The New Zealand women’s 3x3 basketballers - Tiarna Clarke, Kalani Purcell, Jillian Harmon and Ella Fotu – could have won a gold medal in Birmingham. Instead they ended their competition in fourth place.
They looked to have the third place play-off against Australia under control when they led by four points with 3min 42s remaining.
But Australia turned things around dramatically and with 2min 12s had levelled at 11-11.
The Australians kept the pressure on and won 15-13.
The New Zealand team reflected after the match on how their tournament had played out. They lost in the semi-finals to Canada, who they’d beaten earlier in the tournament.
To finish without even a bronze medal left them “heartbroken”, as Clarke described it.
“We played well together. We could’ve, should’ve won the gold medal. I’m still super-proud of the girls, but it’s hard to take.”
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