeat in the William Jones Cup basketball tournament in Taiwan yesterday, losing 74-70 to the host nation.

Tall Ferns point guard Angela Marino led her team's scoring with 18 points against a full-strength Chinese Taipei side who have already qualified for next year's world championships.

New Zealand had earlier beaten Korea 98-64 and Japan 110-71.

Their effort against Taiwan was marred by the loss of starting guard Lisa Pardon in the opening minutes because of an arm injury.

They led 18-13 after the first quarter and were never out of contention until the end.

There had been doubts about the match being staged after Taiwan was battered by a typhoon.

Organisers doubted their ability to guarantee the match stadium's power supply, but the game eventually proceeded without interruption.

The New Zealand team's pre-game practice session was cancelled because they were advised not to leave their hotel, which had been boarded up against the winds that uprooted trees and scattered debris about the island.

- NZPA