Tall Ferns lose to China

The Tall Ferns lost their third Olympic game, to China, 80-63. China has a big, experienced team, and the loss was no surprise. 

The teams played even in the second half, but New Zealand could not overcome China's strong start. Jillian had another great game, with 14 points and eight rebounds. Coach McHugh says that she's been their best player through the tournament. The second-half performance gives the Tall Ferns a glimmer of hope for a win over their next opponent, the Czech Republic.

Here are games reports, from Basketball New Zealand and from Stuff New Zealand, and the box score.

Tall Ferns lose to Spain

Jillian was outstanding in the Tall Fern's second Olympic game -- she led all scorers with 22 points and had five rebounds, three assists and a steal -- but it wasn't enough to stop a determined Spanish team, who won 85-62. Here are the game report and the box score.

Jillian is a rock as NZ women open with 76-72 win over Mali

Jillian Harmon scored 12 points and had 8 rebounds in 28 minutes helping the Tall Ferns of New Zealand win their opening game against Mali.

Here's a complete boxscore from the official Olympics website

From the Tall Ferns website: Shooter KATE MCMEEKEN-RUSCOE left her scoring run until late, but responded with two of the biggest baskets of her career to present New Zealand with a 76-72 win over Mali in the opening round of pool games at the Beijing Olympics. The Kiwi women led for most of the contest, but found themselves down by three points late in the fourth quarter before McMeeken-Ruscoe, scoreless to that point, struck with a three-pointer to tied the scores. More at the Tall Ferns website.

Here's another article.

Tall Ferns Prep for Olympics + Game Schedule + Video

The NZ TALL FERNS began the final touches of their Olympic preparation with a 63-71 loss to European side Belarus in Beijing.

In their first competitive outing since early June, the Kiwi women got out to a bright start to lead through the opening quarter, but fell behind during the second period and could not wrestle back the initiative. Here you'll find the complete story. You will find the upcoming Olympic game schedule here.

Here's a video of the team's arrival at the Great Wall in June -- you'll catch both Jillian and Clare in the video.

Clare & Jillian enjoy a cuppa

The Tall Ferns may not have the greatest women's basketball team in the world, but they will have their own Olympic barista who expects to serve up to 500 cups of coffee a day in Beijing.

Will that give the Kiwis a leading edge?

Not for Clare and Jillian -- they both are partial to a cuppa, but Clare refrains before a game, and Jillian prefers tea.

Read more ...

Not this time for Candice

The final three members of the U.S. women's Olympic basketball team were announced yesterday by everyone except USA Basketball, which finally did that this morning. They are Tamika Catchings, Kara Lawson and DeLisha Milton-Jones. Candice will have to wait until 2012 to be an Olympian.

Here is the official announcement and the complete roster.

Clare & Jillian will be Stanford's 3rd & 4th Olympians

There were no box scores published during the Beijing Good Luck Tournament, so we had little idea of how Jillian was doing and none at all about Clare.

Information about their performance during the tournament has now been published, and it's very impressive.  Jillian averaged 11.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Clare, who started all six games, scored 5.7 points and 1.7 rebounds per game and hit 50% of her 3-point attempts.

No wonder they were named to the New Zealand Olympic team  yesterday!  They'll be the 3rd & 4th Olympic players in Stanford Women's Basketball history. Read more...

Clare & Jillian on NZ Olympic team

The New Zealand Olympic committee named the Tall Ferns Olympic team today for Beijing 2008, and both Clare and Jillian made the final cut! Here's the full story and a brief report from Radio New Zealand that highlights Clare and Jillian. The team faces a really tough Olympic schedule. Only their first game should be an easy one -- against Mali on August 9. Then they will play Spain, China, Czech Republic and the USA. Before that the Ferns are playing a "domestic series" in July (no details published) and an unspecified pre-Olympic tournament in China

Hot shots, secret weapons, dinkum kiwis ...

In anticipation of the announcement of the Kiwi Olympic team on Monday,  New Zealand TV3 introduced Stanford University hotshots Clare and Jillian with this story and video.

Clare & Jillian competing for spot on Olympic team

Clare and Jillian are on the 14-member squad of Tall Ferns that are competing for the 12 places on the Olympic team. The squad is being evaluated this weekend during a three-day camp in Christchurch. Read more...

Jillian's chances are good, according to this article.