Unified Korean team suffers 1st loss in women's basketball

The unified Korea women's basketball team suffered its first loss at the Asian Games on Friday, falling to Chinese Taipei 87-85 in overtime.

Korea rallied from a 71-65 deficit with 3:22 remaining in the fourth quarter to force the extra session in Group X play at GBK Basketball Hall, thanks to Kim Han-byul's desperate putback with 6.2 ticks to go. Kim was fouled on the shot but failed to convert the ensuing free throw to complete the three-point play.

Chinese Taipei made five of its first six field goal attempts in overtime and held on for the nail-biting win.

Korea, which opened the tournament with a 108-40 victory over Indonesia on Wednesday, is now 1-1 after two games. It will next face India on Monday, and then Kazakhstan the following day to close out the preliminary round. All games will be at GBK Basketball Hall.

There are two groups of five, and the top four nations from each group will advance to the quarterfinals. Group Y teams are: Japan, China, Thailand, Hong Kong and Mongolia.

South Korea is the defending champion in women's basketball, but North Korea has never won an Asian Games medal in the event.

There are nine South Koreans and three North Koreans on the joint roster. But one South Korean player, Park Ji-su of the Las Vegas Aces in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), has yet to join the team. The WNBA's regular season is winding down and the Aces are fighting for a playoff spot with two games remaining.

Should the Aces make the playoffs, which begin next week, it's unlikely Park will report to the national team here. (Yonhap)