SEREMBAN (Malaysia) - China and Japan continued their dominant ways to stay unbeaten in Group B of the FIBA U18 Women's Asia Cup 2026-Division A competitions at the Karisma Arena on Monday night.
The competition's only 16-time champions blasted Chinese Taipei, 95-46, before their East Asian rivals totally outclassed host nation Malaysia through a 136-29 obliteration to cap off Day 2 of the tourney.
Both teams have improved to 2-0 following their lopsided wins ahead of their clash tomorrow, Tuesday, October 6, at 16:30 local time, making it a battle for the top spot in the pool and an outright Semi-Finals berth.
Sun Ruiyang bannered Team Dragon's balanced attack with 18 points. Sun Hanyun notched a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds plus 2 steals and 1 block, while Hu Ruiyan supplied 13 points and 6 assists.
Li Yuanshan and Peng Yunshu added 9 points apiece for the Chinese, as all 12 players of Coach Nan Chen contributed at least 1 point in the wire-to-wire victory, in which they led by as many as 50.
Japan also received plenty of help in subduing Team Harimau, with Marin Koike starring with 25 points and 7 rebounds. Moe Sakara backed her up with 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists off the bench.
Lead playmaker Miya Takeuchi delivered 17 points, on top 8 of the team's 34 steals. Rio Matsumoto tallied a 13-6-4 stat line together with 6 steals, while Mio Yamamoto and Yuuka Mizubayashi chipped in 12 points each.
Tomorrow's duel between the former tournament titlists will mark their 18th meeting in the U18 Women's Asia Cup, per available record, with Team China coming in with the head-to-head advantage with a 13-4 record.
The last time that the Japanese won in this rivalry was in 2022, a 76-59 rout during the Group Phase before China took their next two meetings, the most recent a 97-81 result during the 2024 games in Shenzhen.
Meanwhile, Malaysia and Chinese Taipei will face one another at 19:00 tomorrow as well in the final game of the Group Phase.
FIBA