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Cambage steers Australia past Japan for perfect record at Rio Olympics

Xinhua, August 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Center Elizabeth Cambage scored 18 of her 37 points in the fourth quarter to lift Australia over Japan 92-86 in a Group A match of the women's basketball at Rio Olympics on Thursday.

Cambage, who will play for Shanghai in Chinese league next season, scored consecutive 11 points for Australia when they were 77-69 down, closing the gap 81-80.

Penny Taylor's three-pointer capped the run and gave Australia a 88-83 lead, which enabled them to hang on through the match to top the pool.

Japan led 71-59 after three quarters, thanks to 20 points from Mika Kurihara, who buried Japan's all six three-pointers in the first half hour out of seven shooting attempts. Seattle Storms' forward Ramu Tokashiki scored 19 points in the span.

But Japan suffered a sudden downturn when Kurihara scored none and Tokashiki had only four points in the decisive fourth quarter as Cambage took over the match single-handed.

Asami Yoshida made her only 3-pointer to close it by 88-86 with 41 seconds remaining, but it was Cambage again that step up and chipped in a jumper inside the paint with 18 seconds left.

Brazil suffered the fourth loss in a row, losing 74-64 to France when the bench scored just nine points in the match.

Tying 20-20 in the first quarter, France strengthened their defense to pull away step by step, leading 35-29 in the second quarter and 57-48 in the third.

Gaelle Skrela had the game-high 18 points while Sandrine Gruda rose from the bench to have 17 points and 10 rebounds for France.

Belarus lost another close game when they fell to Turkey 74-71.

Lindsay Harding's layup with 1:45 to go helped Belarus to claw back to 72-71, but they missed three straight attempts for the lead.

Turkey were fruitless too during that span until Isil Alben was fouled with 13 seconds remaining. Alben made both free throws before Harding missed a potential game-tying three-pointer on the buzzer.

France are ranked second behind Australia in the group with three wins and one loss, while Japan (2-2) and Turkey (2-2) are placed third and fourth respectively. Endit