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Canada, Australia knock down big wins on women's basketball first day

Xinhua, August 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

Canada kicked off their Rio Olympic women's basketball journey with a big win over China, 90-68, while Australia spoiled hosts Brazil's opener with a 84-66 victory at the Youth Arena on Saturday.

Tamara Tatham led Canada with 20 points, including a 4-out-of-4 performance from behind the arc, as the whole Canadian team buried 11 three-pointers out of 17 attempts.

Miah-Marie Langlois made three 3-pointers to finish 11 points and the Canadians dominated the board, by 44-31.

After a pointless back-and-forth running for both teams, China opened the scoreline with a 3-pointer from Li Shanshan, the only lead for China of the game.

Canada used fast-breaks to take a 19-9 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. They won every quarter and led by as many as 26 points.

Chen Nan led China with 13 points and Chen Xiaojia added 12.

Australia's center Elizabeth Cambage, 2.03-meter high (6 feet and 8 inches), was unstoppable under the basket, collecting 20 points and 14 rebounds to lead the team.

Brazil led 24-14 in the first quarter and maintained on the upper hand at the break, thanks to Izlane Castro's game-high 25 points.

But Australia's bench chipped in 26 points, offering great help in the second half to turn around the table. Leilani Mitchell and Penny Taylor added 18 and 17 points respectively for Australia.

In the opener of the women's basketball competition, France crushed Turkey 55-39 as Endy Miyem and Sarah Michel adding 14 points apiece.

Turkey scored only four points in the fourth quarter when France scored 14 in the defensive match.

Asian champions Japan held on to beat Belarus 77-73 in the closest match of the day. Japan led 73-70 with 20 seconds to go, but Belarus failed to make the 3-pointer on the possesion and granted two free-throws to Japan, which decided the final results. Endit