KEY POINTS:
Two clutch three-pointers from guard Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe helped New Zealand survive a mighty fright from Mali yesterday to keep their women's basketball quarter-final dream alive.
The Tall Ferns won 76-72 thanks to McMeeken-Ruscoe's brace of threes in the final two minutes, which gained them the advantage after trailing 66-69.
They still weren't in the clear and it took a charging foul call on Mali's star player Hamchetou Maiga, then two free throws from the Ferns' topscorer Angela Marino to make it safe before the buzzer.
A loss would almost certainly have finished the Ferns' quarter-final hopes.
The 28-year-old McMeeken-Ruscoe, whose mother Jane McMeeken captained New Zealand, was making her Games debut after missing out in Sydney and Athens.
After a hug from her jubilant mum in the crowd, she predicted the Ferns could topple some higher-rated opponents, starting with fifth-ranked Spain on Monday.
"I think we could make magic happen at this tournament. There's no reason why not," she said.
"Yeah, we're undersized and we don't have the superstars everyone else does, but we have a lot of persistence... we can hit some big shots, if we can make things happen on defence and keep teams to a score around 65 then we can win any of those games."
The Ferns, ranked 16th in the world, were expected to beat the African champions, ranked 31st, who had most of the crowd support at the impressive 18,000-capacity arena.
But they blew a nine-point halftime lead and made life tough for themselves by shooting just 38 per cent, 18 from 47.
The Ferns now need to beat at least one of Spain, China, Czech Republic or United States - all ranked in the world's top-10 - to emulate their Athens quarter-final effort four years ago.
Point guard Marino, one of just two Athens survivors along with captain Aneka Kerr, led the way with 19 points while forward Lisa Wallbutton (13) and Jillian Harmon (12) hit double figures.
American born-and-raised Harmon was a key figure in her first Olympic match since switching allegiance through her New Zealand mother.
- NZPA
