On June 30, Beijing time, the U18 Women's Basketball Asian Cup entered the last day of the competition, and in the three or four qualifying matches that had ended, the Japanese team defeated the South Korean team 69-54, the Japanese team won the third place in this event, and the South Korean team won the fourth place. The much-anticipated final was played by China against Australia.
Match preview
China and Australia both won four straight games to reach the finals, with China beating South Korea 79-61 in yesterday's semifinals to advance to the finals, while Australia narrowly beat Japan 68-63 to advance to the finals. In the final of the last U18 Women's Asian Basketball Championship, the Australian team defeated the Chinese team 81-55, the Australian team won the championship, and the Chinese team was the runner-up. In this event, the Chinese team has an inside giant, Zhang Ziyu, who vows to complete revenge at home and finally win the championship.
Zhang Ziyu averaged 33.3 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game in the first four games of this tournament, and her scoring and rebounding ranked first among all players, and her efficiency value was also a fault lead. Australia's leading player No. 10 Somfeld averaged 21 points and 10.3 rebounds per game in four games at the tournament, ranking second among all players in scoring and rebounding, behind Zhang Ziyu.
Game recap
Chinese team starters: Xu Fengwei, Wang Jiaxin, Li Yuwei, Zhang Ziyue, Zhang Ziyu
Australia starters: Williams, Somfeld, Sears, Monique, Xavi
In the first quarter of the game, both sides played tightly at the beginning, the Australian team took the lead in breaking through the layup and scoring, Zhang Ziyue hit the board in the low post to help the Chinese team open the scoring, Wang Jiaxin hit a three-point shot, Williams scored easily under the basket, Xu Fengwei also hit a three-point shot, the two sides fought to an 8-8 draw, and then the score of the two sides was tight, Somfeld easily broke through the layup and scored, the Australian team led 13-10, Zhang Ziyu couldn't score in a row, and was replaced off the court to rest, Xu Fengwei broke through to make two free throws, Li Yuwei broke through the layup and scored, The Chinese team chased to only one point, after which the shooting rate of both sides declined, the Australian team always maintained a slight lead, the Australian team continued to make kills, Zhang Ziyu re-put on the battlefield, she caused a foul but did not score two free throws, and then Zhang Ziyu scored her first sports battle score under the basket, at the end of the quarter, the Chinese team continued to make free throws to increase the score, with Xu Fengwei hit both free throws, the Chinese team fell behind 19-20, Shears grabbed the offensive basket and scored two attacks, and at the end of the first quarter, the Chinese team fell behind 19-22.
In the second quarter of the competition, Hu Yifan drifted and shot 2+1, but unfortunately the free throws were not scored, the Australian team continued to cut into the air, with Shears hitting both free throws, the Australian team held a 5-point lead, Zhang Ziyu scored two points from his own throw to help the Chinese team stabilize the situation, Bonnie hit a three-point shot, Williams counterattacked, the Chinese team fell behind by eight points and asked for a timeout, Xu Fengwei scored a tough layup after the pause, Bonnie hit another three-pointer, Wang Jiaxin responded with a three-point retreat, the Australian team blossomed more, and scored with Hills layup, The Australian team's lead came to double digits, Zhang Ziyu rested on the court, the Chinese team fell into a scoring drought, Hills made consecutive free throws to help the Australian team continue to expand the lead, there were less than three minutes left, Zhang Ziyu returned to the court, she played 2+1 in a row, the Chinese team played a 10-0 offensive to narrow the difference to 4 points, at the end of the quarter, Crook basket scored to help the Australian team break the scoring drought, halftime, the Chinese team 42-49 behind the Australian team. Zhang Ziyu shot 7 of 19 in the half, and was inefficient, scoring 19 points.