Basketball: Opals way too good for Tall Ferns

New Zealand's Angela Marino gets past Australia's Katrina Hibbert during last night's final. Picture / Chris Skelton

New Zealand's basketballers put on a brave face as they smiled through the experience of winning a Commonwealth Games silver medal -- despite being on the receiving end of a mauling.

The Tall Ferns at least proved nuisance value for raging hot favourite Australian at the Multi Purpose Venue last night though their efforts barely registered on a scoreboard that illuminated 77-39 to the Olympic runners-up.

Still, the loss had a silver lining of sorts. They got closer than any other team to the Opals and with only five survivors from Athens head coach Mike McHugh thought last night's experience was at least a character building experience for the recent arrivals.

There were few expectations on the rank outsiders and far from being shell shocked by the 38-point loss McHugh thought it was a face-saving effort.

"It's a great experience for the kids," McHugh said.

"I told them this would be a magical experience -- they had nine WNBA players, we have one (Donna Loffhagen) who hasn't yet played a minute in that league."

Loffhagen agreed the experience would help the young brigade's development believing they were not over-awed by rubbing shoulders and elbows with the likes of superstar Lauren Jackson.

North Shore teenager Jessica McCormack was a case in point.

"It was awesome, she's (Jackson) a hero of mine but she's just a human," said McCormack,16, who shrugged off early nerves by nailing her second free throw.

It was McCormack's only scoring contribution though that was far from a disgrace as none of the New Zealanders were able to crack double figures due to a suffocating Opals defence.

The experienced Loffhagen was the top scorer with eight and admitted the Tall Ferns inability to consistently find the hoop negated some rugged defensive work.

"Our offense was absolutely terrible, you can't play like that against Australia," she said.

Loffhagen was rapt to hold the Opals to 38 in the first half though they only managed 19 in reply.

"We stopped them scoring (in the first half) but we let ourselves down offensively."

New Zealand were often too anxious on the ball, often surrendering possession though travelling and shot clock violations. That, and some injudicious shot selection, translated to a horrible 24 per cent success rate from the field.

Meanwhile, Australia had a marginally more respectable 37 per cent ratio helped by Jackson's game high 23 points.

New Zealand at least managed one "gold" with Loffhagen named the top rebounder of the tournament.

Lively guard Angela Marino and Loffhagen were also among the tournament's top five scorers before the final, averaging 17.3 and 16 points per game respectively.

But neither could get any offensive flow last night, Marino producing five points on 1-of-10 shooting.

Opals coach Jan Stirling conceded her side had struggled offensively, but had enough resolve and talent to get the job done.

"We didn't shoot the ball well, but our defensive resolve is what got it done for us," she said.

"I'm just very, very proud of the girls. It's a very special moment."

"It was a struggle, but to hold any international team to 40 points is a fantastic effort."

- NZPA