Members of the gold medalist team China celebrate during the awarding ceremony of the 2023 FIBA Women's Asia Cup in Sydney, Australia, July 2, 2023. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)

China broke a 12-year title drought and ended Japan's stranglehold of the FIBA Women's Basketball Asia Cup with a 73-71 victory in a classic final here on Sunday.

In a nerve-jangling decider, world No. 2 China finished strongly to win its first Asia Cup since 2011.

Han Xu capped off a dominant tournament with 26 points and 10 rebounds, while WNBA player Li Meng hit clutch shots to finish with 17 points and six assists.

Maki Takada top-scored with 17 points for Japan, whose bid for a record-extending sixth-straight title fell just short.

China's chances of a record-equalling 12th title were made harder without captain Yang Liwei who suffered a leg injury late in the semifinal against Australia.

It was a high-quality start as both teams traded baskets in a frenetic first quarter, which ended with the scores tied at 17.

Han took over early in the second term as China scored the first seven points to gain control.

But Japan hit back when Han went to the bench and stormed to a 35-26 halftime lead on the back of scoring 16 straight points.

Having gone through a scoring drought, China emerged in the third quarter renewed with Han rediscovering her dominance. But Japan steadied to take a 51-48 lead into the fourth quarter as the twists continued in a tense finish.

China, however, held their nerve much to the delight of their strong contingent of fans in the stands.

At the post-game media conference, China's head coach Zheng Wei told reporters that she still feels "unreal" about the result, as the team didn't expect to get the championship before the final started.

"Before the tournament, when we had the training camp, we had some problems, like injuries, and not every player joined the team from the start of the training camp," said Zheng. "No matter from the training camp or through the warm-up games in Europe, I think our team got better and better."

Zheng said that the Chinese players underwent a physically-challenging game with Australia, and their final against Japan was more like a test for the players on mentality. She felt glad that the team never gave up until they won.

Li Meng told Xinhua that the Chinese women's basketball team had never lifted the trophy at the Asia Cup for 12 years, so the players had a mentality of challenging the reigning champion. "We executed our coach's tactics and fully enjoyed ourselves during the game," Li said.

Li noted that the group phase saw the teamwork among Chinese players improve after every game. "All the players came together sharing their ideas and watching footage to reflect on our performance. When the Asia Cup progressed to the final, we built up perfect bonds with each other," Li added.