SHENZHEN (China) - Heroes were aplenty as Malaysia outlasted Indonesia in an overtime nail-biter, 67-66, to retain their Division A status in the FIBA U18 Women's Asia Cup 2024, Friday at the Longhua Cultural and Sports Center.
Winners of Division B in the 2022 edition, the wards of Coach Pang Hui Pin displayed character especially the trio of Erica Ng Mun Shuen, Yap Yi Xin, and Emily Ang Zi Shan as they came through with the crucial plays in extra time to secure the win.
Ang broke the 62-all deadlock early in OT through a split from the line, before Ng pushed their lead to 67-64 with 2:22 to go as the Malaysians stayed ahead the rest of the way en route to keeping their place in the tournament's topflight division.
Indonesia, on the other hand, will have to earn their ticket back to Division A through the Division B in the competition's next edition in 2026.
Game heroes: A member of the team that ruled the 2022 Division B meet, Ng led Malaysia with 23 points, spiked by a pair of triples, alongside 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block as she tallied a team-best efficiency (EFF) of 17.
Low Ler Yee produced 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. She was the only other double-digit scorer for the squad, but Yap You Row and Ellie Chen Yi Tin provided significant contributions as they finished with 8 points apiece.
Yap only scored 2 points but was hustle personified with 11 rebounds, none bigger than the offensive board she hauled down after Ng's missed free throw just before the final buzzer sounded, making sure that they'd come out with the W.
Turning point: Malaysia actually held a six-point lead during the third quarter but Indonesia went on an 11-0 run to take a 44-39 lead late in the same period.
Ng, though, got going in the fourth and put themselves back in the driver's seat, nailing five straight points for the 59-58 lead with 2:49 to go. Just moments after, their advantage would stretch to three, 61-58, behind a conversion by Ang.
But the Indonesians were gritty. Jasmine Prajitno cut the gap to a point, and Anggita Putri would sink the go-ahead bucket for the 62-60 lead with 52.5 seconds left.
Things appeared bleak for Malaysia after that sequence, but caught a lucky break when opposing guard Maxine Sutisna got assessed with a technical foul while trying to disrupt Malaysia's baseline inbound with 3.6 seconds left.
Malaysia got awarded one free throw following the infraction and Low would not wasted the chance, nailing the bonus to eventually send the game into OT.
Stats don't lie: Turnovers hurt Indonesia's chances. They had 21 which were 5 less than what Malaysia had, but committed 4 of those in the extra period.
It couldn't be any more heartbreaking for the team of Coach Bambang Pribadi, which kept its Division A status in 2022 behind a buzzer-beater by Vanissa Siregar.
FIBA