JINAN, China (2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women): Hosts and hot favorites took almost the entire first quarter of their Level I game against Korea to settle into their rhythm. But once they did there was no stopping Wang Guizhi’s girls as they cantered through to a 111-58 win against their archrivals for their third win in four games.

It was Korea’s first defeat after three successive wins.

Peng Huaqian’s drive in the lane opened the scoring for China in the second quarter and a free-throw each from Yang Liwei and Yang Hengyu have the hosts a 12-point lead – the biggest till then.

That proved only a premonition for the blitz that followed.

Yang Hengyu (pic above) accounted for 8 of her game-high 30 points, Pen Huaqian and Gong Li chipped in four each as China reeled in 16 unanswered points.

Kim Sion’s success on the paint ended Korea’s drought, but by then the scales had tilted firmly in China’s favor.

China just played out time after that.

“We wanted to wait and watch before taking any step,” said China coach Wang Guizhi.

“We were a little tentative in our shooting early in the game, but then we didn’t want to commit too many mistakes. They have a lot of pace. So we thought it to wait it out, settle down before we did anything,” she said.

“We just stepped up the gas in the second quarter.”

Korea coach Hu Man Dug was lost for words.

“We did our best, but I think we lost under the board,” he said.

China won the battle of boards by a whopping 74-18 margin.\

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FIBA Asia