POSTED BY: Eurobasket News
Wei-Lin Wang
By Ying-Chou Chou , Featured Columnist
Day 1
TAIPEI, TAIWAN-- Taiwan's women's teams yesterday had mixed results on the first day of the 38th William Jones Cup tournament at the Sinjhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, while the US and South Korea were winners. The tournament features Japan, South Korea - represented by Incheon Shinhan Bank S-Birds, the US - represented by the Overtake team, and Thailand battling for supremacy. Taiwan, as hosts, have two teams.
In the first contest yesterday afternoon, the US blew away Thailand 93-44 in the first mismatch of the tournament. The US dominated the visitors from Southeast Asia and showed no mercy right from the start, galloping to an insurmountable 31-4 lead in the first quarter. They widened the margin to 46-17 at halftime and did not relinquish the pace, finishing with a 49-point margin of victory. Starting guard Kristina King (180-G/F-92, college: Richmond) and Alysha Harvin (178-G-88, college: Florida St.), who came off the bench, were too much for Thailand, each posting 27 points in the contest.
In the evening match, South Korea prevailed 65-58 over Taiwan B, who are the junior national team, composed of collegiate players training for the Summer Universiade, which is to be hosted by Taipei next year. Taiwan B were just barely in front, leading 31-30 at halftime, but they could not sustain the pace and South Korea netted 20 points against 14 for the hosts in the fourth quarter to clinch the win. Three South Korea starters scored in double digits, led by 16 for forward Kim Dan-Bi (176-F-91), while the best effort for Taiwan B was by Wang Wei-Lin (180-F-93), who posted 10 points.
In the late game, Japan were victorious over Taiwan A, winning 73-68 in a closely fought encounter.
In today's games, South Korea take on Thailand at 3pm, Japan square off against the US at 5pm and a domestic derby between Taiwan A and Taiwan B is to start at 7pm.
Tomorrow sees South Korea face the US at 3pm, while Taiwan B host Japan at 5pm and Taiwan A entertain Thailand at 7pm. The tournament has three games scheduled daily before wrapping up on Sunday. There are no playoffs, with the results from the single round-robin format to determine the winner. All games are to be played at the Sinjhuang Gymnasium. The William Jones Cup has been staged annually in Taipei since 1977. It was named after basketball promoter Renato William Jones, a founder of the International Basketball Federation.
