The 2015 champion was well-beaten 60-45 by Taranaki yesterday morning. The loss squashed its semifinal prospects and the side is now battling for the minor placings in Christchurch.
Coach Todd Marshall was able to pinpoint exactly where it went wrong.
"They played really well in the second half and we competed well defensively," he said.
"But when you’re scoring percentage is 23%, you are not going to win many. We really struggled to convert and put the ball in the hole."
Marshall said Otago got some good looks early in the game but as the match wore on "it just felt like it was really hard work out there".
"We just could not seem to get really good options but there was some good defence put on our players.
"We could not get our mojo going on offence, that’s for sure."
Otago landed just one of its 22 three-point attempts. Veteran guard Soraya Umaga-Jensen was the only Gold Rush player to get the ball to drop from beyond
the arc.
But it was not just poor shoot ing which cost Otago dearly.
Taranaki bigs, former Silver Fern Jessica Tuki and United States import Lyndi Laborn, dominated on the inside.
Laborn registered an impressive double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Tuki had 17 points and seven rebounds against the undersized Gold
Rush.
"We always knew that was going to be a challenge. Jess and Lyndi worked nicely with high and low options and it was tough. The American girl uses her body well and it was just quite a battle."
Danielle Frost was the leading scorer for Otago with eight points, and Grace Love grabbed six rebounds.
The Gold Rush played again yesterday afternoon against the Waikato Wizards in the plate semifinal and lost 63-55.
