India eves hammer depleted Guam

India demolished a depleted Guam 107-42 to win their second consecutive Group A match in Division B of the FIBA U-18 Women's Asian Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here on Monday.

Such was the Indian dominance, six players reached double figures. Srishti Suren (19 points, 9 rebounds) and Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu (15 points, 9 rebounds) stood out with fine performances. For Guam, Elysia Perez recorded 12 points.

India received a major boost after Pushpa Senthil Kumar, who sat out of the opening game against Iran due to an ankle injury, stepped into the floor as a substitute in the first quarter.

On the other hand, Guam, competing at the event with eight players, were reduced to seven following a knee injury to small forward Maria Taitano during their match against Singapore on Sunday. Maria was on crutches for the entirety of the period.

“We had no expectations,” said Guam coach Jimmy Yi. “We just came to have fun and results don’t matter. We did have a squad of 12 but four couldn’t make it here as they had to attend school. We are here just for the experience.”

It didn't take long for India to assert their authority as they took a healthy 28-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. The hosts were relentless on fast breaks, outscoring Guam 12-0. Especially Ishwarya, who finished the period with nine points.

Srishti stole the show in the next 10 minutes, with six points and three rebounds as India stretched their lead to 28 points (22-50) at the break.

India widened the gap to 65 points (85-31) in the third quarter. And the fourth was a mere formality as they crossed the 100 points barrier without much trouble.

Earlier in Division A, Asian heavyweights China survived a major scare before eking out a close 67-58 win over New Zealand in their Group B game.

On Tuesday, China and Japan will battle it out for Asian supremacy.

Results: Division A: Group A: Australia: 106 (Mela Goodchild 27, Isabel Leigh Palmer 14, Juliva Malaeula Motuga 12, Emma Clarke 12, Jazmin Pamela Shelley 11, Isobel Anne Anstey 10) bt Chinese Taipei: 66 (Yu-Chieh Chen 21, Chia-Jung Lin 17); Korea: 84 (Jihyun Park 20, Seoi Eom 16, Sohee Lee 12, Leeseul Shin 12) bt Indonesia: 40.

Group B: China: 67 (Chen Mingling15, Yuan LI 13, Ming Zheng 12, Ziting Tang 12, Yutong Liu 10) bt New Zealand: 58 (Charlisse Leger-Walker 22, Charlotte Whittaker 12, Leah Mafua 10); Japan: 130 (Shori Yamashita 25, Hikari Komura 20, Chinatsu Umeki 14, Myabi Sakamoto 12, Ririka Okuyama 12, Aoi Ishimaki 10) bt Malaysia: 31 (Sin Jie Tan 11).

Division B: Group A: Iran: 70 (Fatemeh Aghazadegan 28, Negin Khameneh 22) bt Singapore: 53 (Shuting Wong 19, Carissa 12); India: 107 (Srishti Suren 19, Dharshini T 15) bt Guam: 42 (Elysia Perez 12).

Group B: Kazakhstan: 67 (Alexandra Saitova 10, Valeriya Motovilova 17) bt Samoa: 51 (Cherish Manumaleuga 18, Talita Taufua 11); Syria: 66 (Noura Bshara 25, Anna Aghnanian 15, Julnar Mubarak 10) bt Hong Kong: 47 (Wing Yan Chan 16).