Bengaluru, 5th July 2017: The Indian women’s basketball team has begun its 39th William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament campaign with a 52-75 loss to New Zealand. The Indian women, seeking valuable exposure before the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup later this month, were hoping for a positive start. But their opponents, the “Tall Ferns” raced to a 9 point lead at the first quarter, and extended it to 16 points by half time.
The New Zealanders were led by the scoring of Micaela Cocks with 21 points, supported by Chevannah Paalvast and Jillian Harmon who dropped 15 and 11 points respectively. The “Tall Ferns” lived up to their moniker, out-rebounding the Indian team 43-31.
In contrast, the Indian women shot 42% from the field, and will definitely look to improve from beyond the arc (6/21) and the free throw line (2/7). This being their first competitive outing in months, the Indian women’s 24 turnovers can be overlooked, provided they to do a better job of protecting the ball in coming matches. The top performers for the Indian team were captain Anitha Paul Durai with 15 points, and R Rajapriyadharshini with 8 rebounds, while veteran shooting guard Raspreet Sidhu chipped in with 11.
Next up, the Indian women play Japan on 6th July at 1500 hrs CST (1230 IST).
New Zealand (Micaela Cocks 21 pts, Chevannah Paalvast 15 pts, Jillian Harmon 11 pts) bt India (Anitha Paul Durai 15 pts, Raspreet Sidhu 11 pts, R Rajapriyadharshini 8 reb) 75–52 [24 – 15, 18 – 11, 13 – 9, 20 – 17]
