India's basketball campaign in the Asian Games came to a disappointing end after lower ranked Democratic People's Republic of Korea outplayed the women's 5x5 team by as many as 39 points (96-57) in the quarterfinals on Monday.
In their first quarterfinal appearance at the Games, world no. 67 India started positively against 89th ranked DPR Korea but faltered in the later part of the clash to miss out a golden opportunity of qualifying for the semifinals.
For Asia's 13th ranked team, finishing the Asian Games among the top eight was a morale boost performance as they were able to defeat a couple of higher ranked teams in the league stage of the tournament.
After losing the first quarter by just six points 20-26, Indian women missed many attempts as Korea dominated the second period 26-6 to take a handy 26-point advantage at the halfway mark.
After the lemon break, Korea tightened their defence while Indian women were seen desperate to cover the lead but missed a handful of three-pointers. Keeping their focus mainly on outside shooting proved deadly as India lost the third and fourth quarters 17-22 and 14-22 respectively to suffer a disappointing 39-point defeat.
India's defensive lapses while taking possession of the ball helped Korea score 24 second chance points. India gave away 22 turnover points as they were out-rebounded by Korea 44-33.
The Korean outfit packed India's consistent performer Pushpa Senthil Kumar, with the forward able to score just 10 points in her 40-minute appearance. For India, Sreekala Rani emerged the top scorer with 16 points as lanky Poonam Chaturvedi (10) and Madhu Kumari (9) made notable contributions.
