Bengaluru: India continued their run of dominance in Division B of the FIBA Under-18 Women’s Asian Championship with an 83-38 win over Hong Kong at Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Friday.

India will take on Kazakhstan in Saturday’s final, the winners of which will be promoted to Division A.

Apart for a brief phase in their match against Iran, the Indian girls haven’t been troubled by any of their opponents in the tournament. Hong Kong was no different. Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu and Harshitha Kelttira Bopaiah scored six points each in the first quarter, wherein India took a 23-8 lead.

Hong Kong did slightly better in the next quarter, scoring 13 points but India led, at the end of two periods, 51-21. As the visiting team slumped, the hosts surged. Srishti Suren and Ishwarya Janardhanan shared most of the 32 points India scored in the last two phases.

The visitors had more turnovers than the hosts, and nearly made as many steals as they did but their conversion was mediocre. They converted only 22.06% of their chances.

In the other semi-final of Division B, Inna Kulikova and Diana Bushmeleva inspired Kazakhstan to a 76-56 win over Syria. Both teams alternated the points in the first quarter till Syria surged to an 18-13 lead. But the Kazakhs came back to lead 19-18 at the end of the quarter.

An inspired game in the first few minutes of the third quarter, helped Syria reduce the gap to 40-41. But the Kazakh girls were unstoppable after that. They scored 16 points in a row to increase the gap to 57-40. Syria’s Noura Bshara (23 points), the game’s highest scorer, tried to help her team claw back into the contest in the final quarter but Kazakhstan went on a scoring spree, scoring 21 points to clinch the semi-final.

Meanwhile, defending champions China and last edition’s runners-up, Japan, won their respective semi-finals to set up the Division A final.

Japan, with their characteristic explosive game, dazzled and conquered Australia 90-77. Meanwhile, China had it easy against Korea, beating them 69-51.

The Aussies found it tough to keep up with Japan’s pace. Chinatsu Omeki and Nanako Todo, in particular, were hard to stop for the Australian girls. Nanako, Ririka Okuyama and Norika Komo helped Japan build a 31-16 lead. Australia came back in the second quarter to end up with a 39-38 lead. But Ririka’s flurry of three-pointers helped Japan lead 60-45 in the third quarter. In the final phase of the match – also its most prosperous – both teams scored over 25 points as Japan emerged victors.

Results

DIVISION A

Semi-finals: China 69 (Chen Mingling 19, Ziting Tang 13) beat Korea 51 (Jihyun Park 20, Sohee Lee 14).

Japan 90 (Ririka Okuyama 17, Nanako Todo 21, Chinatsu Umerki 12) beat Australia 77 (Miela Goodchild 26, Juliva Motuga 16)

DIVISION B

Semi-finals: Syria 56 (Rawaa Alhai Ali 14, Noura Bshara 23) lost to Kazakhstan 76 (Diana Bushmeleva 18, Inna Kulikova 19)

India 83 (Harshitha Kelttira Bopaiah 18, Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu 15) beat Hong Kong 38 (Wing Nga Poon 11, Wai Lok Lam 8)