Bengaluru, 8th July 2017: On day four of the William Jones Cup, India continued to show improvement in the run-up to the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup later this month in Bangalore. Even though India lost 59-113, there were quite a few positives to draw from their performance against a strong Chinese team, as the Indian women shot a healthy 45 percent from the field, and rebounded the ball well. China are 10th in the FIBA women’s rankings.
Head coach Zoran Visic made two changes to the starting line-up that began the game against South Korea, bringing point guard Kavita Akula and Rajapriyadharshini R in for Poonam Chaturvedi and Barkha Sonkar. The coach will be encouraged by the all-round performances from Jeena Skaria in back to back games, as she dropped 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting and grabbed 8 rebounds. Shireen Limaye also stepped up, with 14 points that included two 3 pointers.
But the Chinese women got off to a fast start in the game, leading 31-9 after the first quarter. They held their lead throughout, eventually prevailing because they shot the ball better overall: 60 percent from the field and 48 percent from beyond the arc. Five Chinese players finished the game with points in double figures.
Next up, the Indian women play China ‘White’ on 9th July at 1700 hrs CST (1430 IST).
Republic of China Blue (Wu Ying Jie 28 pts; Zheng Yi Xiu 18 pts; Huang Xiang Ting 13 pts) bt India (Jeena Skaria 15 pts, 8rebs; Shireen Limaye 14 pts; Anitha Paul Durai 8 pts) 113–59 [31-9, 23-13, 25-22, 34-15]
