FIBA Asia Women - Favorites roll on Day 4

BANGKOK (FIBA Asia Championship for Women/FIBA World Championship for Women) - China, Japan and Korea all cruised to big triumphs to set up an intriguing last day of Preliminary Round action at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship for Women.

The three giants of the region, and Chinese Taipei, have sealed places in the Semi-Finals but the order of finish in Level I remains to be seen.

In the last contest on Wednesday, China met resistance early on but grabbed the initiative in the second quarter and rolled to an 85-63 victory over Chinese Taipei.

Looking to set up a pivotal clash on Thursday with Japan, who won 81-40 earlier in the day against India to stay unbeaten, China trailed Chinese Taipei 19-17 at the end of the first quarter but then stamped their authority on the clash in the second when coach Lin Hung Ling-Yao rested her starters.

China went on an 18-2 run in the first five minutes of the second quarter to lead 35-21 and stretched the advantage to 44-26 by half-time and never turned back.

Gao Song had 10 of her 17 points in the first half.

She also finished with 11 rebounds.

Chen Nan had 11 of her 17 points in the first half.

Now comes a game with Japan that will have an impact on first place in Level I.

The Japanese, who used their reserves for most of the game against India, will clinch top spot if they defeat China.

If China beat Japan, though, a tie-breaker will be used to determine first place if Korea win for a fourth time with a victory over Chinese Taipei.

If Korea were to lose and China were to win, then the latter would be in first.

"Looking ahead to the Japan game, I think they intend to play us a certain way," said China coach Tom Maher.

"And we want to turn some of their strengths into weaknesses, perhaps.

"But you've got to follow the rules against that team.

"If you make a mistake, their talent is at a (high) level. They're at their best since the eighties. They've got a very good team."

In Japan's victory, the Far East team stormed into a huge lead early, allowing coach Tomohide Utsumi to sit most of his starters down for the rest of the game.

Asako O led Japan's balanced scoring attack with 15 points.

Utsumi is excited about the clash with China.

"It's a very important game and the players know that," he said. "I think we're going to have a great game tomorrow (Thursday).

"The best thing we can do is to finish first and that's our target."

Utsumi says Japan are playing exactly as he wants.

How good does he think his team is?

"We've been preparing for a long time, since May, and we've been getting much better, step by step," he said.

"We're still improving in this tournament day by day."

The frontcourt of Ramu Tokashiki, Yuka Mamiya and Asako O could be the key against a China team that is big, strong and getting better with each game.

"We really need them to play well tomorrow (Thursday)," Utsumi said.

Japan also have the luxury of fast guards Yuko Oga and Asami Yoshida, and a reliable scorer in wing Michiko Miyamoto.

Korea, who were 92-65 winners over Kazakhstan in the first game of the day, got 34 points from Park Hyejin.

The top three sides in the tournament will advance to the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women in Turkey.

In the Level II games, Malaysia handed the Philippines their first defeat, winning 60-56.

Uzbekistan prevailed 70-62 over Hong Kong and hosts Thailand clinched a 75-61 victory over Indonesia.

For full and in-depth coverage of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship for Women, go to the official http://bangkok2013.fibaasia.net.

FIBA