SHENZHEN (China) - Zhang Ziyu spelled the difference again as China vanquished Korea, 79-61, before an appreciative crowd at the Longhua Cultural and Sports Center to complete the FIBA U18 Women's Asia Cup 2024 Final picture, Saturday night.
The 17-year-old wunderkind finished with monster numbers of 34 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 assists for an efficiency of 47, playing a major role in the hosts' second-quarter assault that completely turned the game around in their favor.
By having done enough damage even before the halftime break, Coach Wang Guizhi deemed it best to preserve her prized player for the bigger battle ahead.
That is, of course, the much-awaited Final on Sunday, June 30, where they will be facing reigning champions Australia in a rematch of the 2022 title bout.
Zhang saw action for a total of 21 minutes and 35 seconds in a turnover-less outing, and receiving more rest and recovery should bode well as they go for the gold in a battle between the two undefeated teams of the tournament.
Game heroes: Xu Peilin was the only other double-digit scorer for Team China with 12 points and 11 rebounds, but all players contributed at least 2 points in the rout.
Turning point: The Chinese only held a slim 24-21 lead entering the second chapter as the Koreans were going toe-to-toe with them behind solid shooting from deep.
But they couldn't sustain as much. Soon they all became cold and the home team capitalized on it, leaning on Zhang inside as the opposition could not figure out a way to at least push the towering figure away from her comfort zone.
China completely owned the said period, 21-3, to build a 46-24 lead entering the half. Korea would never recover as they played catch-up all the way to the end.
Stats don't lie: China once again dominated the boards, 61-36, but will have to brush up on taking care of the ball better as they had 26 turnovers. Korea only had 8. Still they got the job done behind commendable team play as evidenced by 26 assists.
FIBA