AMMAN (Jordan) - Australia and Japan will be facing each other in a second consecutive FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship after both winning their Semi-Finals matchups today.

Australia were the first to book a ticket to the final, earning a hard earned victory over Korea, 98-81.

The game was closely contested with Korea even leading for some stretches, and it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Sapphires exercised their size advantage to break away for the win. Australia out-rebounded Korea 45-23, had a 17-5 advantage on second chance points, and outscored Korea 46-30 in the paint.

Throughout the game, Australia shot 56.9 percent from the floor and 45 percent from the three-point line.

Isla Juffermans provided the bulk of the damage down low as set the all-time single-game scoring record in the U16 Women's Asian Championship with 37 points on 13-18 shooting. The center also added 15 rebounds for another double-doubled in the competition.

Four other players scored in double-digits for Australia, highlighted by Jessica Petrie who almost had a triple-double with 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 10 assists.

Korea hung on with their exceptional shooting from beyond the arc with 12 three-pointers on 40 percent conversion rate. Leading the way was Kim Sol who scored 20 points on 6 three-pointers. They also got a big contribution from Jeong Hyun who scored 17 points on 7-12 shooting from the field.

The second spot in the Final was secured by Japan after a 87-58 win over New Zealand.

Japan led from start to finish, allowing only a short stretch in the second quarter when New Zealand were able to close the gap down to single digits. Taking advantage of their speed and hustle, Japan scored 24 points in transition and 18 points on second chance attempts.

It was a balanced attack from Japan who saw five players scoring in double-digits led by Kokone Ueno (14 points). Point guard Kokone Kurokawa scored 9 points and had her second game of recording double-digit assists with 11 in this game.

Following the results of this game, the Final will be played between Australia and Japan. The two teams already faced each other in the Final of the 2017 edition of the competition with the Sapphire winning the game, 61-60, to win their first title in their competition debut. Japan will be making their sixth straight Final appearance, in search of their second title since previously winning it all in 2011.

Korea and New Zealand will also play for third-place in the final day of the competition tomorrow. New Zealand missed out on a podium finish in 2017 and will have the chance for their first time among the top three teams this year. Korea will be aiming for their third ever podium finish after finishing fifth place in 2017.

FIBA