The Taiwan women’s national basketball team advanced to the playoffs after dealing a knockout blow to the Philippines on Wednesday in the critical final game of the group phase of Division A in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2021 held in Jordan.
After losing the first two games in the group phase against Australia 76-65 and China 124-50 on Tuesday, Taiwan had to win against the Philippines to keep its Asia Cup campaign alive, and it did so with style, pocketing the game 93-52 at the final buzzer.
At the postgame press conference, the Taiwanese team’s head coach Chien Wei-chuan (???) said she appreciated the dedication of her team and asked her players to maintain their level of play.
“We completed tonight’s game successfully. Even though there is still room for improvement, every player did their best in the game and I very much appreciate their efforts,” Chien said.
Taiwan stepped on the hardwood with intensity early, dishing dimes and sniping with accuracy to take a 45-30 lead at halftime.
The heat turned up a notch in the second half with the Taiwanese team basically on fire by capitalizing on fast breaks and finding open shooters to make it rain from beyond the arc.
Contributing to Taiwan’s superb form was forward Lin Wen-yu (???), who scored 19 points, including 5-8 from downtown.
“We made sure we had a good defense to help boost our offense,” Lin said after the game.
Philippine forward Afril Bernardino recorded the only double-double of the game with 24 points and 14 rebounds.
Taiwan will next face South Korea on Thursday in one of the Qualification to Semi-Finals Games, while New Zealand will face Australia the same day. Meanwhile, Japan and China have already punched their tickets to the semifinals after they topped their respective pools.
A total of eight teams — Australia, Taiwan, China, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, and the Philippines — gained entry into Division A of the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2021, held in Prince Hamza Hall in Amman, Jordan from Sept. 27-Oct. 3.
The city will also hold the Division B tournament.
Taiwan’s best performance at the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup was in 1972, when it won silver, finishing second after the championship winners South Korea.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel