Bengaluru, 6th July 2017: The Indian women’s basketball team came up against a strong Japanese team in their second game of the 39th William Jones Cup, to lose 42-93. This was always going to be a tough game, as the Japanese women’s team are ranked 13th in the world, and Indian basketballfans will be encouraged by the performance put in by the Indian women.
The team featured a much changed starting line-up, as head coach Zoran Vicic gave the bench an opportunity to stake a claim for an enhanced role in the upcoming FIBA Women’s Asia Cup in Bangalore later this month. Captain Anitha Paul Durai, R Rajapriyadharshini, and Jeena Skaria were replaced by Anjana P G, Navaneetha P U, and Anmolpreet Kaur in the starting line-up. All three put in hearty performances, but the coach will be particularly encouraged by Anjana P G, who had 4 points and 6 rebounds.
In the end, the Indian team was no match for the quick scoring Japanese women. As a team, the Japanese shot 49% from the field and 33% from beyond the arc, with five players finishing the game with points in double figures. The Japanese women raced to a 36-13 lead at the end of the first quarter, an offensive performance that was typified by a quick fire 13 points in 5 minutes from Hayashi Saki. She finished the game with 17 points.
Next up, the Indian women play South Korea on 7th July at 1500 hrs CST (1230 IST).
Japan (Hayashi Saki 17pts, Mirai Tamura 15 pts, Midori Murayama 10 reb) bt India (Raspreet Sidhu 9 pts, Shireen Limaye 8 pts) 93-42 [36-13, 20-7, 12-8, 25-14]
