Kang Lee-seul scored 21 points as Korea beat Japan 75-70 for its first women’s basketball Asian Games title since 2014.
Before her Korean team faced Japan on Saturday in the women’s basketball gold medal game at the ongoing Asian Games, captain Kang Lee-seul gathered her teammates for a little pregame talk.
“I felt we could win this game. I told the girls, ‘Hey, I am feeling pretty confident right now. I have no idea why, but I think we will win today,'” Kang said. “So I said we should just go play with confidence. I felt zero pressure out there, and I think it showed on the court.”
Kang and the rest of the team went out and beat Japan 75-70 for the gold medal, Korea’s first in women’s hoops since 2014.
The veteran forward scored 21 points and had seven rebounds, while sinking a couple of clutch free throws with 14 ticks left at Aichi International Arena.
Kang, who previously won a bronze and a silver at the Asian Games, completed her collection with the gold medal at age 32.
“I knew Japan had a good team, but they also had some young players,” Kang said of the team, which had an average age of 24, 2.4 years younger than Korea. “So I felt it was important to set the tone early and we would have a tough time if the game got close late. We tried to play at the speed we wanted.”
Korea jumped out to a 27-15 lead in the first quarter and held Japan to just 32 percent shooting. The Koreans played determined, switch-heavy defense and made 12 of their 20 field goal attempts in that opening frame.
Stunning the two-time defending champion China 85-80 in the semifinals Friday also helped the team’s collective confidence, Kang added.
“I would have to say this is the greatest national team I have been a part of,” said Kang, who has been representing the country for a dozen years. “I always feel proud of playing for the country and believe every team I have played on has been a great one. But this is the only team that has won the Asian Games gold medal.”
Kang said she hoped the victory in Japan would spark interest in basketball back home, specifically women’s basketball.
“I would love to tell people that women’s basketball can be really fun, too,” Kang said. “I hope we will have more girls pick up the sport. We have a small pool of young talent, compared to Japan or China, and I hope to see a new generation of players grow up and take the torch from us.”
Korea nearly frittered away its 20-point lead, and Japan got to within two points, 72-70, with 15 seconds to go.
Lee So-hee, who scored 16 points before fouling out late, said Korea did well to overcome some second-half inconsistency.
Lee, who led Korea with 23 points and made five 3-pointers in the win over China the previous night, said she was glad to have stayed hot for the final.
“I tend to be a little streaky when it comes to my shooting. I was able to ride the momentum for this game,” she said. “And I also felt confident in myself. Maybe opposing teams didn’t pay much attention to me because I was never really a big name, and it worked out in my favor.”
Yonhap