Sydney, Australia is the host city for this edition of the tournament featuring the top 8 teams in Asia and Oceania with group games from Monday through Wednesday and knockout round games from Friday through Sunday. In addition to a championship, the top 4 teams will proceed to Olympic qualifying. The winner of each group advances to the semifinals, automatically taking 2 spots with the other 2 spots determined by the winners of the games between the second and third place teams in opposite groups. The last place teams in each group will play for the right to stay in this division in the next tournament in 2 years.
Group A:
The tournament wasted no time in getting to what might be the most important game of the tournament. South Korea has hurt New Zealand’s chances at a top four finish every time this format has been used. New Zealand came into proceedings dealing with issues that included a key player being unavailable to injuries from an accident. Relying on their star players, Penina Davidson and Charlise Leger-Walker helped them push out to a big first half lead, but the sinking feeling returned with South Korea’s second half charge only for them hold their nerve at the critical time and score the last basket to get a 66-64 win. Lebanon won the last Division B tournament to grab the last place in this tournament and they looked ready to step up early, but China’s stronger squad controlled the rest of the game for an 89-44 win.
https://www.fiba.basketball/womensasiacup/2023/game/2606/Korea-New-Zealand#|tab=boxscore
South Korea [64]: Park J-S 18/10r Kang 18 Kim D-B 14 Park J-H 6/6r/6a Lee H-R 3 An 3 Lee K-E 2 Jin 0 Lee S-H 0 Yang 0 Shin DNP Kim J-Y DNP
New Zealand [66]: Davidson 24/10r C. Leger-Walker 20 Reed 14/11r K. Leger-Walker 4 Tupaea 2 Dalton 2 Beck 0 McGoldrick DNP Mason DNP Stockill DNP Tamilo DNP Hunter DNP
https://www.fiba.basketball/womensasiacup/2023/game/2606/China-Lebanon#|tab=boxscore
China [89]: Han 17/10r Gao 15/6r Li M 12 Luo 12 Yan LW 8 Li Y 7/6a Tang 6/6r Yang SY 4 Wang 4 Pan 2 Jin 2 Zhang 0
Lebanon [44]: Akl 13 Elias 12/6r Bakhos 9 Baptiste 4 Mokdad 3 Fayad 2 El-Husseini 1 Mansour 0 Sevajian 0 El Charif 0 Fares 0 Gyokchian 0
Group B:
Japan, which has extended its reign of this competition after the merger, defeated Taiwan 94-53 in the first game in this group. Hosts Australia approached this tournament the same way again with their available players and a substitute coach and easily defeated the Philippines 105-34 with the visitors preparing for more important games ahead.
https://www.fiba.basketball/womensasiacup/2023/game/2606/Japan-Chinese-Taipei#|tab=boxscore
Japan [94]: Mawuli 18/9r Akaho 12/7r Takada 12 Hirashita 10 Yamamoto 9/7a Asahina 8 Motohashi 6 Todo 6 Hoshi 5 Okoye 5 Hayashi 3 Miyazaki 0
Taiwan [53]: Lin 14/6r Han 7/6r Chen Y-Y 7 Cheng 6 Liu H-Ye 6 Huang 5 Chen W-A 2 Wu 2 Pan 2 Chen M-H 2 Chang 0 Liu H-Yu 0
https://www.fiba.basketball/womensasiacup/2023/game/2606/Australia-Philippines#|tab=boxscore
Australia [105]: Garbin 18/8r Scherf 17/9r Bibby 11 Froling 10/7r Kunek 10 Horvat 10 Maley 8/6r Heal 7 Rocci 6/6a Nicholson 5 Madgen 2 Atwell 1
Philippines [34]: De Jesus 18 Bernardino 4 Cabinbin 4 Surada 3 Clarin 3 Joson 2 Animam 0/7r Pontejos 0 Castillo 0 Cacho 0 Ozar 0 Fajardo 0
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