Amman (Jordan), (Asian independent) The Indian women’s basketball team came up with an improved performance but still went down to South Korea 69-107 in a Divison A match of the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup here on Tuesday.
The Indian team had started with a disappointing 46-136 defeat against top seeds Japan, while South Korea had defeated New Zealand 85-69 in the four-team Group A. With their second defeat, India are out of the hunt for the semis spot as Japan and Korea surged ahead.
With the top two teams reaching the semi-finals, both India and South Korea were looking for a win and the Indians came out fighting.
India had a good first quarter as they remained close on the heels of their opponents, trailing 20-26 after the first 10 minutes. But their attack fell apart in the second quarter as Korea scored 26 points but restricted India to only 15, thus opening a 16 points lead (35-51).
The trend continued in the third quarter as the South Koreans upped the ante in attack and defended well to deny the Indians scoring chances. India could manage only seven points as compared to Korea who scored 33. Though the Indians outscored their Korean opponents in the final quarter 27-23, it was too late and too little as India went down 69-107.
Shireen Limaye was the top scorer for India with 16 points while Pushpa Senthil Kumar contributed 12 points. For Japan, Kang Lee-Seul scored 18 points while Park Hye-jin and Park Ji-Hyun scored 15 points each.
In the other game in this group, Japan beat New Zealand 62-50.
On Wednesday, India take on New Zealand in their final group match while Japan meet South Korea to decide the top spot in the Group.
