SEREMBAN (Malaysia) - China completed the FIBA U18 Women's Asia Cup 2026-Division A Semi-Finals cast following an easy 112-49 victory over the Philippines on Thursday night at the Karisma Arena.
The competition's only 16-time champions zoomed to a 10-0 start into the game, and it would not take that long for the bout to become a one-sided show as their South East Asian foes simply got overpowered.
In fact, Team Dragon even went on 24-0 scoring barrage, abridging the third and four quarters, for the 87-39 cushion with a minute into the deciding frame as they cruised to the penultimate round yet again.
The result has enabled China to forge a showdown with Australia tomorrow, October 9, in an early rematch between the protagonists of the last two Final editions, both of which ended in favor of the Games.
Gilas Girls, on the other hand, will play Chinese Taipei in the Classification 5-6 game tomorrow as well, with the winner joining Australia, Japan, Korea, and hosts China in the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup 2027.
Li Yuanshan led the way for Team China with 21 points, including 6 to power the aforementioned start. The FIBA U16 Women's Asia Cup 2025 All-Star Five member shot 8-of-11 from the field, including 5-of-7 from deep.
Sun Hanyun produced 19 points and 5 rebounds, as Hu Ruiyan supplied 16 points and 6 assists. Yao Zixuan tallied a 14-7-5 stat line while Pang Yunshu added 11 points and 5 rebounds in the wire-to-wire win.
China shot 66.18-percent from the floor in the triumph, missing just 9 of their 40 attempts from 2-point area and hitting a total of 14 triples with an accuracy of 50-percent. They also finished with 30 assists.
Grace Curley, on the other hand, was the lone bright spot for the Philippines with 17 points and 5 rebounds in the crushing defeat. No other player was able to score more than 7 points as they simply got overwhelmed.
Their classification duel versus Chinese Taipei is set for a 14:00 local time tip-off, to be held before the much-awaited knockout Semi-Finals featuring Japan and Korea at 16:30 and the Gems versus China at 19:00.
FIBA