Basketball: Tall Ferns take fifth place at FIBA Asia Cup with playoff victory over Chinese Taipei

The Tall Ferns have settled for fifth place at the FIBA Asia Cup in Jordan, defeating Chinese Taipei 74-59 in Amman.

After their title chances and FIBA World Cup qualifying hopes were ended by Australia, the Tall Ferns were playing for pride in the fifth-place playoff, defeating a side two places higher than them on the world rankings.

Tied 16-all after the first quarter, the Tall Ferns showed their class to pull away from Chinese Taipei in the second - and didn't relent.

New Zealand won the next three quarters, leading 38-29 at halftime and 49-32 heading into the final period.

Penina Davidson led the way for the Tall Ferns' scorers, with 26 points and seven rebounds and was ably supported by a phenomenal individual display from Kalani Purcell - who had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds to go with four assists and four steals.

Charisse Leger-Walker (nine points, three rebounds, four assists and one steal) and Mary Goulding (six points, eight assists) also added valuable contributions.

Fifth place is a heartbreaking consolation for the Tall Ferns though, who needed a top-four finish to advance to the qualifying tournament for next year's FIBA World Cup in Australia.

Japan and China will contest the Asia Cup final on Monday morning, while Australia and South Korea will play for third - with all four sides sealing their World Cup qualifying tournament spots.