The 'Big Four' of Division A stay unbeaten

BENGALURU (FIBA U18 Women's Asian Championship 2018) – Heavy favorites Australia, Korea, China and Japan posted their second straight wins today, setting up exciting finale Group head to head encounters. 

Australia's balanced scoring attack saw as many as 6 players score in double digits, led by shooting guard Miela Goodchild (27 points, 10 rebounds in under 25 minutes). Taipei was thoroughly outclassed on the boards, with Australia pulling down as many as 31 offensive rebounds to make this a no contest.

Subsequently, in a relatively low scoring encounter, both New Zealand and China struggled mightily from the field initially, before China managed to pull off an unconvincing 67-58 victory.  For New Zealand, unlike yesterday where they were outgunned by the trigger happy Japan, against China the two sides seemed well matched up. Both teams preferred to score from the paint, and the game saw as many as 16 lead changes. While for New Zealand, point guard Charlisse Leger-Walker had 22 points, 8 rebounds and 5 steals, the deeper Chinese attack had five players who scored at least 10 points or more.

Later in the evening Korea and Japan dispatched the weak challenges from Indonesia and Malaysia respectively.

Japan's win was especially dominant, as all 12 players had got onto the scoreboard by halftime. The gifted outside shooting side was also an impressive 7/10 from beyond the arc, which partially explains the final 130 point scoreline. 

RESULTS

Australia bt Chinese Taipei, 106-66

China bt New Zealand, 67-58

Korea vs Indonesia, 84-40

Japan bt Malaysia, 130-31 

FIBA