China Edges Spain in Women's World Basketball

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, September 19, 2002

China Edges Spain in Women's World Basketball

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Shooting Guard Miao Lijie scored 22 of her 24 points in the second half to lead China to a 72-59 key win over Spain in Group E top eight elimination round ofthe women's world basketball Wednesday in Suzhou.

Miao stole the ball with 39 seconds on the clock and made a 3-points play with a fastbreaking lay-up and free-throw to lift China in safe at 65-57.

Spain cut it to 59-67 before Miao added two free throws and hita buzzer beating 3-pointer to seal the battle at 72-59.

"I'm so happy with the win and we knew before the game this wasthe must-win match both for China and Spain," Miao Lijie told a post-game press conference.

"As a young team we gained a lot of conference form this game and hope we will be playing like this in the future," added Miao, who was 3 for 5 from the ace and also got 4 rebounds.

China had three other players finishing in an identical 14-point in the box and they are Ren Lei, Sui Feifei and Chen Nan.

Ingrid Pons led Spain with 17 points and 9 rebounds while teammates Begona Carcia added 11 and Rosaura Sanchez 10.

"This was a great game and China played very good defence in the second half," said Spanish head coach Yicente Ridrugyes.

"We did not do well in fast breaking and made some key turnovers in the end of the fourth quarters," he added.

Both sides played tough defence and left the first half game a low scoring tug-of-war. China led the first quarter 19-16 and the second 10-8.

The Spanish women trailed all the way and tied the scores at 55-all with four minutes and eight seconds left.

But the Chinese squad surged ahead with a steal and five-feet jumper by Chen Luyun in next possession and surged ahead with 17-4run to seal the game with a margin of 13 points.

With the victory, China has secured their spot in the top eight with a 3-1 record while Spain, 2-2, has to win at least one more game in the rest of two outings.

China faces Australia and Spain takes on Brazil on Thursday.

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