Five Takeaways from Day 2 of the FIBA U18 Women's Asian Championship 2018

BENGALURU (FIBA U18 Women's Asian Championship 2018) – Definite patterns are beginning to emerge across both Division A and B, as the Championship concludes its second day of action.

Here are five key takeaways from Day two of the FIBA U18 Women's Asian Championship 2018:

1) Australia's deep bench: Six Australia players scored in double digits in today's win over Taipei. Overall, after two games, 10 players average at least 8 points or more, and the team as a whole averages 101 points per game! The only other team that can stake a valid claim to having the deepest roster is Japan, which is scoring at 103.5 ppg!

2) Early MVP/ All Star-Five Candidates: Miela Goodchild (Aus), Mingling Chin (CHN) and Charlisse Leger-Walker (NZL), all produced stellar numbers for the second straight day. After the first two games, center Chin averages 17 pts/16 reb, Goodchild is 18.5 ppg/8 rpg and Leger-Walker is going strong at 18 pts/10.5 reb per game.

3) NZL's "Big Three": If Australia's is a story of unbeatable depth, then New Zealand's is a tale of threadbare resources. Barring Leger-Walker, Charlotte Whittaker and Leah Mafua, the rest of the side has been very ordinary. However 'big' a team's 'Big Three' may be, it can't do the meant for all 12 players.  After today's loss to China, New Zealand is now down 0-2. While a win is expected against Malaysia and go through to the 'Qualifiers to the semifinals', any further progress will be contingent on the other players stepping up.

4) This Syria team is for real: Yesterday you could be forgiven for thinking that it was Kazakhstan that lost rather than Syria that won. After all, in that game, Kazakhstan shot less than 16% (13/82) from the field. But by following up that surprise win with a clinical 66-47 win over Hong Kong today, Syria has made its intentions very clear. Nothing less than a promotion will do.  Syria is now at the top of the Group B standings, and in the other bracket, hosts India will be vary of this new threat.

5) Uncommon Single Game Stats: In Division A, Hikari Komura (Japan) shot 80% against Malaysia In Division B, Kazakhstan's Maria Zaitseva  had 8 blocks vs Samoa, while India's Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu had 10 steals against Guam. Yes, these eye popping numbers came against relatively weaker teams, but these are uncommonly good numbers nonetheless. 

 FIBA