CHENGDU (China) - Everyone progresses in life at their own pace. But some people just "get it" so quickly. People like Cathay Life's Yu Wen Hsiao.
The center from Chinese Taipei just only turned 19 this year and she's already made noise in every FIBA competition that she's played in. Moreover, she's always has a knack of putting her best work in her debuts in these competitions. Most recently, it's at this historic inaugural FIBA Women's Basketball League Asia (WBL Asia) 2024, where she's wrapping up her first season as a professional with the Cathay Life Tigers.
Here, we take a look at all of her three debut games so far.
All-around historical
There was just so much history being made in Chengdu on this day, September 26. This was the first gameday ever in the first-ever Asian women's basketball club competition.
Cathay Life were one of the two trailblazing teams and 45 seconds in, Hsiao put her name in the record books by scoring the first points of the competition on a basket in the paint.
She doubled down and also scored the second basket ever one possession later. But the teenager didn't stop there. Hsiao played on for a total of just under 22 minutes in this game, ending up with 12 points and 13 rebounds (again, first-ever double-double in WBL Asia).
In the end, she'll most likely look back at this day and remember the biggest part of history being made was that her team pulled off a massive upset against Japanese champions Fujitsu Red Wave for the first-ever WBL Asia win.
Debut for the ages
Of course, we should be used to monster double-doubles by Hsiao at this point. Maybe we should even expect it.
Who can forget her very first game played for Chinese Taipei back in 2022 at the U18 Women's Asia Cup where she unloaded arguably one of the best debut games by any player and one of the best games ever in the competition with 39 points on 16-19 shooting and 15 rebounds - good for 48 EFF? That game, however, ended up in a loss, coincidentally to Japan, in heartbreaking fashion.
In a way, Hsiao might consider this upset win with Cathay Life over the Red Wave as some slight revenge.
Speaking of massive upsets, at that U18 Women's Asia Cup, Hsiao followed up her monster game with 13 points and 14 boards to pull off a win to remember against China.
A few days later, she'd record 20 points and 23 rebounds for 45 EFF to beat New Zealand, progress to the Semi-Finals and clinch a ticket to the U19 Women's World Cup in 2023.
But yeah, her debut game here was pretty awesome.
And another one
She did a pretty good job at the U19 Women's World Cup in Spain, too. And again, her first game ended up being one of her most productive outputs.
In what was nearly another massive upset against Germany, Hsiao recorded another double-double of 16 points and 17 rebounds for 25 EFF. She'd end up having some other big games as well, but it's hard to not be impressed with her first impression at the global stage.
FIBA