CHENGDU (China) - The Fujitsu Red Wave stamped their class on the Surabaya Fever by way of a 115-45 runaway triumph to break through in the FIBA Women's Basketball League Asia (Asia) 2024, Friday at the Jinqiang International Event Center.
Hungry for redemption after being stunned by the Cathay Life Tigers on Thursday, the WJBL champions jumped to a 16-4 lead and never looked back as they went on to improve to 1-1 - and kept their championship aspirations very much alive.
The team of Coach BT Toews will look to sustain their fiery form when they take on the Sichuan Yuanda Meile Basketball Club in the final game of the tilt on Saturday.
Game heroes: Seven players finished in double-figures in the 70-point rout, with Saki Hayashi and Moeka Era showing the way with 16 points apiece.
Nigerian center Joshua Temitope came through with 15 points on an excellent 7-of-9 shooting from the field, which she laced with 5 rebounds.
The troika of Maho Hayashi, Shori Yamashita, and Akina Uchio, meanwhile, produced 11 points apiece. Yuki Miyazawa added 10 points, spiked by a pair of treys, in the victory that saw Fujitsu convert 56.1-percent of their shots from the field.
Rui Machida scored just 6 points but quarter-backed her squad as she usually does, eventually ending up with 13 of the team's 30 assists.
Turning point: The Red Wave did take control early but it wasn't until the second chapter where the game would totally become a one-sided show.
The Japanese squad erupted for 34 points - capped by three straight triples courtesy of Era and Maho - in the said period to establish a 61-24 advantage entering the halftime break. Yes, the 60-plus points in just the match's first 20 minutes.
It's also worth noting that Era, ditto with Saki and Miyazawa, already had 10 points each heading into the intermission as Surabaya couldn't find any answer.
Stats don't lie: Fujitsu converted a a total of 18 triples in the win, with Era and Saki nailing a quartet apiece. They dominated the boards as well, 56-38, with 13 rebounds courtesy of Aki Fujimoto as she exemplified hustle for the Red Wave.
FIBA