Hangzhou, China, October 5, 2023: China held on to edge Japan 74-72 in the Asian’s Games women’s basketball gold medal game at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium on Thursday night in a contest that at one point looked like a blowout but turned into a thriller.
China’s Wang Siyu clinched the win for the hosts with a driving layup with nine seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Japan never led in the entire game, but tied the score 72-72 with 17 seconds left.
China coach Zheng Wei said it is not easy to defeat a familiar foe.
“Team Japan is an old opponent and very tough, very resilient,” Zheng stated. “We were fully prepared. We did not have enough time to build the team as we would have liked. But we had fighting spirit.”
Zheng cited her team’s perimeter defense as key to the triumph.
“We knew they were fast and good at making 3-pointers,” Zheng noted. “They usually make 14-15 3 pointers in a game, but today we held them to seven.”
Li Meng scored a team-high 17 points for China, which defended the title they won in 2018. Saki Hayashi also had 17 for Japan.
“From the beginning to the end it was amazing. It was wonderful,” Hayashi remarked. “We did not do well in rebounds and mid-range shooting, but I think we can learn a lot from this game.”
Huang Sijing and Li Yueru both pulled down nine rebounds for China which outrebounded 45-34.
Maki Takada and Himawari Akaho had eight boards apiece for Japan.
China outshot Japan from the field 48 percent to 39 percent.
“We had a wonderful game with China,” Japan coach Toru Onzuka commented. “We were fighting throughout the whole game. I want to thank my players for fighting all the way.”
Onzuka acknowledged his team’s problems with scoring.
“We need to improve our shooting percentage and be more flexible on the court,” Onzuka said.
China captain Li Yuan said she and her teammates believed in themselves.
“We made very good preparation,” Li noted. “We knew they were a good team. We stayed confident and that’s why we won the game.”
Both teams rolled into the game with 5-0 records and Japan had seven players on their roster from the squad that won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
China used their superior height and interior defense to help secure the victory. Japan was forced to shoot from outside most of the first half and had difficulty driving to the basket.
China missed several outside shots in the second half, and Japan began driving to the basket and hitting perimeter shots to key the comeback.
The game got off to a sloppy start as two full minutes were played and several shots missed by both teams before China’s Han Xu hit a two-pointer.
The score was tied at 7-7 before China ran off 10 straight points to lead 17-7 and Japan called a timeout with 3:36 left in the first quarter.
Japan cut the deficit to five at 12-7, but by the end of the opening quarter China was back up by 10 at 26-16.
China drove the lane and scored repeatedly in the second quarter, where they led by 17 at one point. With the game on the verge of a rout, Japan battled back and sliced China’s lead to 41-35 on a jumper by Monica Okoye with two minutes left in the quarter.
A three-point play by Mai Kawai in the final seconds made the score 45-40 at halftime.
Li Meng had 12 points for China at the intermission, while Hayashi scored nine for Japan.
China boosted their lead to 53-43 with six minutes left in the third quarter as Japan struggled to score. With 3:14 left China was on top 53-47 and took a timeout.
Japan missed several easy shots during the quarter, but still trailed by only six at 57-51 heading into the final 10 minutes.
Japan cut the lead to 57-53 on a layup by Nanako Todo in the first minute of the fourth quarter, Todo was fouled on a nice reverse layup and converted the free throw to make it a three-point game at 64-61 with five minutes left.
Kawai made a fine pass in the lane that Akaho laid in and China’s lead was down to one at 64-63 with four minutes to go.
A beautiful reverse layup by Kawai made it 65-65 with three minutes left, but Li Yuan drained a 3-pointer to put China up 68-65 with 2:36 left.
With China up 72-69, Hayashi hit a long 3-pointer to make it 72-72 with 0:13 remaining and it looked like the game may be headed for overtime. A layup by Wang provided the final margin at 74-72 with 0:09 left.
Former NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady, who played one season in China after his NBA days were over, was in attendance for the game.
In earlier action, Korea routed the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 93-63 in the Bronze Medal Game. Park Jisu paced Korea with 25 points in the win, while the DPRK’s Pak Jina scored 27 in the loss.