China's Zhao Shuang (right) drives the ball against Japan's Asami Yoshida during their match in Bangkok on Thursday. Photo: CFP

The Chinese women's national basketball team failed to continue their winning streak after being defeated by Japan 62-55 at the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) Asia Championship for Women on Thursday in Bangkok, Thailand.

It was the first time the Chinese ­national team had suffered a defeat to Japan at the Asia Championship since 1997.

But the previous three wins had put the team, coached by 61-year-old ­Australian Tom Maher, into the semifinals which are scheduled to take place on Saturday. Japan had ­already secured their position in the semifinals as they won all their matches at the Championship.

Ramu Tokashiki of Japan scored the match-high 20 points. She also contributed 12 rebounds, three assists and three steals to her team's win.

Asako O, a Tianjin-born center, whose Chinese name was Wang Cenjing and now plays for Japan, added nine points during her 14 minutes of court time.

Veteran Chen Nan was the sole shining star for China. The 30-year-old skipper scored the team-high 16 points.

"We failed to find our pace in attacking … Some young players didn't find ways to deal with Japan's tight marking," Chen said.

"Problems found today should be quickly solved before the semifinals. Just because you do well in defending doesn't mean you can win the game.

"But there was also something good for us as I saw them [the young players] fight until the end, no matter whether we were in the lead or falling behind."

In regard to Tokashiki, Chen said that the Japanese No.10's improvement had given Japan a big boost since the two sides' last meet at the East Asian Games in October.

"Her improvement has helped Japan a lot, now they play by not only relying on their speed, but combine it with both inner and outside attacking," Chen said. "They have more flexible tactics which we found hard to deal with."

Team China did well in defending but also struggled in attacking as the scoreboard after the first half showed 25-18. China scored only nine points for each of the first two quarters.

Chen led her side to make some improvements in attacking in the third quarter as they scored 20 points, but were overwhelmed by Japan's 25 points.

The only quarter in which China surpassed Japan in scoring was the final one, when they scored 17 points - only five more than their opponents.

Maher also expressed his disappointment after the match, "It's rare to win a game with only 62 points … the main reason we lost was that we did not do well in attacking, and our inner side were not in form in defending.

"They are still young and improving. After they have improved, some mistakes they made in the match will be unacceptable. But today's result is ­acceptable."

Reuters - Global Times