NEW DELHI, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- South Korea beat New Zealand 58-52 while Australia cruised past Chinese Taipei 90-51 into the semi-finals of FIBA Women's Asia Cup here on Friday.
New Zealand's dominance in the paint was wasted as it only made 4 out 11 attempts from the free-throw line, and South Korea harvested another Asia Cup win against the Oceanians after its 64-49 victory in 2017.
South Korea kept a slim but stable lead in the first quarter after starting 6-6. New Zealand fought back with a 16-13 second quarter, but only to be trounced 17-9 in the third, during which South Korea built its first double-digit advantage 50-39 after Bai Hye-yoon made her free throws with 20 seconds on the clock. New Zealand failed to turn things around in the end and saw South Korea into the top four of the tournaments.
Chinese Taipei's hands were tight when facing the Australians, who forced their opponents to only 23 points on less than 24% shooting, and stormed 52 points in the first half. The second half turned into garbage time as Australia led as many as 41 points with its starting five on the bench for most of the time.
Ten Australian players scored in the match with five of them putting up double digits. Bec Allen, Ezi Magbegor and Cayla George combined for 40 points.
South Korea and Australia are set to play against China and Japan respectively in semi-finals on Saturday.
In the classification game of 7-8 played earlier on Friday, the Philippines beat India 92-78 and ranked 7th in the tournaments.
