FIBA U-18 Asian Championship Divison A: Australia, China, Japan, and Korea proved they are a class apart

Apart from the China and New Zealand game, the other games turned out to be one-sided affairs on Day 2 action in the FIBA U-18 Asian Championship.

Result Game 1: Australia defeated Chinese Taipei 106-66 (35-23, 26-13, 23-21, 22-9)

Scorers: (AUS: Miela Goodchild 27 pts, Ashlee Hannan 12 rebs, Jazmin Pamela Shelley 9 assists; TPE: Yu-Chieh Chen 21 pts, Yi Hua Li 6 rebs, Chia-Jung Lin 5 steals)

The Story: Australia crushed Chinese Taipei by 40 points to notch their second victory of the Championships.

First Half: Yu-Chieh Chen’s 12 point effort went in vain as Australia scored better as a unit; coasting to a 12 point lead in a high scoring first period. Miela Goodchild’s eleven point effort increased the lead to 25 points at the end of the first half.

Second Half: Chia-Jung Lin came up with an excellent performance to score 11 points with a trio of jump shots.

But it was still not enough as the Gems went into the final quarter with a handy 27 points lead. Australia was in cruise mode in the last period with Isabel Leigh Palmer scoring five points to round off a superb victory.

Stats: Australia converted 52% of their two-point field goals with 28 assists. They dominated the boards with 64 rebounds (33 defensive and 31 offensive), 34 points from second-chance shots, with 56 points coming from the paint.

Australia added 23 fastbreak points and 34 from turnovers. Yu-Chieh Chen made six of her seven free throw attempts to end with a conversion rate of 85%.

Star Performer: Australia's Miela Goodchild earned a double-double - 27 pts, 10 rebs, 2 assists, 1 steal, and Player efficiency rating 27.

Charlisse Leger-Walker of New Zealand. (Image Courtesy: FIBA)

Result Game 2: China defeated New Zealand 67-58 (13-16, 17-11, 18-13, 19-18)

Scorers: (CHN: Mingling Chen 15 pts, Ziting Tang 11 rebs, Yuan Li 9 assists; NZL: Charlisse Leger-Walker 22 pts, 8 rebs, 5 assists, 5 steals)

The Story: China scored a slender nine points victory over the Tall Ferns in their second group match.

First Half: With 12 points in her kitty, Charlisse Leger-Walker stole the show in the first period with a three-point jump shot on the buzzer to give the Ferns a slender three-point lead.

Mingling Chen scored eleven points as China in a similar fashion took over the three-point lead with Yuan Li’s three-point jump shot on the buzzer.

Second Half: Charlotte Whittaker scored six points with a couple of lay-ups but still was unable to prevent the Chinese from taking an eight-point lead.

Ziting Tang closed out the game with a series of jump shots to score ten points in the final period.

Stats: China dominated the boards with 50 rebounds (34 defensive and 16 offensive), along with ten fast break points. Ming Zheng ended with a 75% conversion rate on free throws with six of her eight attempts finding the basket.

Yutong Liu converted five of her six shots to finish with a two-point field goal conversion rate of 83%.

Star Performer: Charlisse Leger-Walker of New Zealand - 22 pts, 8 rebs, 5 assists, 5 steals, and Player efficiency rating 24.

Jihyun Park from Korea (Image Courtesy: FIBA)

Result Game 3: South Korea defeated Indonesia 84-40 (20-6, 25-8, 24-16, 15-10)

(KOR: Jihyun Park 20 pts, Seoi Eom 9 rebs, 5 steals, Inah Park 7 assists; IND: Tricia Mary Aoijs 9 pts, Leonita Angela Suwanto 5 rebs)

The Story: Korea coasted to a 48 points victory over Indonesia in a one-sided affair.

First Half: With Indonesia managing to score only in the last four minutes of the first half, Korea surged ahead to a 14-point lead through Sohee Lee’s triad of three-point jump shots. Seoi Eom’s ten-point effort extended the Korean lead to 31 points.

Second Half: Jihyun Park closed the game in the third period with her ten point effort pushing the lead to 39 points. Seoi Eom top-scored with six points as Korea wrapped the match with an easy victory.

Stats: Korea registered 55% two-point field goal conversions with 28 of their 51 shots finding the basket. They garnered 24 assists, 61 rebounds (32 defensive and 29 offensive), 19 steals, 31 points from turnovers and 35 from second chances, with 50 points from the paint and 18 fast break points during the entire game.

The bench contributed an incredible 41 points. Jihyun Park played a stellar role basketing nine off her 11 two-point field goals to register an incredible 82% success rate.

Star Performer: Jihyun Park from Korea - 20 pts, 9 rebs, 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, and Player efficiency rating 29.

Japanese Basketball team (Image Courtesy: FIBA)

Result Game 4: Japan defeated Malaysia 130-31 (36-7, 34-8, 26-8, 34-8)

(JAP: Shori Yamashita 23 pts, 18 rebs, Saki Ikeda 9 assists; MAS: Sin Jie Tan 11 pts, Sin Lu Yong 8 rebs)

The Story: Japan routed Malaysia by a whopping 99 points in their second group game in Bangalore as the Malaysians ended with a single digit score in all the quarters.

First Half: Shori Yamashita scored eight points with a trio of jump shots as Japan took a 29 point lead in the opening period. Ririka Okuyama and Norika Konno gathered six points each as Japan raced away to a 55 point lead.

Second Half: Japan compounded the misery on Malaysia with a massive 73 points lead with Hikari Komura scoring seven points with a couple of lay-ups. Shori Yamashita ended the final quarter with another ten point score to finish the game with a double-double of 23 pts and 18 rebs.

Stats: Japan scored 36 assists, 58 rebounds (36 defensive and 22 offensive), 58 points from turnovers with 36 fast break points and 24 points through second chances.

The bench contributed an extraordinary 90 points, while 80 points came inside the paint. Japan enjoyed a 59% success on conversion of their two-point field goals and an astonishing 70% with their three-point field goals with 18 of their 34 attempts finding the basket.

Malaysia was guilty of turning over the ball 38 times as Japan accounted for 20 steals. Chinatsu Umeki had an 83% conversion of two pointers with five of her six attempts finding the basket and Hikari Komura ended with 77% converting seven of her nine attempts.

Star Performer: Japan's Hikari Komura earned a double-double - 20 pts, 11 rebs, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, and Player efficiency rating 35.