Chennai, Sep 22 - Japan snuffed out India 108-58 to confirm their progress to the semifinals of the 23rd Asian Basketball Championship for women here Tuesday.
Japan, with three victories, along with Chinese-Taipei who earlier overcame Thailand 76-66 for their second win, joined defending champions Korea and China in the semifinals.
The two unbeaten teams, Korea and China, face off later Tuesday night to decide the top two spots in the Level-I league.
For India, it was yet another disastrous outing and finished their league engagements losing all their five matches to end up sixth and last in Level-I, behind Thailand who lost four and scored a lone win against India.
In the play-off matches, the winners of which will gain spots in Level-II for the next championship, India face Malaysia while Thailand take on Lebanon.
Yet again, it was skipper Geetu Anna Jose who averted a total annihilation as she single-handedly took the fight to the Japanese. She emerged the highest scorer in the game with a tally of 30.
India kept pace with Japan initially as the two went into the second quarter with the hosts trailing by just one point (20-21). On resumption, India even led 26-25 before a three-pointer from Yoshi Sakurada triggered a Japanese resurgence.
Japan then seized the initiative and outplayed India to jump to a 55-31 lead at half-time. Thus, the second quarter virtually sealed India's fate.
The trio of Japanese stars, Sakurada, Al Mitani and Kumiko Yamada tore apart the Indian defence while subjecting Jose to close marking.
The Japanese were unstoppable in the third quarter as they consolidated the first-half gains. India fought vainly to reduce the leeway that was growing by the minute.