The Busan BNK Thumb swept aside the Chinese Taipei National Team B to extend its winning streak to two games.

Led by a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds from Chin An, BNK won 77-65 in the women’s second game of the 42nd William Jones Cup Basketball Tournament against Chinese Taipei at Heping Basketball Gymnasium in Taipei, Taiwan on Saturday (June 6). It was the second straight win for BNK, which had defeated Iran 87-44 the day before.

Taiwan entered two teams in the tournament: the national team, the A team, and the reserve B team. BNK’s B team was weaker than the A team, but its young blood was no slouch, with all players under the age of 30. Starting with Ahn Hye-ji (2 points, 6 assists), Lee So-hee (14 points, 3 assists), Kim Sion (5 points), Kim Han-byul (4 points, 3 rebounds), and Jin-an, BNK struggled with the Taiwanese offense early in the game, falling behind 6-10.

However, they quickly turned the tide as Jinan’s perimeter offense came alive, and midway through the quarter, substitute Han Um-ji (13 points-7 rebounds) scored five points in a 14-12 run with a mid-range shot and a three-pointer to end the first quarter with a 19-15 lead. After warming up, BNK used three-pointers from Kim Sion and Kim Min-ah (8 points) to take a 41-27 lead in the second quarter. At the end of the second quarter, Park Sung-jin (4 points, 4 rebounds) also came alive and the score was 47-33 at halftime. After being held to just 6 points and 3 rebounds against Iran, Jinan improved his form with a 16-point, 8-rebound performance in the first half alone.

BNK struggled early in the third quarter as they were unable to stop the brilliant breakthroughs of Taiwanese guard Liu Hui-ru (8 points, 7 rebounds), especially the fast break offense from Liu, and found themselves trailing 51-45 midway through the quarter. The atmosphere on the Taiwanese bench heated up, but the shake-up was short-lived. Han Um-ji’s driving layup restored the double-digit lead (55-45), followed by a three-pointer from Kim Min-ah to end the third quarter with a 58-45 lead.

The flow of the fourth quarter was not much different. BNK kept the lead above 10 points by suppressing back-to-back turnovers, and Kim Ji-eun (6 points, 4 rebounds), who had 17 points against Iran, and Lee So-hee hit back-to-back three-pointers to break the opponent’s resolve. BNK coach Park Jeong-jeong subbed out all of her starters with 1:30 left in the game to prepare for the next game. “After playing every day for five days, you can’t help but be concerned about your stamina,” Park said after the game. “The players who didn’t have much experience playing in tense games came out in the middle and were a little nervous, but they handled it well.” 메이저놀이터

BNK will look to make it three in a row when they take on Japan’s national team Champion Cosmetics at the same venue on Sunday. Champion Cosmetics has a strong post presence anchored by the tall centers of Malian Setou Thoraore (190 cm) and Nigerian Izzo Uche (188 cm).