The U18 Australian Gems have produced another commanding performance from start to finish, controlling the glass and attacking in transition to overwhelm trans-Tasman rivals in an emphatic victory.<\/p>\n
After a scrappy opening, the Gems found their rhythm through defensive intensity and a complete command on the boards. The Kiwis struggled to have clean looks as the Gems’ presence within the arc forced New Zealand into difficult shots.<\/p>\n
Madison Ryan led the way with 18 points and five rebounds, while Eliza Shanahan finished with 16 points and Isabel Smith added 13 points.<\/p>\n
The trio of Jemyma Manyok, Lily Mapp and Matilda Trout dominated the boards, combining for 25 rebounds as Australia won the rebound battle 18-60, which was a major point of difference for the Gems throughout the game.<\/p>\n
Q1: NZL 7 – 29 AUS<\/p>\n
A scrappy opening quickly turned into an Australian surge, with the Gems forcing turnovers and attacking the rim in transition.<\/p>\n
The defensive pressure sparked an early 2-9 run, before Australia took control on the glass to lead 7-29 at the first break.<\/p>\n
Q2: NZL 20 – 51 AUS<\/p>\n
Australia’s size advantage continued to cause problems, with New Zealand struggling to find clean looks inside the arc.<\/p>\n
Isabel Smith led the charge as scoring contributions came from across the roster, helping the Gems extend their lead to 31 points at half time.<\/p>\n
Q3: NZL 22 – 70 AUS<\/p>\n
The defensive intensity only increased after the break.<\/p>\n
Australia’s bench players made an impact with deflections, tips and hustle plays, holding New Zealand to just two points for the quarter.<\/p>\n
The Gems took a 48-point advantage into the final term.<\/p>\n
Q4: NZL 34 – 99 AUS<\/p>\n
With the result well in hand, Australia rotated its starters while continuing to get contributions across the floor.<\/p>\n
Eliza Shanahan found her rhythm late, while every player on the roster managed to score as the Gems closed out a 65-point victory.<\/p>\n
Australia dominated the glass and forced a mountain of turnovers (19 steals) throughout the contest.<\/p>\n
NEXT UP<\/p>\n
Australia will turn their attention to Korea, tomorrow from 2:30pm AEDT<\/a>. Follow the game live on FIBA YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U18 Australian Gems have produced another commanding performance from start to finish, controlling the glass and attacking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,83],"class_list":["post-916675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}