KEY POINTS:
BEIJING - New Zealand saved their best basketball until last at the Olympic Games, beaten but far from disgraced in a 96-60 loss to women's gold medal favourites the United States this morning (NZ time).
The loss is the Tall Ferns' fourth in a row following their opening win over Malawi and sees them finish fifth in their six-team group. Only the top four teams from two groups advance to the quarterfinals.
Four years ago at Athens that was achieved, just, but this young and relatively short Tall Ferns side were always going to find it hard against some of the world's strongest nations.
However, they stood tall against the highly-skilled Americans, going blow-for-blow with the cream of the Women's National Basketball Association in three of the four quarters.
The exception was the second quarter, when the Tall Ferns' offence froze, scoring just six points to the Americans' 27, allowing them to take a dominant 50-24 lead into halftime.
"We just had that bad quarter," coach Mike McHugh told NZPA.
"If we'd stayed a bit closer we might have had a 20-point game.
"Overall I was delighted with the way we played. We've kept them to the lowest score they've had all tournament and the lowest margin.
`We stood up, we fought and the poise we played with against possibly the best team in the world... I'm just really proud."
New Zealand's best, as she has been for most of the tournament, was diminutive guard Angela Marino, who ran their offence well and scored a game-high 17 points.
She had scoring support from Lisa Wallbutton, who overcame early foul problems to notch 14, while captain Aneka Kerr contributed nine.
Another standout performer was US-based Jillian Harmon, a key figure in negating the athleticism of the US with some serious defensive hustle.
McHugh only had 10 players to choose from, with senior figures Noni Wharemata and Charmian Purcell both unable to play because of injury.
"The young kids really stood up tonight," McHugh said.
It's been a very steep learning curve for them with the quality of the teams we've had to play against.
"We're here to learn what the Olympics is all about. This is a 2012 team, maybe a 2016 team really."
New Zealand led 15-14 with less than three minutes remaining in the first quarter.
The second half was lost just 36-46, with the US stars such as Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson visibly annoyed that their team couldn't establish dominance over their feisty opponents.
Thompson top-scored for them with 15.
Marino said the players agreed the players would love nothing on the court against their star-studded opponents.
"They're the best players in the world but wanted to show that we deserve to be here and that we are capable of playing good basketball."
The Tall Ferns' campaign saw them beat Malawi 76-72 before losses to Spain 62-85, China 63-80 and the Czech Republic 59-90.
The Chinese finished second in the pool, behind Spain and the Czechs.
Group A was topped by unbeaten Australia, followed by Russia, Belarus and Korea.
- NZPA
