Chinese basketball side has big win

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32994, 14 August 1972, Page 11

Chinese basketball side has big win

The Cathay women’si basketball team began its brief tour of New Zealand on a high note when it effortlessly defeated a Canterbury invitation side, 90-46, at Cowles Stadium on Sat-' urday night. There were nc signs of travel weariness from the Taiwanese players, who ar rived in New Zealand less; than five hours before the game. They were surprisingly slow to settle down but after! 10 minutes in the first half,’ it was obvious that the game could only end one way. j Being a composite team con-, tuning four Canterbury players,, five from Otago, and one from Nelson, the lack of coordination! by the invitation side was hardly surprising. It did have some! bright moments but they were: too few and far between to have any great effect on the of the game. Had better use been made of the height advantage given by, the Sft Otago player. C. Muir,: and to a slightly lesser extent,!

V. Ross, who halls from the same province, some headway might have been possible. However, a well-prepared pattern is needed to capitalise on the physical proportions of such plavers and in such a scratch team as this It was not possible. Cathay got away to a 6-2 lead only to be pegged back to 10-8 after 6min of playing time. But this was as close as the invitation 'team got. The Chinese players began to display greater confidence and the Invitation side had great difficulty in penerating the rone defence of their rivals and at; the same time wasted many scor- . Ing opportunities with either! rushed shooting or off-balance I I shooting PLENTY IN RESERVE By half-time, the Cathay women, I were leading. 43-19. Although clearly keeping plenty In reserve, Cathay continued to dominate the game until the finish. It left the impression that its winning margin of 44 points could have been even greater had it made the effort. The coach (Mr Hong Chmsengi did not at any stage have ail his best players on the court at the same time and the team captain, Shu Son-jeng, one of the i leading players in the side, did ’ not play at all although she took part in the warm-up and was I cleariv quite fit. Even so, the ’ Cathay plavers ' were by no means faultless. They

had considerable difficulty dealing with hard drives and were foul-called on numerous occasions for holding. They also lost a lot of possession through interceptions. Scoring details were:— Cathay 90: Chen Lei-Tyu 25, Ho Ling-ling 22, Ying Lily 11, Chuang Shui-Mel 9. Tsau Ll-yen 9, Huan Seh-Chhin 8. Hong Linglau 4, Chen Su-chen 2. Shu Soopeng (captain;, 0, Ma shu-shiou 0, Liang Mei-yun 0. Canterbury 46: G. Allan 11, B. I Gilkinson 10, C. Muir 9, J. Baker 14, C. Chaplin 4, V. Ross 4, D. Kobins 3, A. Stevens 1, B. Thompson 0, J. Douglas 0. OUTSTANDING The outstanding player of the game was undoubtedly the Sft 'sin Cathay centre, Ho Ling-ling. The 20-year-old student displayed a general technique of a level which few women attain. She set her players up, used screens intelligently and scored freely with a faultless jump shot. There was only one taUer Cathay player, Tsau Li-yen, and only by an inch. She. too. played an Important role under the boards.

The top scorer of the match, Chen Lei-Tyu, was most impressive.

In the Invitation side. Allan was the most effective offensive plaver. Muir, with her considerable height, was obviously a problem for the shorter tourists but her positional play was not always good and she was not fed as often as she should have been under the offensive basket. The Invitation team clearly suffered through the lack of sufficient guards and for much of the first half. J. Baker brought the ball up with the Nelson player, D. Robins. Both controlled the ball well but there was no real thrust in the forward line. Later in the game Baker, a former New Zealand centre, returned to her specialist position and the invitation team immediately looked a more effective attacking unit. . , _ Referees: Messrs J. W. Grocott and R. Milligan.

The photograph shows A. Stevens (Otago) breaking past Huan Seh-chhln during the match. The players in the background are Chen Mel-tyu (Cathay) and the Canterbury captain, J. Baker.