Asia Cup: Opals lose to Japan, now face crucial Korea clash
The Australian Opals campaign for a first FIBA women’s Asia Cup basketball title has taken a major hit after being served up a dominant 91-66 defeat by a sharp-shooting Japanese team in Sydney on Wednesday.
The Opals will now have to beat Korea in a classification game on Friday night to decide who will face Group B winner China in the next round of the tournament.
Despite the setback, Australia is red hot favourites to beat Korea, paying $1.02 with online bookmakers, with the win margin set at 18.5 in favour of the home side. This must win clash will tip off at 7:30PM on Friday night in Sydney.
While that game plays out, women’s basketball powerhouse China, ranked number two in the world, lie in wait after finishing the first round of the tournament with a 3-0 clean sheet, after an 87-81 overtime win over Korea.
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The Opals were coming off two big wins on Wednesday night and got out to an eight-point lead against the Asian Cup defending champions to be up 15-6, with forward Darcee Garbin notching five inside the first minute, with Japan missing four field goal attempts.
Guard Mai Yamamoto took charge in the second quarter with four threes to lead the Japanese comeback as the Opals lost control and the lead.
The visitors were here to play and made things difficult for the Australians showcasing their shooting potency as they came back from an eight-point deficit to hold a 44-32 halftime lead.
The Opals tried to bring the game back after the halftime break, but Japan pulled away to lead by 19 at three-quarter time and by as much as 30 in the fourth.
Japan armed with the ice dagger sank 17 three-pointers at 51 per cent through the game and shot 54 per cent overall from the field, while keeping Australia to just 39 per cent.
The point-scoring was not the only area the Opals were outplayed in, with the Japanese out rebounding them 33-31 and forcing four more turnovers on the Australians then their own game stats.
Monica Okoye led the individual contributions with 20 points, including four threes; Mai Yamamoto sank 19 points with five threes; while Anri Hoshi added 15 points with three threes.
The Opals only had two double-digit scorers, Maddison Rocci (12) and Alice Kunek (11), as our national team struggled to deal with Japan’s potency, transition and screen game, paired with their long-range shooting.
The performance showed what has won Japan the last five Asia Cup titles as they took top spot in the group and booked a semi-final spot.
Opals captain Tess Madgen said that Japan showed how to apply the pressure, leaving her team a little out of their depth.
“Japan turned up the pressure in that second quarter,” Madgen said.
“We were a bit stunned when they started hitting all those threes and next game, we need to be way better at regrouping a lot quicker.”
This do or die clash against the Koreans sets the stage for a great battle, with the two sides having faced off in the third-place game at the last two Asia Cups, Australia taking bronze on both occasions.
