Bengaluru, Thursday, 8th September 2022: In a heartbreaking loss, India went down 63-66 to New Zealand, to end its group phase of the FIBA U18 Women’s Asian Championship with a 0-3 record.
The premier continental Championship is being held in Kanteerava Stadium for the second consecutive edition.
Missed layups and freethrows
For the third straight game, India started off on the backfoot, but this time of their own accord. Multiple missed layups and freethrows allowed the visiting ‘Tall Ferns’ to take a 17-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In a game of runs, New Zealand kept building double digit leads only to see India fight back into the contest.
Deepthi Raja’s 12 steals
It was India’s stifling defense, led by point guard Deepthi Raja’s astonishing 12 steals that troubled New Zealand throughout the game.
New Zealand shooting guard Aria Cowley hit five timely threes to top score for her side with 16 points.
For India, centre Manmeet Kaur came alive in the second half, finishing with a double double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Despite India missing around a dozen layups and 13 freethrows, it managed to tie the game at 63 apiece with 1:27 mins left for the final buzzer.
But helped by a poorly executed unsportsmanlike foul by India, New Zealand held its nerve to close out a face saving 66-63 win.
India now meets Indonesia in a must-win encounter to avoid relegation to Division B. New Zealand meanwhile will play against Chinese Taipei for a spot in the semifinals.
India (Deepthi Raja 12 stls, 14 pts, 7 ast; Manmeet Kaur 21 pts, 12 reb; Sathya Krishnamurthi 15 pts) lose to New Zealand (Aria Cowley 16 pts; Florence Dallow 12 pts, 8 reb; Mackenzie Chatfield 10 reb, 8 pts; Lilly Parke 11pts, 9 reb) 63-66 [9-17, 19-14, 15-24, 15-16]
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Next up: India vs Indonesia on 9th September at 1:30pm IST. All games are being streamed live on the FIBA YouTube Channel as well as Doordarshan.