AUSTRALIA has won its second successive Women’s Under 18s Asia Cup after running out 17-point victors over China last night. The Gems defeated the host nation for the second time in as many tournaments, remaining undefeated throughout and withstanding a third quarter challenge to storm to gold, 96-79.
The reigning champions snapped a five-title winning streak by China in 2022 – with the tournament run every two years – defeating China in the final that year. In 2024, the Aussies overcame an almighty scare in the semi-finals from Japan – scraping past by just five points (68-63) – to reach the decider again.
In an entertaining performance, it was Australia’s incredible dominance off the boards that helped the green and gold secure the latter, pulling in 58 rebounds to 31, including 41-19 defensive rebounds. The Gems benefited off China’s shooting percentage from inside the arc of just 40.6 per cent, while the host nation ran at 35.7 from outside the arc.
While Australia’s long-range shooting was not as effective – 26.7 per cent – it did drain 60.7 per cent from two-point range, allowing the Gems to put up 96 points to 79, including a massive last quarter of 28 points. They also scored 19-6 off fast breaks, and 64-48 in the paint.
Despite Australia being in control throughout the game, China gave the Gems a huge scare in the third quarter. Prior to that, the green and gold had held leads of three and seven points at quarter time and half-time respectively. But after getting out to a 53-45 lead just 90 seconds into the third term, Australia conceded the next 10 points for China to hit the front by two with just under five minutes to play in the quarter.
The home side – led by 220cm center Ziyu Zhang – held a five-point buffer with three and a half minutes remaining, but the work of Saffron Shiels scoring seven points in those last few minutes helped Australia finish with eight of the last 11 points and take a five-point advantage into the last term.
While China kept in touch in the first half of the quarter – and were even within six points after a Zhang triple – Australia finished the stronger of the two sides, scoring the last 11 points of the match for a 28-16 final term to run out victorious. Shiels, Bonnie Deas and Monique Bobongie were particularly dominant in the finish.
Shiels was sublime in her 37 minutes on court, putting up 31 points – including shooting at 100 per cent from 12 shots inside the arc – and dominating off the boards with 15 rebounds. She also had a game-high six assists in the win.
Bobongie helped out with 23 points – including three of four from long-range – seven rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Deas (12 points, six rebounds and two steals) and Monique Janae Williams (12 points, four rebounds) were the other two major scores. Lara Somfai‘s 13 rebounds from 28 minutes was also crucial in defending the basket.
Zhang was a lone scoring hand out on the court for China, putting up a ridiculous 42 points, shooting 18 of 36 from the field, while also collecting 14 rebounds – 10 offensive – and putting back plenty of shots. Fengwei Xu (nine points, seven assists) and Jiaxin Wang (eight points, six rebounds) were the next highest scorers.
AUSTRALIA 22 | 27 | 19 | 28 (96)
CHINA 19 | 23 | 21 | 16 (79)