When I looked up the word “desire” in an online dictionary, it says, “A great wish that I wish from the bottom of my heart to accomplish no matter what.”
The women’s final of the “SoftBank Winter Cup 2025 Reiwa 7 78th National High School Basketball Championship Tournament” was a game in which both Ohka Gakuen (Aichi ①) won, and Osaka Kunuei Girls’ High School (Osaka) won, the “long-cherished wish” would be fulfilled. If it is the former, it will be the 25th championship in four years, but the first win in the winter since the passing of former coach Shinichi Inoue.If the latter, it will be the first championship that even former coach Shunichi Nagato, who built the school into one of the strongest in the country, was unable to achieve. In other words, each had a predecessor who was known as a “great general” in the high school basketball world, and the coaches who succeeded him were competing for the top spot in the 2025 Winter Cup.
As expected, Osaka Kunuei Girls’ High School came from behind to defeat Ohka Gakuen and won the Winter Cup for the first time. Coach Kaori Ando, who has been leading the team for 11 years, credits the players for embodying the theme of this tournament as the reason for the victory.
“(So far) Having experienced a lot of games, I have focused on doing exactly what I need to do, rather than focusing on the results, what I should do now, what I should do with this team, whether my opponent has an international student or not, who is the ace, and how I will fight. We have never been the best in Japan, so we didn’t think we could become the best in Japan even if we gave 100%, and our theme during the Winter Cup match was to “exceed what we did the day before,” by giving 100%, 110%, and 120%, and I think our players exemplified that goal.
Tsuchiura Nihon University (Ibaraki), Prefectural Yuzawa Shohoku (Akita), Japan Airlines Hokkaido (Hokkaido), Kurashiki Suimatsu (Okayama), Kyoto Seika Gakuen (Kyoto ①), and Ohka Gakuen. From the first round to the finals, the matches continued to be intense, but Osaka Kunuei Girls’ High School took each step one step at a time and rose to victory. He stepped up in the same way in the finals and won his first crown.
In terms of strategy and tactics, we will use zone defense in the second half to correct the rebounding that we were behind in the first half. Looking at just the 10 minutes of the 4th quarter, Osaka Kunuei Girls’ High School had 18 rebounds, 10 more than Ohka Gakuen’s 8 rebounds.
Regarding this, Mirai Miwa, who led the team with 13 rebounds (and 30 points), said:
“During the meeting, Coach Ando told me that the games that Ohka Gakuen continues to win are due to a lot of offensive rebounds, and he also said that unless we do that thoroughly, we won’t be able to win.In the first half, there were a lot of points where we were conceded, so in the second half, we switched to zone defense, but I think we were able to do a good job of using our bodies to suppress the opponent and get rebounds.”
It is often said that “those who control the rebound control the game,” and in the second half, they switched up their defense and captured the rebound, which gave them the momentum to turn the game around. That was also the case for Osaka Kunuei Girls’ High School, who continued to step up and win through the Winter Cup, including of course the progress they had made through practice.
Osaka Kunei Girls’ Academy also participated as “KUN-EI” in the “12th 3×3 U18 Japan Championship” held in Tokyo on the 13th and 14th of this month, and won their first championship. Miwa also said that he was “inspired” by winning the 3-man championship, and with this win in the Winter Cup, he won both the 3-man and 5-man games, making him a complete domination of winter high school basketball.
It was Osaka Kunuei Girls’ Academy who achieved their “long-cherished wish” in the 2025 Winter Cup, but Ohka Gakuen has also made it to the point where they can make their “long-cherished wish” come true. Despite missing several key players due to injury, we must once again praise them for standing on the finals stage with their “Ohka Ichimaru” slogan.
Their lives will continue regardless of whether they achieve their “desire” or not. Beyond their “desires” – Now that the Winter Cup has ended, I hope that each of them will use this Winter Cup as a passing point to continue on their own path toward achieving their even greater aspirations.
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[Final results of the women’s tournament]
Winner: Osaka Kunei Jogakuin High School (Osaka) *First win
2nd place: Ohka Gakuen High School (Aichi①)
3rd place: Yakumo Gakuen High School (Tokyo①) / Kyoto Seika Gakuen High School (Kyoto①)
[Women’s tournament top 5]
Reimi Hatade (Hataide Urumi / Osaka Kunuei Girls’ Academy #4 3rd year)
Mirara Miwa (Miwa Churara / Osaka Kunei Girls’ Academy #5 3rd year)
Rion Matsumoto (Rio Matsumoto / Osaka Kunuei Girls’ Academy #6 2nd year)
Nanano Hamada (Nanano Hamada / Ohka Gakuen #6 3rd year)
Sakurai Yamada (Sara Yamada / Ohka Gakuen #7 3rd year)
[Women’s Consecutive Participation Award]
〇Participated for 10 consecutive years
Hamamatsu Kaiseikan High School (Shizuoka) / Kyoto Seika Gakuen High School (Kyoto)
〇Participated for 20 consecutive years
Wakayama Shinai High School (Wakayama)
