Day 2 Level 2 Round-Up - Kazakhs remain unbeaten, Lanka winless; all others locked 1-1

CHENNAI (23rd FIBA Asia Women Championship) - Malaysia sprung a pleasant surprise on the suppositions in Level II competition beating Lebanon as Kazakhstan emerged as the only team to post their second successive win on Friday.

Malaysia staged a superb fourth quarter rally against Lebanon for their 84-69 win and Kazakhstan outsized and outscored Philippines 71-52. Uzbekistan kept Sri Lanka winless with a 89-48 verdict.

Malaysia, Lebanon, Philippines and Uzbekistan all have a 1-1 win-loss record

Malaysia trailed 55-58 at the end of the third quarter, but outscored Lebanon 20-4 in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter and rolled on to post their first victory in the Championship.

An impressive 6/10 record in three-pointers in the fourth quarter was the highlight of Malaysia’s rally.

Kew Suik May converted two three-pointers, Pee Yann Yann, Pang Hui Pin and Goh Beng Fong scored one each in that run as Malaysia unleashed their perimeter shooting prowess.

“We had no other choice but to go for more outside shots, given the fact that we were being outsized,” said Malaysia coach Tan See Wah.

Goh Beng Fong led the scoring for the game with 22 points and Kew finished with 12 points as Thoh Chai Ling chipped in with 14 points.

Chada Nasr led Lebanon’s scoring with 18 points, 13 of them in the first three quarters.

Chantelle Anderson had 15 points, but only four in the final quarter. And Nisrin Dandan scored all her 17 points in the first three quarters.

Kazakhstan opened up the game in the second quarter and then built on it to beat Philippines.

Lyudmila Sedova scored five of her game’s nine points and Anastassia Alishauskite scored five of her team-high 18 in the second quarter as Kazakhstan outscored their opponents 15-6 in the second to move decisively ahead.

Oxana Ivanova and Mariya Protsenko took over from there and consolidated Kazakhstan’s position in the second half.

Ten of Protsenko’s 12 for the game and eight of Ivanova’s ten came in the second half.

Philippines played with their usual effervescence, but were outsized by the much taller Kazakhstan.

Merenciana Arayi’s game-high 26 points was the highest for Philippines.

Chovi Borja chipped in with 16 points.

Uzbekistan, who missed the Level I play-off berth in the last edition surged ahead 27-12 at the end of the first ten minutes.

It was Nataliya Koniva’s show all the way thence forth.

Fielded only at the start of the second quarter, the 20-year-old returned a 58% field record (7/12), including an incredible 4/5 in three-pointers for a game-high 24 points.

Alla Kraskovskaya had 15 points and six rebounds.

Inoka Pedige was the highest scorer for Sri Lanka.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia