Japan beat Belgium to reach the women's basketball semifinals at the Olympic Games for the first time, edging the European team 86-85 in the fourth quarter at the Saitama Super Arena on Wednesday.
Japan will face France in the semifinals Friday.
The buzzer sounded to signal the end of the game as Belgium's attempted comeback shot bounced off the rim. Japan secured its first-ever top-four finish with a dramatic comeback victory.
Trailing by two goals, Japan launched a last-ditch attack in the fourth quarter. Rui Machida made a cut in front of the goal and passed the ball to Saki Hayashi. Taking the ball at the top of the key, Hayashi calmly dodged a block with a fake. With 16 seconds left, Hayashi hit a beautiful 3-pointer, turning around the game. Hayashi said: "My role is to shoot. I wasn't afraid to miss the goal."
After taking a 3-point lead in the first quarter, Japan was unable to get rebounds and fell behind due to continuous attacks by their opponents. Hayashi, who played well against Nigeria on Monday, was thoroughly marked by Belgian players and had difficulty shooting.
It was Yuki Miyazawa, another shooter, who saved the team. She made four 3-pointers in the second half of the game alone, helping Japan quickly curb Belgium's up to 13-point lead in the third quarter and 7-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter. "We were saying to each other, 'Don't worry, we can do it.' I believed in myself and my teammates," said Miyazawa, whose confidence and trust in her teammates, built up over a long period of hard practice, led to the comeback victory.
The average height of the Japan team is 1.76 meters, the lowest among the top eight. The team found its way through speed and 3-point shooting. "Our style is to do everything together. If we keep doing what we've been doing, we can win," said captain Maki Takada. They created a Japanese style of basketball and made history.
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