Strong second half sees China past Korea, Japan improve to 2-0

WUHAN (2015 FIBA Asia Women's Championship) - China reaffirmed their status as 2015 FIBA Asia Women's Championship frontrunners after a strong second-half showing propelled them to a big win against Korea on Day 2 in Wuhan.

Trailing at half-time, head coach Tom Maher and his side jumped into the box-seat after the break as they rode their way to a 74-58 victory. Ting Shao brought her skills to the table with a classy 18-point haul to condemn Korea to their second loss and keep China rolling.

Japan are still unbeaten after a sparkling effort from Rui Machida and some devastating three-point shooting witnessed them blast past India, 131-31.

Machida had a magnificent 16 assists as the current title holders got hot early and continued in the same vein throughout, registering a red-hot 17 triples. Mika Kurihara scored six times from the arc and Mio Shinozaki shone brightly with 25 points after going a wonderful 10 of 13 in the contest.

It's so far so good for Chinese Taipei as they also collected a second victory after easing their way to a 113-42 win against Thailand.

Always in the ascendency, Chinese Taipei were too-hot-to handle for their opponents across the middle two quarters as Hsi-Le Bao corralled 13 points and pulled down 10 boards. Yu-Chun Wei also registered an influential effort with a team-high 21 points.

Meanwhile in Level II (Group B), Philippines rode to a thrilling 68-67 roller-coaster success against DPR Korea as they recorded their first win at this year’s edition of the event. Having suffered an opening day loss to Malaysia, they bounced back and showed real guts to work their way back from a 16-point deficit.

Cindy Resultay proved a difference maker as she claimed 14 points and seven rebounds, including what proved to be a game-winning ‘and-1’ play inside the last minute. Suk Yong Ro replied with 21 points and eleven boards in defeat.

There was also a first win for Hong Kong as they strode to a 72-52 triumph against Sri Lanka. With little daylight between the teams after the first quarter, Hong Kong broke the game with some impressive play either side of the interval. Pik Yi Lam and Hi Lui Tong shared 42 points to spearhead the victory.

Finally, something had to give when opening day victors Malaysia and Kazakhstan clashed and it was the latter who prevailed 73-65. Oxana Ossipenko was the main architect of the triumph with a productive 21 points and 10 rebounds.

FIBA