THE AUSTRALIAN Sapphires have continued their red-hot start to the 2025 FIBA Under-16 Women’s Asia Cup in Malaysia this week, recording their second win in as many days at the tournament and this time, defeating the Republic of Korea to chalk up their second emphatic win.

The Sapphires made waves on day one of the tournament when they defeated the Philippines by 81 points yesterday, showing why they landed in Malaysia as one of the heavyweights to win it all in the coming week.

Now, the Aussies have made it two huge wins from two games after defeating the Republic of Korea by a whopping 79 points at Arena Seremban earlier today, in a result that was set up by an astounding first-quarter performance that set the tone for the remainder of the match.

Republic of Korea (40) def. by Australian Sapphires (119)

For the second match in a row, the Sapphires had no shortage of scoring options in the win over the Koreans, with VJBL leading scorer Sophie Richardson steering the ship as she had done throughout the 2025 season in her own state.

In 20 minutes of court time, Richardson dropped a game-high 20 points, shooting 9/12 from the field overall and 2/3 from behind the arc. Her scoring ability is up there with the best in the tournament, and she showed exactly why against Korea.

Isabel Smith was not far behind with 18 points of her own, shooting 9/12 from the field to go with her eight rebounds, while Jemyma Manyok had a hefty double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds in a dominant inside performance.

Matilda Trout flirted with a double-double of her own, posting nine points and pulling down 16 boards, while Marianela Fakalata (14 points) and Lily Mapp (12 points) rounded out the double-digit scorers as Australia dropped a whopping 119 points.

The tone was set in the first quarter, where the Aussies jumped out to as dominant of a lead as they could hope for, holding a 33-point lead at the first change, and never looked back from there. That was stretched out to 52 points at the main break. Although Korea fought back in the third frame in the most competitive patch of play the game saw, a 31-8 final frame was back to regularly scheduled programming.

The Sapphires maintained their standing as the best team in the tournament with another big win, and it will take a significant upset to stop the Aussies from lifting the trophy in the next week. Their campaign will continue on Wednesday afternoon, when they look to maintain their dominance in the Group Stage, taking on the Chinese Taipei for the chance to advance straight through to the quarter-finals as the weekend approaches.