The 2015 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship was held at the China Disability Sports Training Centre in Beijing from 30 June to 6 July 2015.
Referees were Helen Rosenberg from Australia, Robert Ruisinger from Germany, Jun Zhang from China, Hrvoje Pencinger from Croatia, Linas Radykas from Lithuania, Shu Fei Hsieh from Chinese Taipei and Celine Villard from France.
Opened on 28 June 2007, it was the first facility in China entirely devoted to disability sports training, and is the largest of its kind in the world.
The second half proved more even, but only because Australian coach David Gould benched his top players; the final siren saw Australia winning 50–26.
[5][6][7] The second game, between Great Britain and Canada, saw the former confirm its status as a contender for the gold medal, winning the first three quarters by 14–7, 15–4 and 15–4.
The scoreline did not tell the whole story, however, for Canada's defensive pressure exacted a relatively low return for Great Britain's efforts, with only 24 field goals being scored from 60 attempts.
[6][8][9][10] The final game of the day, held after the Opening Ceremony, saw host nation China facing Germany.
Tian Jiao Lei led China's scoring with 18 points, followed by Xue Jing Chen with 13.
Dominating the play were two tall players, both veterans of the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London: Australia's Amber Merritt, who racked up 28 points from 10 field goals and eight free throws, and Great Britain's Amy Conroy with 21 points from 10 fields goals and one of her five free throw attempts.
After trailing for the first half, Australia outscored Great Britain in the third quarter 20–9 to lead by three points at three-quarter time.
Barbara Groß racked up 22 points, followed by Linda Dahle with 11, while Japan's Mayo Hagino scored 18.
But China fought back in the second term, and the Canadians had no answer to Tian Jiao Lei, who scored 35 points.
Arinn Young, Rosalie Lalonde and Erica Gavel were the top scorers for Canada with 18, 14 and 10 points respectively.
A see-sawing contest saw each side score ten points in the third quarter, leaving the margin unchanged at 30–31 at three-quarter time.
Great Britain led at each break, piling on 16 points to China's 10 in the first quarter, 14 to 10 in the second, and 28 to 11 in the third, running away to a 70–45 victory.
Germany moved to a four-point 14–10 lead at quarter time, but this was erased by five unanswered points to Canada immediately after the break.
Canada was able to outscore a tiring Germany again in the final quarter to post a four-point win, their second of the completion.
[6][22][23] The second match of the day pitted undefeated Great Britain against Japan, a side yet to post a win.
Halfway through the second term the scores were level, but Australia took a four-point lead into the half time break.
The final siren saw Great Britain post a 50–22 win, completing a clean sweep of the round-robin phase.
Canada had no answer to the Australian defensive press, nor to speed of Amber Merrit, who eventually scored 34 points.
Tian Jiao Lei and Gui Di Lv scored 22 points each, closely followed by Jiameng Dai with 18.
Great Britain then scored ten unanswered points, and wound up with a 34–21 lead at half time.
Canada brought on Alarissa Haak, adding another tall player in addition to Arinn Young.
Great Britain's Laurie Williams and Jordanna Bartlett racked up 19 points each, followed by Amy Conroy with 17.
Relentless defensive pressure coupled with fast movement allowed Australia to secure a five-point lead at three-quarter time, and the Devils went on to win by eight points, 46–38.
Notably, both sides played almost the entire game with their starting lineups: Sarah Vinci, Ella Sabljak, Georgia Inglis, Georgia Monro-Cook and Amber Merritt for Australia; and Xue Jing Chen, Man Liu, Tian Jiao Lei, Jia Meng Dai and Si Ting Huang for China.
Top scorers Amber Merritt for Australia, and Jia Meng Dai for China, both of whom scored 23 points.
Efforts by China to increase their lead and by Canada to narrow it came to naught in the second quarter, which ended with both sides scoring 14 points.
China's lead scorer was Tian Jiao Lei with 24 points, while Jia Meng Dai had 19.