CHENGDU (China) - Sichuan Yuanda Meile Basketball Club displayed composure in the endgame to withstand Fujitsu, 74-69, and clinch the inaugural FIBA Women's Basketball League Asia (WBL Asia) championship on Saturday night.
The Pandas witnessed what was once a 20-point lead become just five inside the game's final 3:14, but they did a little bit of everything on both ends to prevent a collapse and eventually complete a three-game sweep of the tournament.
Game heroes: Han Xu starred for the reigning two-time WCBA champs with a game-high 24 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks for an efficiency of 26.
Gao Song finished with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds for 23 EFF, while Wang Siyu supplied 14 points as they all helped stabilize the situation, most especially in the fourth quarter amidst a furious rally by the Red Wave.
Turning point: Song herself was crucial when Xu was rested for a while, nailing back-to-back hits from point-blank range to build a 74-65 lead with 2:26 remaining.
Fujitsu managed to trim the gap to 74-69 behind Akina Uchio's perfect trip to the line - off a Li Meng foul - with 1:04 to go, but that proved to be the closest they could get.
As Saki Hayashi tried to lift the WJBL titlists nearer, Zhang Manman came through with arguably the biggest stop of the night with about 40 seconds left when she stripped the ball away from her counterpart, who tried to get past her for a layup.
The window for a comeback became smaller for Fujitsu, and Sichuan would eventually celebrate - much to the delight of the over 8,000 fans in attendance.
Stats don't lie: The Pandas were only slightly better on the boards, 42-38, but 15 of those came from the offensive end - most of which led to 14 second-chance points.
FIBA