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06 - 20
August 2016
7 Ting Shao (CHN)
09/08/2016
Game Report
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China brush aside Senegal to notch first win

RIO DE JANEIRO (Rio 2016 Olympic Games) - China earned their first win of the Women's Olympic Basketball Tournament on Monday night when they beat Senegal, 101-64.

The African champions put up a dogged fight, keeping the game close for the first quarter and a half but once China pulled away, there was nothing that could be done to stop them.

Turning Point: After Diodio Diouf hit a three-pointer that got Senegal within 34-33 midway through the second quarter, China replied with a 9-0 run for the first double-digit lead at 43-33. Tom Maher's charges carried that momentum to go into halftime up 47-38. They pushed the advantage to 53-40 early in the third quarter before Astou Traore converted a three-point play to get Senegal within eight. From there, it was essentially one-way traffic for China as they finished the period on a 20-8 run and outscored their opponents 28-11 in the final frame.

Stats Don't Lie: China joined the USA as the only other team to score 100 or more points in a game but impressively did so despite shooting just 18-of-31 (58 percent) from the free-throw line.

Hero: Sun Mengran and Shao Ting had 17 points apiece to lead all scorers and kept Senegal on their heels by mixing their offense up, scoring down low, on drives, from three-point range and combining to hit 10-of-15 (66 percent) free-throws.

The Bottom Line: China will look to build on this encouraging performance and be ready to face Spain - who have the same 1-1 record - on Wednesday. As for Senegal, their next opponents are Americas champions Canada, who overcame an 18-point deficit to beat European champions Serbia. No easy task then for Moustapha Gaye's charges.

FIBA