Undefeated FIBA Women's Asia Cup squads maintain records in second day of action

25/09/2019

News

to read

Undefeated FIBA Women's Asia Cup squads maintain records in second day of action

BENGALURU (India) - All 4 of the 2017 Semi-finalists continue to stay undefeated after the second day of action at the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup, securing their spots in the next phase of the competition.

Australia cruised to another victory, allowing coach Sandy Brondello to balance the minutes for all of her players again. Ezi Magnegor led the team in scoring for a second straight game with 14 points, looking to emerge as a superstar in this tournament.

(Ezi Magbegor)

Chinese Taipei continued to be frustrating for contending teams, taking a 6-point lead into the halftime break against defending champions Japan. A change in mentality for Japan powered a 51-16 second half pushing them through to the win.

Ramu Tokashiki is being eased back into her Women’s Asia Cup MVP form and recorded 19 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals, to go with 3 blocks. Japan’s defense was stellar by the end of the final buzzer with Chinese Taipei shooting only 27.9 percent from the floor.

(Ramu Tokashiki)

In their dominating win over the Philippines, China took the opportunity to rest some of their stars like Shao Ting and Gao Song ahead of their featured clash against Australia. It was a good chance for China’s trio of youngsters to shine, headlined by Chen Mingling’s 21 points. Han Xu had an all-around line of 10 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 blocks.

(Mingling Chen)

Korea also took their turn at claiming a big victory, blasting by hosts India after falling behind in the first quarter. After a 24-6 second quarter by Korea, they never looked back until the final buzzer. 7 players scored in double-digits for Lee Moonkyu’s squad, led by 23-year-old An Jin who had 21 points on 6-7 field goal shooting and 9-11 shooting from the charity stripe.

The final day of the Group Phase will be interesting with plenty on the line for each of the 4 games. The winners of the bouts between Australia and China as well as Japan and Korea will get a direct ticket to the Semi-finals. The losers of the Chinese Taipei vs India and New Zealand vs Philippines games will go on and play to avoid relegation in the 7^th place classification game.