The 2024 FIBA U18 Women's Basketball Asia Cup in Shenzhen has come to an end, with the final four followed by the final four battles of Japan, which were beaten by defending champions Australia and China, who were eliminated by last year's runners-up, in the semi-finals. Japan and South Korea are also old rivals, from the perspective of book strength, the Japanese U18 women's basketball team has star players such as No. 26 Yuko Tanaka and No. 11 Hiroshi Sakura on the guard line; The South Korean U18 women's basketball team relies more on the play of the two interior combinations of No. 1 and No. 11. With the Japanese team blasting out a 25-4 offensive climax in the first quarter, the game lost suspense early, and in the end, they also defeated their opponents by 15 points and won the bronze medal in the U18 Women's Basketball Asian Cup for the first time in two years.
In the last game against the defending champions, the core guard of the Japanese women's basketball team, Yuko Tanaka, played erratically, shooting only 2 of 13 from the field, even so, the Japanese team once took the lead in the second and third quarters, and finally lost to the Australian team by only 5 points, which is a pity. In this campaign, Yuko Tanaka finally found herself, facing the South Korean team with a similar body to herself, the U16 period was famous, 1.72 meters tall guard, bravely hit the inside, in only 21 minutes on the court, handed over a report card of 9 in 17, 22 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, with a personal plus/minus of +25, which is the biggest contributor to the Japanese team's victory, and it is also the completion of self-redemption.
Because of the loss to the Chinese team in the group stage, the Japanese U18 women's basketball team did not have a chance to go straight to the semi-finals of this tournament, as the second group of Group B, they could only advance to the final four by playing a play-off with the third team in Group A, Taipei, and won a ticket to the 2025 Czech U19 Women's Basketball World Cup. Because this tournament is a tournament system, teams like Japan and South Korea are fighting at a frequency of one game a day, which is quite expensive, especially for small defenders like Yuko Tanaka, it is inevitable that there will be ups and downs in form.
Japan still won the bronze medal in the end, and Yuko Tanaka contributed 19 points, 1.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game in six games, shooting 44.7% from the field and 38.5% from three-point range, with the third highest points per game average and the 10th best assists in this tournament. With such an excellent performance, Yuko Tanaka will definitely have a place in the final best team, and she will also become one of the main opponents of the Chinese women's basketball team in Asia for a long time.
In the next year's U19 Women's Basketball World Cup in the Czech Republic, the semi-finals of the U18 Women's Basketball Asian Cup, China, Australia, Japan and South Korea will participate. After a year of training, what kind of surprises will these future women's basketball stars bring us? Let's wait and see.