Japan, Australia seal emphatic wins: FIBA U-19 World Championship for Women July 25 Roundup (Pt 3)
Japan 97 – 69 Italy
In a display of pure class, Japan decimated Italy in a Group E fixture on Monday. The show stopper for the Japanese side was Shiori Takada, who managed to amass a total of 31 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. She relied heavily on her sweet three point shot and scored 24 points at 80% precision.
Takada’s teammate Rui Machida had an excellent game as well as she netted 22 points along with 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Her shooting was well above the mark as she scored 19 field-goal points at 89%.
Italy’s best player on the night was Giulia Maffenini, who earned 17 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals in the 25 minutes that she played. She had help in the form of Alessandro Formica, who scored 13 points and 8 rebounds.
Japanese star Aya Watanabe, who has been Japan’s best player in this tournament did not play against the Italians.
Japan stepped on the gas as soon as the game started and secured a comfortable 11 point lead by the end of the first quarter. The Italians kept things under control by scoring at par with the Japanese in the second. However, the third and fourth quarters saw the game totally slip away from the Italians and they succumbed to a 28 point loss.
On the whole, team Japan simply breezed through Italy and are now a real threat to all the other teams in the competition.
Chinese Taipei 46 – 89 Australia
Monday’s most one sided game witnessed a teaching lesson conducted by team Australia for Chinese Taipei. The Aussies controlled the game in all departments, with Tayla Roberts scoring 18 points, grabbing 8 defensive rebounds and providing 3 assists; all in just over 19 minutes. The Australian side rotated all 11 players during the match and displayed an excellent team chemistry.
Alexandra Bunton, who played for just 15 minutes for the Australians, scored 11 points in addition to 8 rebounds while Carley Mijovic also earned 10 points and 4 rebounds in 13 minutes.
The Chinese Taipei team had little or perhaps nothing to offer. Their brightest spark came in the form of Yu-Chun Wei, who netted 15 points and grabbed 2 rebounds. I-Hsiu Cheng was the only other noticeable Chinese Taipei player with 11 points and 2 assists.
The result of this game was never in doubt after the first quarter. Australia consistently maintained a lead of ten points or more every quarter until the final score line displayed a margin of 43 points. The Chinese Taipei team could not handle the exquisite movement of the Australians and continued to leak in defense. The Australian team is looking strong at the moment and is one the favourites to lift this tournament in the coming few days.
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