In the semifinals of the U18 Women's Basketball Asian Cup, the Chinese women's basketball team defeated the South Korean women's basketball team 79-61 and advanced to the finals. In this game, Zhang Ziyu, the main center of the Chinese women's basketball team, played 21.5 minutes, made 17 of 25 shots, scored 34 points, 16 boards (9 frontcourt boards), 5 assists and 1 steal, and a plus/minus of +28. At 18:00 tonight, the Chinese U18 women's basketball team will face the Australian U18 women's basketball team in the final to compete for the Asian U18 women's basketball championship.
For Zhang Ziyu's performance, the South Korean media "OSEN" spoke highly of it. Their news headline used "The 220cm Great Wall of China is too high, South Korea's U18 women's basketball team lost to China and failed to advance to the finals", directly pointing out the main reason for the team's loss.
In the report, the South Korean media lamented: Zhang Ziyu (17 years old), a 220-centimeter giant girl, is too tall. Zhang Ziyu shot on the spot, didn't even have to jump, and dominated the rebound. Even when she is stationary, she jumps higher than the Korean athletes. Any tactics are meaningless in the face of Zhang Ziyu's strength. The South Korean could only watch as she went to get the rebound.
After the South Korean team was eliminated, the South Korean media pinned their hopes on the final team Australia U18 women's basketball team to stop the Chinese U18 women's basketball team. They wrote in the report: "In tonight's final, the tallest player in the Australian team is Lala Songpai, but she is also only 1.91 meters tall, which is 21 centimeters shorter than Zhang Ziyu. However, except for Zhang Ziyu, the average height of the Australian team is higher than that of the Chinese women's basketball team. Can Australia conquer the Great Wall of China? ”
In this year's U18 Women's Basketball Asian Cup, Zhang Ziyu can be said to be shining. In the first game against Indonesia, Zhang Ziyu only played 13 minutes and watched 19 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, helping China beat Indonesia 109-50; In the second game against New Zealand, Zhang Ziyu scored 36 points and 13 rebounds on 16-of-20 shooting, leading the team to defeat New Zealand 90-68; In the final round of the group stage, the Chinese U18 women's basketball team defeated Japan 97-81, Zhang Ziyu made 20 of 22 shots, scored 44 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists.
Compared with the performance in the group stage, Zhang Ziyu's hit rate in the semifinals is indeed a little "low". Even so, she is still the winning weapon of the Chinese team in the final. In the 2022 U18 women's basketball final, the Chinese women's basketball team lost to Australia 55-88. This time, the goal of the U18 women's basketball final led by Zhang Ziyu is to take revenge on Australia and return to the top of Asia after 6 years!