At the Women's Basketball World Cup being held in Australia, Japan, ranked 8th in the world, faced France, ranked 6th in the world, in the fourth match of the group stage.
Japan entered a close match with aggressive defense, but continued to make mistakes in both offense and defense in the crucial fourth quarter, losing 53-67, ending their third consecutive loss.
The 4th match of the group stage of the Women's Basketball World Cup, in which the winning team will qualify for the Paris Olympics, was held on the 26th.
In this tournament, Japan's challenge was how to get into the first quarter, and the match on the 26th also suffered from the defense of a taller opponent, and it was a 5-16 lead.
In the 2nd quarter, MIYAZAKI Saori scored 9 points in the first half alone with three-point shots and shots from dribbles, catching up with a 3-point lead of 26-29.
In the 3rd quarter, Miyazaki and Tokashiki Ramu played together, and 20-year-old Hirashita Manaka's three-point shot temporarily leveled the score. rice field.
However, in the 4th quarter, mistakes were made one after another in both offense and defense, and Japan remained unable to score for about eight minutes.
In the end, Japan fell 10 points behind France in this quarter alone and lost 53-67, ending their third straight loss in the group stage.
With their record of 1 win and 3 losses in the group stage, Japan will now have a tough time qualifying for the finals tournament.
Saori Miyazaki "I made a series of mistakes when I wanted one more point"
Saori Miyazaki, who scored 13 points as the team's top scorer, said, "It's frustrating. I wanted to keep the momentum going, but when I wanted one more goal, I made a series of mistakes and ended up losing the rebound. ”, he looked back on the match with tears in his eyes.
Maki Takada "There were many mistakes in the game"
Captain TAKADA Maki said, ``I made a mistake at an important point, and it led to the opponent's fast attack, and I couldn't find the rhythm. I raised the issue that the overs went up to 17.
On top of that, he said, "It's not easy to win, but I tend to be passive at times like that, so in the next match, I want to stay strong and win as a team without fear of making mistakes." I was facing forward.