Basketball
Liberty Center, China Keep Olympic Hopes Alive
After the first two stages of group play at the Paris Olympics, the advancement of China’s women’s basketball team seemed like a tall tale. New York Liberty center Han Xu helped change that narrative on Saturday.
Han’s near double-double off the bench kept China’s hopes of advancement to the Paris knockout round alive, as it tipped off the finale of group play with an 80-58 victory over Puerto Rico in Lille. The 6-11 Han had a game-best nine rebounds, pairing them with 10 points.
The win potentially allows China (1-2) to salvage its Olympic trip after dropping each of its first two games in Group A. While the group’s top two advancement invitations are spoken for (held by Spain and Serbia), the Chinese are more or less in the driver’s seat when it comes to one of the two clinchers offered to the top two third-place teams. As it stands, China owns the best point differential among current third-place teams (albeit with one fewer game played) at minus-1.
Saturday’s win undoubtedly helped the cause: Brianna Jones gave Puerto Rico an early 3-0 lead but China never trailed after instantly responding with a 7-0 run that featured a three-pointer from Li Meng. Formerly of the Washington Mystics, Li was China’s leading scorer with 18 points and also dished out a team-best seven assists.
Another run of seven straight to open the second period more or less sealed the deal for the Chinese, who led by 11 at halftime. The advantage never dropped below 10 thereafter, allowing China to simply foster its point differential tally.
Thus ended the second Olympic basketball tournament run for the Puerto Ricans (0-3), who dropped their first two games by a combined four points. Rutgers alumna and Long Island native Arella Guirantes was the leading scorer with 20 points in defeat.
China, ranked second in the latest FIBA women’s basketball rankings behind only the United States, is seeking an Olympic podium finish for the first time since 1992, when it earned a silver in Barcelona.
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