In the final match of the women's basketball World Cup group stage, Japan faced Australia, ranked 3rd in the world, and lost 54-71, ending their fourth straight loss.

The final match of the group stage of the Women's Basketball World Cup, where the winning team can qualify for the Paris Olympics, was held in Australia on the 27th.

Japan, who have already been eliminated from the group stage with a record of 1 win and 3 losses, played their home country, Australia.



In the first quarter, Okoye Momika scored two 3-point shots, allowing Japan to take the lead with an attack of 18-16.



In the 2nd quarter, Stefani and others aggressively invited fouls and scored with free throws, leading to a 34-36 tie.



However, in the 3rd quarter, Japan's shots were not scored and they were limited to just 9 points.



Japan started the fourth quarter with 43-56 and chasing 13 points.



After losing four games in a row, Japan finished fifth in the group stage with a record of one win and four losses.

A major challenge to the strategy of aiming to be the world's No. 1

The Japanese women's basketball team, who won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, faced a major challenge at the World Cup, where they set their sights on becoming the best in the world.



At the Tokyo Olympics, under former head coach Tom Horvath, he made full use of over 100 set pieces and surprised the world with his strategy of mass-producing three points.

Head coach Toru Onzuka, who took over the team, adopted a new strategy called "counter-basket," in which the players make their own decisions based on the defense of the opponents and choose their offense.



It was a change of strategy to realize the "World's No. 1" that did not reach.



In their first match against Mali, ranked 37th in the world, their offense was one step ahead of their opponents, and their new strategy seemed to be working with a high probability of making three-point shots.

However, when it came to playing against a stronger team, their fragility became apparent.



Japan ranked 10th in the world Serbia, Canada ranked 4th in the world, and France ranked 6th in the world.



As a result, the lack of passes from the point guard stagnated the offense, and the inability to receive passes at the right timing affected the accuracy of three-point shots, which is the key to Japan's offense.



The probability of three-point shots was 26.8% throughout the tournament, a figure far from the Tokyo Olympics, which left a figure close to 40%.



Also, head coach Onzuka's "time share" strategy, in which the 12 players were replaced one after another and the playing time was shared, was not effective.



It was a strategy to ``continue to outperform the opponents with energy'', but the issue arose that when the team was in a good flow, the flow would be cut off by making substitutions in a short period of time, including players who are in good condition. It went up.

While many issues emerged, there were also benefits.



At 20 years old, the youngest player on the team, HIRASHITA Aika was inspired by the lackluster shooters.



He made 11 of 28 3-point shots, leading the team.



One year has passed since winning the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.



After this tournament, where the new strategy bounced off the wall of the world, the Japanese national team was confronted with a heavy task of how to draw a path toward their goal of winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

Momoka Okoe “Let’s do something”

Momoka Okoe, who scored 14 goals in the team's top scorer in the match on the 27th, revealed that she had broken her finger before the tournament, and said, "The World Cup only comes once every four years, so I can do it with this member. I fought with the feeling that it was the first and last time. I shot with the feeling that I would do something for Japan and the team,” he said through tears.