HANGZHOU, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Wang Siyu made a layup with nine seconds left on the clock as China edged Japan 74-72 to successfully defend its women's basketball title at the Hangzhou Asian Games here on Thursday.
It's the seventh time for the Chinese women's team to be crowned in its Asiad history.
During the last minute, forward Himawari Akaho make her shot outside the paint to cut the deficit to one point for Japan, before Li Meng answered with her baseline basket to restore the 3-point cushion for China. Yet, eight seconds later, Japan tied the game with a swift 3-pointer by Saki Hayashi.
After a timeout, Li Yuan passed the ball to Wang Siyu who drove to the basket to bank the winning layup for China as Akaho missed the last shot and Huang Sijing grabbed the rebound.
Among the five Chinese players scoring double digits, Li Meng was the best with 17 points through her prowess in the paint, although the Washington Mystics guard only made one out of eight attempts behind the arc. Backcourt duo Wang Siyu and Li Yuan made 14 and 12 points respectively.
Saki Hayashi scored a team-high 17 points for Japan, while 34-year-old Maki Takada contributed 13 points and eight rebounds.
Japan, who placed third in the 2018 Asiad, kept its traditional fast-pace strategy by passing the ball with endless off-the-ball runnings and threatening the hosts with coast-to-coast fast breaks.
However, China's twin tower of Han Xu and Li Yueru exploited their height advantages against the world No. 9, stepping on court in turns for a combined 23 points and 17 rebounds, including a stand-out six offensive rebounds.
Han, who described herself as "calm" after winning the final, said: "A good center should not only be good in scoring but also need to protect rebounds and play tight and smart defense."
"Japan is a rival that we are very familiar with. I know they are very tough, especially since they were coming to the Asian Games after losing the Asian Cup," China's head coach Zheng Wei said at the post-game press conference.
"But we held back their shootings, we only let them [Japan] make seven 3-pointers tonight, which they would often drop 14 to 15," Zheng explained.
Zheng said that "spirit and strength" were the deciders for China to win the championship as "we have some injuries and some players played overseas, so we didn't have abundant time for the full squad to practice. And we have to use games as training."
As for the next target at the Olympic qualifying tournament, Zheng said that "It's a must."
On his part, Japan's head coach Toru Onzuka sent his wishes to Team China and thanked the satisfying services provided by the organizing committee. "The Asian Games Village and the venue are great," Onzuka said.
In the bronze medal game, South Korea smashed DPR Korea 93-63. Center Park Ji-su put on a 25-point show for South Korea, and veteran guard Kim Dan-bi added 21 points, six rebounds and four assists.
DPR Korean young core Pak Ji Na, who missed the semifinal due to injury, scored a game-high 27 points, while Ro Su Kyong added 20 points but had nine turnovers.
