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Australian girls too good for home teamBasketball action resumed less than 24 hours after the indoor arena had been completely inundated following Sunday's downpour in the city
Hita Prakash
DHNS
Last Updated IST
Credit: DH Photo
Credit: DH Photo

It took India five minutes from the start of the game to put the first two points on the scoreboard when Australia had raced ahead to 17 by then.

The domination by the team from Down Under was complete as they overpowered the home team to a 116-49 win in their opening Division A, Group A league clash of the FIBA U-18 Asian Women's Championships at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.

Basketball action resumed less than 24 hours after the indoor arena had been completely inundated following Sunday's downpour in the city.

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Australia, who finished third in the last edition of the event, were in cruise control from the word go as they ended the first quarter 32-8.

Whereas India - promoted to Division A for the first time - found the going tough throughout. During the first 18 minutes, the hosts managed just two 2-pointers and as many 3-pointers with the rest in their 20 points coming from free throws awarded due to Australia's fouls.

While the first half finished with the Aussie girls taking a comfortable 60-25 lead, much of the second half was for India to shed their nervous start to put some resistance against a mighty opponent. And resist, they did but only for a bit. Indians, who found it difficult to penetrate inside the 'D', took their chances to score from outside of it. It paid off initially until the Aussies upped the defence to deny India too many chances before running away with the win.

Australian coach David Herbert's rotation of players at regular intervals of time meant all the 12 players on the bench contributed baskets for their team. The pick of the lot, however, was Isobel Borlase who top-scored with 20 points and 6 assists.

For India, Deepthi Raja shone the brightest with 14 points and 4 assists.

In other Division A, Group A matches, Korea defeated New Zealand 81-64. Group B action saw Japan down Chinese Taipei 90-77 while defending champions China outclassed Indonasia 91-30.

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(Published 06 September 2022, 21:29 IST)