AMMAN (Jordan) - On the last day of the Group Phase, Australia and New Zealand claim wins as the final Semi-Finals and FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 spots are confirmed.

Australia won the first game of the day by running away with a big second quarter to beat Korea, 96-79.

The score was close throughout the first and early in the second quarter, but as usual, the Sapphires padded on to their lead to get them another win. Australia remain undefeated, not only in this specific edition of the competition, but in their entire history at the U16 Women’s World Cup.

Saffron Shiels was the top performer for the Sapphires in this game, flirting with a triple-double of 20 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals while also missing only 2 shots from 9 attempts from the field. Isla Juffermans (18 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists) and Tabitha Betson (14 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists) also added double-doubles for undefeated Australia.

The second game of the day was an important one as it clinched the last spot to the Semi-Finals and U17 Women’s World Cup.

New Zealand ended up securing that spot with a 94-45 win over India to wrap up Group Phase of Division A.

Both teams ran into scoring draughts in the first quarter, but it was the Junior Tall Ferns who snapped out of the slump first. New Zealand jumped out to a 16-0 run that spanned from the tail end of the first quarter to midway through the second quarter and the lead only ballooned from there.

All players got on the scoreboard for New Zealand, led by Maia Jones’ 15 points. Ivey Brown added 12 points, while Lilly Taulelei recorded 7 points and 10 rebounds.

After Japan and Australia confirmed their Semi-Finals and U17 Women’s World Cup spots the day before, today was Korea and New Zealand’s turn to secure theirs.

This sets up Semi-Finals matchups between Australia and New Zealand as well as Japan against Korea. These four teams have also qualified for the FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 where they join the other qualified teams which are Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Mali, Mexico, Slovenia, Spain, USA, and hosts Hungary.

FIBA