A 22-point reversal failed! The women s basketball team lost 3 points to European powerhouses: Is there no Zhang Ziyu U19 Chinese team hanging?

In the 2025 Women's Basketball Team Four National Championship, after the U19 Chinese team defeated Serbia in the last game, they met their old opponent Latvia again. In the last game, the Chinese team lost to their opponents by 15 points. This time they met again, and the Chinese team was still suppressed by their opponents. At the most, the Chinese team was once 22 points behind their opponents. However, in the second half, the Chinese team rushed to catch up and saw the opportunity to turn defeat into victory. Unfortunately, the Chinese team missed the tie at the last moment, and finally lost to Latvia 73-76, missing the opportunity to make a 22-point reversal.

In this warm-up match of the Four Nations, the Chinese team's opponents were New Zealand, Serbia and Latvia, among which Latvia is the strongest. In the last game, they won the championship with all three games, while the Chinese team ranked second. This time, the two teams confront each other again, and the Chinese team is actually very eager to revenge their opponents. But from the perspective of the competition process, Latvia still has the upper hand. Although the Chinese team saw hope of winning in the second half, they still failed to withstand the pressure at the critical moment and were eventually defeated by Latvia.

After the first quarter, the Chinese team started slowly and couldn't find their state on the offensive end. They only scored 12 points in a single quarter, while Latvia was in very good shape. They scored 23 points in a single quarter, completely suppressing the Chinese team on both offense and defense. After entering the second quarter, the Chinese team gradually regained their form and their feel also recovered. They scored a high score of 25 points in a single quarter. However, on the defensive end, they were unable to limit Latvia, who also scored 23 points. At the end of the first half, the Chinese team was 9 points behind their opponents.

After the change of sides, the Chinese team finally recovered their form in the third quarter. In this quarter, the Chinese team opened fire on the offensive end and scored 23 points in a single quarter. On the Latvia side, they scored only 16 points in a single quarter. In the whole third quarter, the Chinese team won 7 points in a single quarter. At the end of the first three quarters, the Chinese team had already approached the score and ended with 2 points behind the opponent. Entering the fierce competition stage in the final quarter, the two teams entered a tug-of-war in the fourth quarter. The Chinese team always clinged to the score and once saw the opportunity to turn defeat into victory. Unfortunately, at the last moment, the Chinese team's three-pointer missed the equalization goal and entered overtime. In the end, the Chinese team lost to Latvia again by 3 points.

Looking at this game, the Chinese team's performance was actually pretty good. Although the start was slow and he was once behind his opponent by as much as 22 points, with his efforts in the second half, the Chinese team actually stubbornly caught up with the score and even saw a chance to win the game against the target. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that the Chinese team made very good three-pointers in this game, making 6 of 15 shots, with a shooting percentage of 40%. Latvia's three-pointers only made 6 of 23 shots, with a shooting percentage of only over 20%. If it weren't for the advantage of age, Latvia might not have been able to defeat the Chinese team.

Of course, it is undeniable that after Zhang Ziyu was absent from 2.26 meters, the strength of this Chinese team has indeed declined a lot. At least, in terms of inside strength, neither offensive nor defensive, they cannot reach the best state. Especially at the critical moment, the Chinese team lost their backbone in scoring ability without Zhang Ziyu, which was a big killer weapon, and they posed little threat to their opponents. It seems that without Zhang Ziyu, the gap between the Chinese team and the world's strong team is still very big, and we need to continue our efforts in the future.