Samoa held off an impressive Hong Kong, China outfit in a thrilling 11 point win in Division B, 62-51 as they hunt down their first podium finish and the coveted promotion to Division A.
It’s a familiar story for Samoa’s having won the FIBA U16 Woman’s Asia Cup in 2022 to secure their first ever promotion to Division A, with trio, Kira- May Filemu, Peata Manumalegua, and Caprice Hiko amongst that history creating team two years ago.
Drawing inspiration from that experience, Filemu dug deep notably in the final stages of the third, putting her body on the line under the mounting pressure from Hong Kong, China to finish with an impressive double-double, 23 points and 20 rebounds.
“It was a very intense game, we came out strong, but they chased us down, and I’m just happy we pulled away to get the W,” Filemu said. “I have never played against Hong Kong China but they are a great team, unpredictably athletic, we talked about it in out time-outs, the release of their shots were crazy fast.”
Mylaani Shay Siolosega Sione, and Peata Manumalegua both played their role in a gutsy win for the Pacific team with Manumalegua finishing with a nice double-double of her own, 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Japneet Kaur stood tall deep into the third quarter, inspiring a mini Hong Kong China come-back supported by Cheuk Yu To who finished the game with 13 points.
Iran took care of business against Kyrgyzstan in a physical encounter with Mahsa Karani once again leading the way to finish with 18 points, 6 rebounds running at 15 efficiency. Atena Jafarzadeh played a pivotal role early on when Kyrgyzstan was applying pressure with Helya Houdneh instrumental under the rim at both ends to finish with 6 rebounds, 4 offensive and 3 defensive.
Leading for the duration of the game, Iran bounded away 9-0 scoring streak to setup a mouth watering encounter tomorrow against Samoa with both teams in the group undefeated.
Iran Head Coach Eleni Kapogianni said the group are performing incredibly well with limited preparation, as they take each game as it comes.
“None of these games are easy for us until we make them easy, our motto is being tough of defence for the full 40 minutes, because this is what will keep us in games and competitive,” Coach Kapogianni said. “We know we are not the favourites at this tournament, but we are going step, by step, doing our best and seeing what happens.”
Poised their final group match against Samoa tomorrow, with both teams undefeated, Coach Kapogianni know her girls will embrace the challenge. “Samoa is the favourite but we will go back, watch the tape, and we will put our best effort in. This means a lot for Iran Basketball, and Iran, everything comes at the right time, so everything will come when we are ready.”