BANGKOK, Thailand (FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women 2016)- Japan put on yet another dominant performance on day 2 of the FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women 2016, this time against hosts, Thailand.
The Japanese team's pace and athleticism proved too much for Thailand to handle, as Hitoshi Takahashi's girls cruised to an easy 93-54 victory.
Turning point: Thailand were fighting to stick with Japan, trailing 12-8 in the end of the 1st quarter; However Japan used a 12-0 run midway through the second quarter to pull away for the easy victory.
Stats don’t lie: Japan’s tight defence forced Thailand to commit 34 turnovers, from which the winning team scored 41 points. Japan also committed many turnovers (19), but the hosts couldn't take much advantage of that (only 10 points).
Game hero: Umezawa Kadysha was present to help her team on both ends. She scored 16 points and collected 6 rebounds in just 20 minutes of play time.
The bottom line: Pace, Team work and defense are Japan’s specialty, and they sure know how to win games. Next for them is East Asian rivals Koreaand a win in that game will improve their chances of finishing in the top two. Thailand meanwhile will be hoping for a much different story when they face reigning champions China on Day3.
FIBA
