China, Liberty Center Fall in Olympic Upset

The Chinese women’s national basketball team, featuring New York Liberty center Han Xu, is on the brink of elimination from the Summer Olympics in Paris after yet another surprise in Group A.

Ranked second in FIBA’s latest women’s basketball tally, Han and the Chinese are in danger of going home empty-handed after enduring an 81-59 defeat at the hands of Serbia on Wednesday in Lille. Han was tied for the team lead with 11 points but shot 2-of-10 from the field as part of some drastic struggles on the shot chart. China (0-2) hit only 16 field goals in Lille as it inched closer to its seventh consecutive Olympics without a podium visit.

To her credit, Han was one of the more efficient players for China, hauling in seven rebounds and shooting 6-of-8 from the foul line in defeat. Her plus/minus was in the red at minus-2 but that was second-best on the team behind Li Yuan, who played just under two minutes.

That and more, however, wasn’t enough to handle a second half Serbian surge, one that saw them maintain a double-figure lead for the final 16-plus minutes of the game as they limited China to only 20 points over the latter 20 (worst in an Olympic game for the Chinese since 1996). That effort was punctuated by an 8-of-34 mark from three-point range, as well as limiting Han’s fellow paint-dweller Li Yueru (Los Angeles) to a mere three shot attempts despite grabbing 11 rebounds.

Yvonne Anderson led the Serbians (2-0) with 15 points and six assists while Tina Krajisnik had a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double. Alongside Spain (which took a narrow 63-62 decision from Puerto Rico to open basketball activities on Wednesday), Serbia has clinched one of Group A’s spots in the knockout round for the third consecutive Olympic tournament. Serbia and Spain will play for the group win on Saturday (7:30 a.m. ET, Peacock).

Wednesday’s one-sided defeat greatly complicates matters (as point differential is a major tiebreaker) but China still has an outside chance at advancement through the two spots afforded to third-place group finishers. Their final chance to impress also lands on Saturday when they face the Puerto Ricans (5 a.m. ET, Peacock).

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