China reigned supreme for the 16th time after breezing past their arch rivals Japan 89-76 in the final of the 24th FIBA U18 Women's Asian Championship, held at the Sri Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru.
Japan produced power-packed performance building a slender lead early into the game 22-19. But China's Yuan Li was quick to break the momentum of the opponents. Just when Japan had gained an upper hand, China bounced back scoring some accurate shots, ending the first half with both the sides locked at 38.
Now, as the game rode out in second half, China went on to gain a massive 33-14 cushion. Riding on the back of a scintillating show by hoopster Yuan Li, the Chinese team pocketed 28 points to restrict Japan 1/11 (9%) from beyond the arc. It proved to be game changing statistic.
Japan did try to stage a comeback with some aggressive shoots but it was nearly not enough. On the contrary, Chinese team was exceptionally balanced as Mingling Chen came off the bench and scored another 17 points for China. With the lanky Mingling Chen and Ziting Tang dipping the ball into the net attack after attack, the Japanese found it tough to stop them. The gangling Mingling Chen being brought in very cleverly by the think tank, China kept up their lead for the most part as Yutong did well to station herself below the basket and then turn in the passes that were lobbed to her.
After this, the match just spun just out of Japan's reach.
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