Australia Beats China 101-72 in Women's Basketball Worlds

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, September 20, 2002

Australia Beats China 101-72 in Women's Basketball Worlds

Australia showed why they are title favorites on Thursday, routing hosts China 101-72 in a Group E match at the women's world basketball championship.

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Australia showed why they are title favorites on Thursday, routing hosts China 101-72 in a Group E match at the women's world basketball championship.

Taylor Penelope nailed a game high 29 points to lead a balanced Australian offense in which Lauren Jackson added 14 and Suzy Batkovic had 13.

The other Australian double-figure scorer is Michelle Brogan with 10.

Australia shot 53 percent from the field and dominated the paint with strong drives and second-chance goals from offense 11 rebounds. The Aussies outrebounded the host side 44-29 in total.

Australia, silver medalists in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, had to rally back form a slow start of 7-4 to tie it at 10-all and12-all before surging ahead with a 11-4 run to lead 30-22 at the end of the first half.

"We had a balanced scoring front line and the experience was the difference in today's match," said Australian head coach Janette Stirling.

The taller Aussies controlled the pace of the second quarter and enlarged their lead to 56-42 at the end of the first half.

"We knew it was a hard game and get everything well prepared," said Chinese head coach Gong Luming.

"But the Australian offense was so strong and we tried every mean but still could not stop them from getting the ball into basket," he added.

Sui Feifei led the Chinese women with 20 points and seven rebounds and Chen Nan added 13 and Miao Bo had 10.

China shot 27 to 65 (42 percent) from the field and 4 to 9 from the arc while it was 8 to 14 for the Aussies from the same distance.

Australia and China both have entered the quarter-finals and inthe third and final round of their Group E matches on Friday Spainare to take on Brazil while China face Argentina.

Early Thursday evening, Spain bounced back from a heartbreaking defeat by China and upset tournament favorites Brazil 78-68.

Amaya Valdemoro scored a game high 33 points, including 4 for 5from the 3-pointer arc, to lead Spain for the victory they needed to advance into the quarter-finals.

Valdemore also had a team high 5 rebounds and teammates Laia Palau added 15 points and Marina Ferragut had nine for Spain.

The two sides exchanged the lead in the first quarter with Spain was 20-19 ahead. But the Spaniards surged ahead with 7-2 runto build a 52-35 lead at the interval. Alessandra de Oliveira led Brazil with 19 points while Janeth Arcain added 15. The Brazilians shot just 40 percent from the field while Spain hit 50 percent through the game.

The Spaniards was 10 for 20 from the arc while the Brazilians made just two 3-pointers from 11 attempts.

Spain play Yugoslavia while Brazil are to face Australia on Friday.

Early this afternoon, Yugoslavia won a close game against Argentina 83-76 in another group E match.Gordana Bogojevic and Lara Mandic each scored 17 points to lead the Yugoslavia to their first Group E win in two nights.

Yugoslavia was 34-33 ahead at the end of the first half but they burst ahead with 25-17 run in the third quarter and never looked back to settle the win over the 0-2 Argentines.

Vega Veronica led Argentina with 15 points and Rios Romina and Sanchez Carolina added 12 and 11, respectively.

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