Losing To Jordan, Indonesia's Position At The Top Of The FIBA Asia Women's Cup Standings Is Threatened

Indonesian women's national basketball team point guard Agustin Gradita Retong (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian women's basketball national team failed to lock up a place in the semifinals of the 2021 FIBA Asia Women's Cup Division B. The Indonesian basketball hero was defeated by Jordan with a score of 64-76 in the continuation of Group B in Amman, Jordan, Monday local time.

The defeat has not disturbed Indonesia's position at the top of the Group B standings, but the three points they have can be overtaken by Jordan (2), who still has one preliminary match against Kazakhstan tomorrow.

Launching Antara, the leader of the final standings of each group will automatically qualify for the semifinals, while the two semifinal tickets will be contested by bringing together the second and third-placed teams crosswise from the two groups.

The Indonesian players should be disappointed with today's performance because they were only able to convert 24 of 67 attempts or an accuracy rate of 35 percent of open shots.

Knowing that Kimberley Pierre-Louis was a key player for Indonesia when they beat Kazakhstan yesterday, Jordan succeeded in limiting the movement of the Canadian-born naturalized basketball player.

Kimberley only "allowed" to score 13 points in the game this time, her contribution decreased compared to 31 points a day yesterday.

Indonesia's main supply of numbers came from Kadek Pratita Citta Dewi who scored 17 points, after the player from Bali was able to convert three of the seven tripoint attempts, far above the average conversion rate of her team which only reached 21 percent.

In addition to successfully suppressing Kimberley, Jordan also appeared more efficient in taking advantage of their open shot opportunities with an accuracy rate of 47 percent and 54 percent for three points.

Moreover, in the Jordanian camp, there is Natasha Cloud, who strengthens the American women's basketball league (WNBA) Washington Mystics. Cloud is one of Jordan's two highest scorers with 19 points with Marya Al Hinn.

In another match played earlier, Syria managed to beat Iran 78-71 in Group A to take over the top of the standings from the hands of Lebanon.

On Tuesday night, in Group A, there will be a match between Syria and Lebanon, followed by a match between Jordan and Kazakhstan in Group B.