The South Korean women's national basketball team, missing several key players, suffered a comprehensive defeat in its first-ever away friendly match in Japan.

Coached by Park Soo-ho, South Korea lost 59-77 to Japan, an 18-point margin, in their friendly match held at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo on the 13th.

This marks the first time the national team has played an away friendly match against Japan on enemy soil.

Previously, the team played an overseas away friendly match against Latvia in 2022.

On this day, South Korea entered the match effectively missing its core pieces.

The team suffered a massive void in power as Park Ji-su (KB), the absolute pillar under the basket, is undergoing rehabilitation following ankle surgery, and Park Ji-hyun (Los Angeles Sparks), who plays on the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) stage, failed to join the squad.

South Korea holds a commanding 47-22 lead in the all-time head-to-head record against Japan.

However, starting from the preliminary round of the 2015 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Women's Asia Cup up until today, South Korea has fallen to defeat in all of their last six head-to-head encounters.

Leveraging its height to secure an advantage in rebounds, Japan took control of the momentum from the early stages.

South Korea fell behind listlessly after conceding 14 unanswered points right from the start, and barely managed to score its first points midway through the first quarter with a three-pointer by Lee Hae-ran.

Plagued by a scoring drought, South Korea finished the first quarter trailing heavily at 8-25.

In the second quarter, three-pointers by Lee Hae-ran and Lee So-hee helped put up 22 points, but the defense failed to contain the opponent's fierce perimeter shooting, conceding 20 points to end the first half at 30-45.

National team veteran shooter Kang Lee-seul (Woori Bank), suffering under the opponent's intensive marking, activated her first three-pointer with only 10 seconds left in the second quarter.

In the first half, Japan netted 6 out of 12 three-point attempts.

In the rebound battle, Japan heavily overwhelmed South Korea 20-13.

Entering the second half, South Korea mounted a chase based on solid defense.

Holding Japan to 12 points in the third quarter while racking up 18 points, South Korea narrowed the gap to 9 points at 48-57.

However, that was as far as it went.

While South Korea's scoring remained silent for about three minutes into the start of the fourth quarter, Japan scored 6 consecutive points.

Pushed back by Japan's intense pressure, South Korea's hard-fought shots repeatedly missed the rim, while Japan repeatedly scored with ease.

With 1 minute and 22 seconds left in the game, the gap widened back to over 20 points, and no turnaround occurred.

South Korea, running a tight squad of 11 players, will face Japan again tomorrow at the same venue.

(Photo courtesy of Japan Basketball Association, Yonhap News)