Korea start 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women with a win; Knock Mozambique out
Jung-Ja Sin hammered a game and tournament high 25 points, hauled down 11 rebounds, dished out 3 assists, made three blocks and stole the ball twice to lead the Koreans to a 71-65 win over Mozambique in the first game of Day-2
of the 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women here in Istanbul, Turkey.
The 6 ft 1 in Korean centre was simply phenomenal. She made 7 of their 13 two point attempts and managed a perfect 11 from the charity stripe.
She was backed up by forward Yeon Ha Beon, who chipped in with 15 points on a 5 of 14 shooting from the floor, including four three pointers. Jung Eun Kim also chipped in with 12 points for the Asians, who shot 19 of 41 from the
two point range and also connected on five three pointers.
Unlike the last game against Croatia, Mozambique gave the Koreans a run for their money, but a strong second half by the Koreans meant that the African women became the first team to get knocked out of the tournament.
They were once again led by their two centres – Clarisse Machanguana and Leia Dongue. Clarisse who had erupted with 23 points and 13 rebounds in the last Group C fixture yesterday managed to end this one with 15 points, 8 rebounds,
4 assists and 3 steals while Dongue chipped in with team highs of 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Mozambique guard Deolinda Ngulela also scored also scored 15 points on a 6 of 8 shooting from the floor including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. She also dished out 7 assists and had 6 rebounds.
The problem for the Africans was that no other player scored more than 5 points. They matched the Koreans shot for shot in the first 10 minutes and took a 2 point advantage into the break, at 37-35.
However, after the interval, Mozambique just couldn’t sustain the immense pressure exerted by Korea. They got outscored by 4 in the third, to give up the lead and never managed to catch up, losing by 6 points in the end.
There was literally nothing to separate the two teams in terms of shooting, assists and rebounds. The thing that hurt the Africans the most was their free throw conversion (9-of-18 as compared to 18-of-21). Mozambique also committed
an alarming 25 turnovers as compared to 17.
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