Basketball: India U-16 girls lose to Japan

After losing to South Korea on Sunday, the Indian Under-16 girls hoopsters faltered once again, going down to higher-ranked Japan on day two of the Asia U-16 Championship here on Monday.

In a repeat performance of sorts, high rate of turnovers proved to be the bane yet again for the young Indian side who lost 113-39. Rutuja Pawar top scored for India with 12 points. Japan fully utilised its deep bench with 11 out of 12 players on the court for a minimum of 10 minutes.

India did well in the first quarter against Japan (ranked 9), by limiting the difference of points to single digits, but it was only a matter of time before Japan clamped down on the defensive end to restrict India’s scoring. Their strong defence in turn led to easy attack with seven Japanese players scoring in double digits.