JOIN USFighting Japan edge past China
Asian powerhouse Japan turned up the heat against China in their final Group B tie, clinching a fighting 70-53 win to secure an easy route into the quarterfinals of the FIBA under-16 Women’s Asia Cup at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.
Japan will face Chinese Taipei on Thursday. China finished second in the group and have to get past South Korea next.
In the morning, Australia continued their winning streak, beating South Korea 83-50, to top Group A. The Sapphires will take on Hong Kong in the last-eight.
New Zealand continued their resurgence, notching up a close 71-66 win over Chinese Taipei.
The Kiwis grabbed second place in the group and will be up against Thailand, who beat Hong Kong 93-64 to land third place in Group A.
Japan were outstanding in the middle and were too quick for the Chinese, who found it difficult to contain their movements.
Center Maya McArthur ruled the paint for Japan. She claimed 10 rebounds and scored six points. Misa Hayashi (12 points) and Sakura Noguchi (11) also made their presence felt.
For China, tall centre Yutong Liu scored a game-high 20 points. She also grabbed 19 rebounds.
Both teams started aggressively, going toe-to-toe with each other, until Japanese skipper Misa Hayashi decided otherwise. Hayashi netted six points as Japan went ahead 20-18 in the first quarter.
Center Yutong Liu led China’s fight back in the second and equalised 26-26 after the first five minutes, However, they could not build on that and trailed Japan 30-34.
Japan came out a different side after the break and went up 52-43 after the third quarter. By the fourth, China were playing catch-up and eventually went down 53-70.
DH News Service
Results: Division A: Group A: Australia: 83 (Last-year Poa 12, Shyla Heal 12, G Amoore 12, Isabel Palmer 13) bt South Korea: 50 (Geumbi Na 23, Yeeun Heo 10); Chinese Taipei: 66 (Hsuan-Yi Tseng 15, K Hsu 14, C Lin 12) lt to New Zealand: 71 (Charlisse Trinity Leger-Walker 30, Sharne Pupuke-Robati 17).
Group B: China: 53 (Yutong Liu 20, Ming Zheng 10) lt to Japan: 70 (Misa Hayashi 12, Sakura Noguchi 11, Aika Hirashita 10); Thailand: 93 (Nantanach Chumjinda 24, Yada Sriharaksa 17, Pimthicha Jantarwong 14) bt Hong Kong: 64 (Nga Wing Law 18, Wing Poon 13, Wing Chan 10)
Division B: Group A: Nepal: 48 (P Magar 20, R Shrestha 14) lt to Sri Lanka: 68 (L Hamza 13, L Hettiarachchi 12, Hiniduma Kapuge 12, Sri Wickramage Don 11).
Group B: Maldives: 10 lt to Kazakhstan: 114 (Dilbar Abbassova 18, Alexandra Komarova 15, Yuliya Marchenko 14, Ulbira Ussen 12, Shyryn Kulbekova 13).
Quarterfinal fixture: Division A: On Thursday: Australia vs Hong Kong; New Zealand vs Thailand; China vs South Korea; Japan vs Chinese Taipei.