BEIJING (Olympics Women) – Angela Marino had 19 points and Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe drilled two key shots from behind the arc near the end as New Zealand edged Mali 76-72 on the opening day of the Olympic women’s basketball tournament.

Djene Diawara’s three-ball from the left corner with 2:17 remaining had put the African champions into a 69-66 lead but McMeeken-Ruscoe replied shortly after to tie the contest.

After Meiya Tirera leveled the scores again at 71-71 with a strong move inside, Mali called timeout to discuss their end-of-game strategy but when play resumed, they left McMeeken-Ruscoe open and the 28-year-old buried the shot from long range in front of the Kiwi bench for a 74-71 lead.

“I guess that’s what my position is all about,” McMeeken-Ruscoe said.

 “I’m a shooting guard. I’m one of those players that’s quite calm and don’t get emotional all the time.  I think coach (Mike McHugh) knows that.”

After Mali’s Nagnouma Coulibaly made one of two at the line to trim the deficit to just two, the New Zealanders received some good fortune when Angela Marino was fouled right before the 24-shot clock expired.

Noni Wharemate turned the ball over, though – the Kiwis’ 20th of the game – with 15 seconds left to give Mali a chance to pull level or go in front with a three.

Mali inbounded the ball to Hamchetou Maiga, arguably the best women’s player ever to come out of Africa, and she attempted to drive into the lane only to be turned away by Noni Wharemate.

The New Zealand guard prevented the Gambrinus Brno (she also plays for the Houston Comets in the WNBA) star from entering the paint and Maiga travelled.

She then fouled Marino with one second remaining and the point guard made both free throws for the four-point win.

Maiga, who finished with 18 points and seven rebounds but turned the ball over five times, spoke about Wharemate’s defense to FIBA.com.

“That is a call you really wouldn't get,” she said.

“Even if she had pushed me, I still would have had to play well and that was my mistake.”

Mali ended up with 26 turnovers, but Maiga believed it was something else that cost the team.

"For our next games, we need to play defense from the start and not wait until the second half," she said.

"We’re disappointed that at the end, we didn't get the win because we thought this was the game we could win.

"In the first half, we didn't play defense and we gave away 42 points. We are going to have to play better defense. In my opinion that was the biggest thing.”

FIBA