Red-hot Aussie Sapphires ready for rivals ambush

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When you're lowest winning margin is 79 points, it can be easy to get complacent but that's not the case for the Australian Sapphires at the FIBA Under-16 Asia Cup in Malaysia.

Instead, the Sapphires are preparing for an ambush from some of Australia's most fierce rivals in world basketball in the semi-finals on Saturday and eventually the gold medal game the following day.

Australia won its three pool stage games by 81, 79 and 80 points but former NBL player and Sapphires coach, Tom Garlepp, said they needed to be ready for the challenges that come their way at the business end of the tournament.

"With China and Japan as possible opponents, as well as New Zealand still a chance, we have some famous and high-quality basketball rivals to go through, Garlepp told basketball.com.au.

"With China we need to be ready for a highly physical clash, and with Japan, if we’re not proactive defensively it will be a long night.

"Both teams present tremendous opportunities for our girls in their young careers."

Headlined by talents such as Madison Ryan, Isabel Smith, Sophie Richardson and Marianela Fakalata - the Sapphires headed into the tournament as heavy favourites and have been nothing short of dominant so far, qualifying automatically for the semi-finals along with Japan.

The girls will also be looking to emulate the success of the Aussie Crocs boys team, which beat China to claim gold earlier this month in Mongolia and Garlepp said they were pleased with the group's progress so far.

"Collectively we feel good about where we are at. We have affirmed our depth through the group stage, while the results may suggest that we have consistently had games on our terms, I feel that we have still managed to emerge with both a defensive focus, and a commitment to staying together as we head into the business end of the week," he said.

"We’ve learned that we will need to be prepared both physically and mentally with what’s to come.

"We have a rest day ahead of our semi-final game. We have been pushing hard each day to grow as a collective and have had great buy-in from the group, so right now we want to take a breath and get our legs underneath us.

"Then we will start to ramp up for whoever we play out of Philippines versus China on Saturday with a focus on playing as hard as we can to finish off the tournament."

China are expected to make it through to a clash with the Sapphires in the semi-final after Australia demolished the Philippines 123-42 in its tournament opener.

Garlepp will also be aiming to replicate the success of his wife, Renae Garlepp, who took the Australian Gems to a silver medal on an even bigger stage at the FIBA Under-19 Women's World Cup in July.

The Sapphires play a semi-final on Saturday with the gold medal game on Sunday.