OSAKA (Japan) - After yesterday’s devastating loss, Bosnia and Herzegovina made a huge comeback to beat Japan, 87-82, at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 Qualifying Tournament Osaka.

In the first half, Japan’s small ball squad was on fire as they made 12 three-pointers on just 24 attempts. Saki Hayashi was the best markswomen on a team that just seemed to be unable to miss a shot and made 5 three-pointers to put Bosnia behind 46-38.

At the beginning of the second half, Bosnia still struggled to stop Japan’s long range shooting and it seemed as if Japan would come away with another win here at home. However, Bosnia weren’t done just yet.

They found a solution in the final quarter: go to the best in the world. The one woman offense. Jonquel Jones.

“I could have had 5 points and I'd be happy as long as we win.”

 The 1.98m (6’6”) phenomenon dominated on both ends of the floor throughout the entire game, especially in the final interval and ended up with 36 points and 23 rebounds. Bosnia outscored Japan 23-12 in the final quarter to pull of the stunning comeback win.

Jones, who was selected MVP for this tournament, expressed her joy of winning.

“It wasn’t our best game against Canada and we knew it,” she said. “We understand that game didn’t define us and we played good basketball and took pride in what we do." 

Jones thinks she could play better

“Extremely happy with the result, extremely happy with the fight in the team. Everybody stepping up and playing their roles to the best of their abilities and being able to pull out the win.”

As the most dominating force in Osaka, Jones emphasized that this is a win though the work of an entire team effort. Even though satisfied with the results, Jones think she could have maybe added even more points to her already incredible total.

“I feel happy every time I play the game. I always find something that I can be better at and I feel like my finishing could be better. I feel like I could have had 10 more points, I missed a lot of freebies around the rim, but that’s just the way of the game.” Nonetheless, the only thing that matters to Jones is winning the game.

”I could have had 5 points and I'll be happy as long as we win.”

Forget Canada

In their first game of the tournament against Canada, where they lost 96-64, Bosnia were unable to be patient and keep on fighting. However, they put on display in this game that the game against Canada was an outlier. They were tough on both ends of the floor, mentally and physically.

“We didn’t quit whole game even when Japan shot 50 percent on three-pointers at halftime, and they even keep that percentage up almost until the last quarter,” said Goran Lojo, head coach of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“We tried to stop them but it wasn’t possible to stop so in the end, at least we stopped their easy points in the paint and mid-range shots.”

 In this last day of this tournament, the “Dragon Ladies” proved to the world once again why they are one of the most exciting up and coming teams in women’s basketball. And that they deserved to showcase their talents once again at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup next September. 

FIBA