China women were crowned champions of the 2017 IWBF Asia Oceania Championships for the second time running, with a 57-46 win over the Australian Gliders.
China remained undefeated during the championship seeing off Japan, Australia and Iran during the week’s competition.
Australia opened strongly in the first half and looked in control throughout the first quarter leading at the break 16-12. The second quarter saw China increase their defensive pressure in the frontcourt and were able to bridge the gap to one point at the halftime break – Australia hanging on to a one-point lead – 24-23.
The third quarter saw both teams struggle to find their shooting touch, in a low scoring quarter tied 8-8. In the fourth quarter, China continued to hustle and put pressure on the Australia’s offence with a high court press, causing a number of turnovers of which the Chinese capitalised to take the lead. Australia continued to stay within touching distance though and with three minutes to go China held only a two-point advantage. However, the Chinese pressure in the paint proved to be the undoing of Australia, as the foul count added up sending the Chinese to the line, from where they were converted 14 from 18 attempts to retain their Asia Oceania Championship title.
Xuemei Zhang had 13 points and 7 rebounds with Xiaolian Huang and GuidiL Yu adding 11 points, Lyu scoring 7 of her 11 points from the foul line in the final 2 minutes. Cobi Crispin had another strong game for the Gliders with 17 points and 11 rebounds and was well supported by Amber Merritt with 10 points. STATISTICS
In the bronze medal game as expected, it was Japan who outclassed Iran to win 76-19 and take home the bronze. As Japan regrouped following their disappointment of missing out on a World Championships spot, they demonstrated their professionalism scoring consistently in all quarter, 19-6, 17-6, 20-3, 20-4 to secure third place. Mari Amimoto led the scoring for Japan, with a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds, closely followed by Ikumi Fujii’s 17 points. For Iran Mahsa Saadatzeidanloo top scored with 10 points, whilst Fattaneh Pourat played an important role grabbing 9 rebounds and adding 4 points. STATISTICS
Men's Competition Summary and Results
All results, statistics and live stream for the 2017 IWBF Asia Oceania Championships
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