SHENZHEN (China) – Australia showed what previous teams were not able to do as they kept their mastery of China, 96-79, to successfully defend the FIBA U18 Women’s Asia Cup title, Sunday night at the Longhua Cultural and Sports Center.
With fans and pundits alike believing that it could be the traditional powerhouse’s best chance to reclaim the throne they lost to the same team in 2022, the Gems showed otherwise, leaning on collective effort to make it a rough outing for Zhang Ziyu.
Undeniably the biggest star – literally and figuratively – of this tournament, the 2.20M center still finished with 42 points and 14 rebounds, but went just 18-of-36 from the floor and made only half of her 12 shots from the free throw line.
Plus, she barely had any support as the 17-year-old was the lone double-digit scorer for the home team after the Aussies kept her teammates in check as well.
Game heroes: It was a stark contrast for the newly-minted two-time champions, which had 4 players score in twin figures in the conquest.
Saffron Shiels led the way with 31 points, 15 rebounds, and 6 assists for an efficiency of 43. Monique Bobongie supplied 23 points and 7 rebounds.
Monique Williams and Bonnie Deas, meanwhile, chipped in 12 points apiece and combined for 10 rebounds for the team of Coach Kristen Vale.
Turning point: Shiels was responsible in putting the Gems ahead for good, scoring 5 straight points to give her side a 68-63 edge at the end of the third quarter.
The Chinese still kept themselves in the game until Zhang was subbed out with about 4 minutes left to play, never to return. And that was an opening which Australia pounced on to make sure that they will fly back home with the gold again.
After Zhang Ziyue sank a trey to make it an 85-79 gap with 3:21 left, the troika of Shiels, Bobongie, and Deas put together the finishing 12-0 run to seal the deal.
Stats don’t lie: Australia held China to just 39.7-percent shooting from the floor while they shot 53.5-percent despite the Zhang’s presence inside, and that’s partly to their passing that yielded 21 assists. They won the rebounding battle as well, 58-31.
FIBA