Roundup: China grab first win in women's basketball at Rio Olympics

Chinese women's basketball team grabbed first victory here on Monday, beating African champions Senegal 101-64 to keep their advancing hope alive at the Rio Olympics.

Starting the match with 11-0, China never trailed in the first half, only letting the opponents getting close by one point twice, before they led 47-38 into the second half.

China played their best quarter in the tournament so far in the third quarter as they built up a 20-point lead at 73-53 for their first win.

China, which finished 6th at 2012 London, are seeking another win to qualify for the quarter-finals when they face Spain, Serbia and the U.S. in the following matches.

"Defensively we pushed them out. The pressure builds up, and all of sudden, the pressure explodes. They just fell apart," China's head coach Thomas Maher said. "If we can put pressure like that, we are capable of doing more."

Veteran center Chen Nan, who played only 14 minutes with 11 points, said, "I really like to watch the match on bench. The young players need games like this to grow up. I think today's game builds up their confidence."

Shao Ting and Sun Mengran both grabbed 17 points to lead the team when China became the second team to score over 100 points after the U.S. in the women's basketball here.

Asian champions Japan met no trouble to beat Brazil 82-66 for their second victory at Rio Olympics, which granted them the first top 8 berth for 20 years at the Olympics.

Japan finished 7th at the 1996 Atlanta Games and the last time they played at the Olympics was in 2004 Athens.

Seattle Storm's center Ramu Tokashiki, who scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds, said, "It's not the time to celebrate though we made it. We need to keep the intensity because our goal here is a medal."

The best Olympic results for Japanese women's basketball was 40 years ago when they finished 5th at 1976 Montreal Games in Canada.

"I know it's hard (to win a medal), but it's our goal, and we'll all keep on and go for it," the 25-year-old said.

Leading by 47-33 at the break, Japan used a 13-2 run to pull away for good at the start of the second half. Brazil have already lost two games in row.

Canada edged off European champions Serbia 71-67 for the second victory in the competition, thanks to Kia Nurse's 25 points.

Miah-Marie Langlois scored her only points of the match when she buried a 3-pointer to give Canada a 4-point lead with 8 seconds to go.

Trailing by 57-45 in the fourth quarter, Canada used a 14-2 run to tie it on 59 all with 4:46 minutes left before Kim Gaucher's 3-pointer gave them the first lead in second half, 63-61 with 2:46 left on the clock.

The game was tied on 67-67 again when Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe made one of her free-throws to put Canada ahead by one point with 48 seconds to go.

Serbia failed to score on the following possession as Sonja Petrovic travelled, and Canada almost used up their 24-second attacking time when Langlois made the unsunkable lead.

The U.S. nailed down their second over-100-point win when they slashed down Spain 103-63, showing their clear dominance of the tournament as they did in the past Olympics.

The bench of the U.S. team contributed 55 points, seven points more than the starting five, as the team with the most depth dominated from start of the match. Endit