▲ Kim Dan-bi of Asan Woori Bank Women's Professional Basketball Team
Asan Woori Bank fell short of claiming their first-ever Park Shin-ja Cup title in club history, finishing as runners-up after failing to overcome the hurdle of Japan's Fujitsu.
Fujitsu, the third-place team in Japan's W League for the 2025–2026 season, defeated Woori Bank 78-71 in the final of the 2026 KB Kookmin Bank Park Shin-ja Cup held at the Cheongju Gymnasium on the 11th to claim the championship.
With the victory, Fujitsu achieved their third consecutive tournament title and took home 15 million won in prize money.
Lifting the championship trophy for the third time overall, Fujitsu tied with Bucheon Hana Bank (winners in 2018, 2019, and 2020) for the most titles in tournament history.
Meanwhile, Woori Bank, eyeing their first Park Shin-ja Cup championship, had to settle for being runners-up with 10 million won in prize money.
Fujitsu took a 19-15 lead in the first quarter.
Fujitsu poured in 30 points in the second quarter to pull away. Although Woori Bank chased tenaciously with perimeter shots from Kim Dan-bi and Lee Myung-gwan, they finished the first half trailing 37-49 by a 12-point margin.
Woori Bank's fierce counterattack began in the second half.
In the third quarter, Nana Katayama revived the pursuit with two three-pointers, and in the fourth quarter, consecutive perimeter shots from Lee Myung-gwan and Mako Fujimoto tied the game at 64-64.
Katayama then sank another three-pointer to turn the game around at 67-66, but Woori Bank lacked the late-game resilience to secure the victory.
As Woori Bank's shots repeatedly missed the rim down the stretch, Fujitsu rattled off 7 unanswered points starting from 2 minutes and 28 seconds remaining in regulation to seal the fiercely contested match.
For Woori Bank, Lee Myung-gwan led the scoring with 20 points, and Kim Dan-bi delivered a stellar performance close to a triple-double with 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists, but their efforts were overshadowed by the team's defeat.
The primary architect of Fujitsu's victory was Samantha Fuehring, who recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Appearing in a total of 6 games during the tournament, averaging 17 minutes and 8 seconds of playing time with 12.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 0.8 assists, Fuehring received 5 out of 11 votes from the media panel to be selected as the tournament's Most Valuable Player (MVP), claiming a prize of 2 million won.
Meanwhile, in the third-place playoff held earlier, Incheon Shinhan Bank cruised past Cheongju KB 76-54 to secure third place along with 5 million won in prize money.
Shinhan Bank's Hong Yu-sun led both teams in scoring with 16 points and 9 rebounds, while Kim Ji-young spearheaded the comprehensive victory with a triple-double-caliber performance of 13 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Sakura Noguchi also firmly guarded the paint with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
For KB, Heo Ye-eun fought hard with 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists, but could not prevent the lopsided defeat.
(Photo provided by WKBL, Yonhap News)
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