AMMAN (Jordan) - The FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship Division A reigning champions Australia began their quest to defend the title with a win over New Zealand. Meanwhile, Japan remain undefeated with a win over Korea.

In the first game of Division A, Australia broke away after a slow first quarter to beat New Zealand, 77-57.

The Sapphires built their lead in the second quarter, holding the junior Tall Ferns scoreless for five minutes while going on a 10-0 run. From there, Australia didn’t look back until the final buzzer for the win.

Isla Juffermans led Australia with 22 points on 10-14 shooting while also collecting 10 rebounds. She wasn’t the only one with a double-double as Saffron Shiels also had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists.

Isla Juffermans led Australia with 22 points

Japan were able to keep their record perfect at the end of the second game of the day, beating Korea 82-51.

Korea were actually up ahead by 6 points with 2 minutes to go in the first quarter, before Japan unleashed a run of 14 unanswered points. After another 16-0 run that stretched form the second quarter to the third quarter, Japan cruised away with yet another win.

Nearly everyone got on the scoreboard for Japan, though Kokone Ueno led the team with 14 points on 100 percent shooting. As a team, Japan recorded 26 assists.

The third gameday tomorrow will be an exciting one starting with India going up against Korea. Both teams are still winless so far in the competition and a win could go a long way towards qualifying for the U17 Women’s World Cup later in July. The second game of the day will be highly anticipated as it was be a rematch of the 2017 Final between Australia and Japan, the two undefeated teams at the moment.

FIBA