Korea claim third place, keep Olympic dream alive

WUHAN (2015 FIBA Asia Women’s Championship) - Korea took the last place on the podium and kept their Rio 2016 Olympic dreams alive after beating Chinese Taipei, 52-45, in Saturday's Third-Place Game at the 2015 FIBA Asia Women’s Championship in Wuhan, China.

Turning Point: Chinese Taipei were hanging around when they made it just a seven point game with two minutes left on the game clock. Korea were also struggling offensively and had only managed four points in eight minutes. But Danbi Kim kept her composure to hand her team a precious score which effectively wrapped up the victory.

Stats don't lie: Korea were simply stunning on the offensive glass and that allowed them to keep their opponents at bay. They corralled an eye-bulging 30 offensive rebounds in the contest.

Game Heroes: They didn't actually finish with particularly great shooting numbers, but 15 points from Danbi Kim was imperative as she really got her team onto the front foot early, while Kyung Eun Lee claimed a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bottom Line: Chinese Taipei finished fourth and in the position they were expected to, as well as where they have found themselves so many times before - even if they had hoped to break into the top three at this tournament. The addition of Hsi-Le Bao has been fruitful and this was another really nice defensive display, but they had to shoot the ball better to get onto the podium. Korea bounced back from their disappointment of not making the Final to continue their perfect podium sequence of having finished in the top three at every edition of this competition. They didn't shoot that well, but used their hustle on the offensive glass to control the game and fend off a potential late surge. Now they have something significant to focus on after securing a ticket for next year's FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT).

FIBA