Basketball: Tall Ferns bow out of medal contention

8.55am - By JENNI RUTHERFORD

ATHENS - With their heads held high the New Zealand women's basketball team bowed out of medal contention after a 55-94 defeat to Australia in the Olympic quarterfinals today.

The Tall Ferns, who had already overachieved at this tournament by winning two preliminary round games against Korea and China to progress into the medal round, were outplayed by a team tipped to contest the gold medal and boasting the world's best woman player.

The skills and talent of the Opals - with four current Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) players including 1.95m former WNBA Most Valuable Player Lauren Jackson and several more playing professionally in Europe -- proved too great for the part-time New Zealand outfit.

However, the Tall Ferns ensured a respectable finish to their ground-breaking tournament, with just a classification game left to play.

In the opening minutes the Australians raced to a 10-0 lead but New Zealand managed to stay within range trailing 13-26 by the end of the quarter.

The score threatened to get out of hand in the first half after the Opals gained a 21-point advantage, but two from two from the three-point line by Gina Farmer and Tania Tupu helped New Zealand to close the advantage 31-45 at halftime.

The Tall Ferns will take heart that they scored 18-19 in the second quarter against a side coach Tom Maher guided to the silver medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

But Australia comprehensively outscored New Zealand in the third spell 26-13 all but ruling out a monumental upset at the Olympic Indoor Hall, as the Opals entered the final quarter leading by 28 points.

The score finally blew out in the fourth for Australia to advance to the semi-finals with a 39 point win.

New Zealand will take on hosts Greece in the play-off for 7th and 8th placing here on Friday. While the Opals will meet Russia in their semifinal and the USA face Brazil.

Australia 94 (Lauren Jackson 28, Penny Taylor 12, Trish Fallon 11)

New Zealand 55 (Gina Farmer 15, Donna Loffhagen 18, Aneka Kerr 8). Halftime: 45-31.

- NZPA