CANBERRA (Australia) - New Zealand stood their ground in a valiant effort, but Australia displayed once again why they are top contenders in this FIBA U15 Women's Oceania Cup 2024 and defending champions in a gritty 71-68 win.
The victory clinched the Sapphires the top spot in Group A in the last day of the Group Phase, building momentum heading into the weekend.
Australia were the first to control momentum in this game, taking a 15-7 lead in the first five minutes - Isabel Smith matching New Zealand's scoring total with 7 points of her own in that stretch.
New Zealand displayed their spirit and fired back with a 10-0 run to finish the first interval on a high note of a two-point lead.
Momentum continued to shift New Zealand's way in the second quarter. The young Tall Ferns knocked down four three-pointers in that second quarter, building up a lead of as large as 16 before heading into the locker room for the halftime break.
And that's when the Sapphires struck. Locking down on defense, Australia forced New Zealand into committing 12 turnovers in the third quarter alone - Australia would end up scoring 26 points off turnovers in this game. It didn't take long for the Sapphires to regain the lead.
Australia built their lead back up to seven points in the fourth quarter. While New Zealand kept on fighting back, chipping the deficit to only two points with under a minute to go in the game, Australia were just too composed and came away with the victory.
"It was good, we were down in the first half but we worked as a team and we came back better than ever," said Smith. "It was amazing to comeback down from 16 points facing probably one of the toughest teams we have in this competition."
"[At halftime] coach was like 'Girls, you need to lock in, you need to box out and you need to get stops', and that's what we did. We had like six stops in a row and that was good,"
Smith started the game hot and more or less drilled the dagger three in the waning moments of the game, finishing as the top scorer with 27 points. Ava Jones had a complete game for New Zealand with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists, while Imani Rasmussen added 8 points and a whopping 15 boards.
Both Australia and New Zealand are qualified directly to the Semi-Finals.
FIBA