TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan eased past New Zealand 92-50 in a women’s basketball international friendly Saturday in the last game before flying out to France for the Paris Olympics.
Maki Takada led with 23 points and Yuki Miyazawa followed with 16 for ninth-ranked Japan as the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist wrapped up a two-game series against New Zealand with two wins, following a 125-57 demolition Thursday also at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena.
Eighteen-year-old Lauren Whittaker scored a game-high 33 points for 26th-ranked New Zealand, not qualified for Paris. But the home team otherwise had a comfortable game, having led after each quarter despite only making 12 of their 45 three-point attempts.
“We’ve set our minds on winning the gold medal at the Olympics and put everything for it up till this point…I believe we can surprise the world,” head coach Toru Onzuka said after the match to a crowd of 10,745.
Japan will play two more warm-up games before the Olympics, against host and seventh-ranked France on July 19 and sixth-ranked Belgium two days later, both in Lens. The United States, Germany and Belgium await in Group C in Paris.