The South Korean women's basketball national team defeated China, leaving them just one win away from reclaiming the Asian Games title for the first time in 12 years.
Led by head coach Park Su-ho, the national team beat China 85-80 in the semifinals of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan, on September 25, advancing to the final.
This marks the first time in 12 years that the South Korean women's basketball team has reached the Asian Games final since the 2014 Incheon Games, where they won the gold medal.
In between, they competed as a unified inter-Korean team at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, reaching the final and earning a silver medal.
With the men's national team having secured its first gold medal in 12 years on September 20 and the women's team now advancing to the final, South Korean basketball has opened up the possibility of a dual sweep of the titles.
South Korea will face the winner of the semifinal match between Japan and Chinese Taipei in the final scheduled for September 26 at 7:20 PM.
Ranked 14th in the FIBA women's rankings, South Korea is lower than 7th-ranked China, and trailed in their all-time head-to-head record against the Chinese national team with 26 wins and 45 losses prior to this match.
Having suffered six consecutive losses in head-to-head matches since the Tokyo Olympic qualifiers in November 2019, South Korea secured its first victory against China in seven years in the Asian Games semifinals.
Falling narrowly behind 17-19 in the first quarter, South Korea struggled to defend China's 220-centimeter center Zhang Ziyu in the second quarter, relinquishing the momentum.
Continuing to struggle with outside shooting and trailing 29-37, South Korea narrowed the gap to 34-37 with a three-pointer by Heo Ye-eun with 1.24 left in the second quarter.
Starting the second half down 36-41, South Korea immediately reeled off 5 straight points, including an outside shot by Heo Ye-eun, to level the score, and turned the game around 44-43 with a three-pointer by Lee So-hee about 1 minute and 20 seconds into the third quarter.
In a seesaw battle, whenever the momentum threatened to shift toward South Korea, China subbed in Zhang Ziyu to score directly under the basket or generate scoring opportunities from derived chances to weather the crisis.
Trailing 61-65 after the third quarter, South Korea turned the tide with an explosion of outside shooting in the fourth quarter.
Captain Kang Lee-seul's previously blocked scoring began to click, taking the lead back at 70-69 with about 5 minutes and 30 seconds remaining, and Lee Hae-ran's three-pointer pierced the net with 2 minutes and 37 seconds left to make it 78-74.
Pulling ahead 81-76 with an outside shot by Lee So-hee with 1 minute and 50 seconds left, South Korea fended off China's pursuit and reveled in the joy of advancing to the final.
Lee So-hee delivered a stellar performance with a game-high 23 points and 6 rebounds, while Lee Hae-ran recorded 22 points and 6 rebounds, and Kang Lee-seul added 16 points.
Heo Ye-eun dished out 9 assists and scored 9 points with 3 three-pointers.
Zhang Ziyu put up 22 points and 7 rebounds, but was unable to lead her team to the final.
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