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China books semifinals encounter with South Korea in Asia Women's Basketball Championship

Xinhua, September 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

After beating Chinese Taipei 76-62 here on Wednesday, China finished second in level 1 and booked a semifinals encounter with South Korea in the 26th FIBA Asia Women's Basketball Championship.

China lost to South Korea twice in last edition two years ago, while taking "revenge" with a 74-58 win in group phase last Sunday.

Chen Xiaojia had game-high 17 points and eight rebounds. Shao Ting and Lu Wen had 15 and 14 respectively.

"Our post players did not perform well tonight. They could not put the ball into basket with body contact. We suffered 22 turnovers. Some players took the victory for granted," said Thomas Maher, China's head coach.

China took on a 9-0 spurt after the tip-off, forcing the opponents into a timeout before they made a strong comeback into the game. Chinese Taipei led by 18-16 on Wei Yu-Chun's layup, before Chen Xiaojia's buzzer-beating jumper tied the game at 18 as the first quarter ran out.

Thanks to a 12-2 run, China built a double-figure lead early in the second period, and had an eight-point advantage in hand into the halftime.

Chinese Taipei once cut the deficit to six points on Liu Chun-Yi's jumper and Chang Hsin-Ko's basket, while that was the smallest gap between two sides. China responded with Lu Wen and Chen Xiaojia's consecutive shots.

China still managed to have a six-point lead with five minutes remaining, before Chen Xiaojia had five points in a row to pull away the game.

"We need to have a new look in the semifinals against South Korea," said Maher.

Only one Chinese Taipei player had double-digit points. Chang Chi-Fang scored 13.

South Korea thrashed winless India 121-44 on Wednesday, fueled by six players' double-figure points. Kim Danbi had game-high 20 points.

In another level 1 match, defending champions Japan recorded their fifth straight win in the tournament after crushing over Thailand 95-43 in an earlier match. Japan and Chinese Taipei will have a face-to-face competition in Friday's semifinals.

In level 2 matches, the Philippines beat Kazakhstan 80-73 through overtime; Malaysia downed Sri Lanka 57-33; and DPR Korea upset Hong Kong, China 66-43. Endi