Brazil won its first game by beating Belarus 68-53 on Sunday in Olympics women's basketball tournament.

Kelly Santos of Brazil, placing sixth in the preliminary round Group A, scored a game-high 14 points followed by her teammate Claudia Neves with 11 points.

"For us, this is important," said Santos.

"We are a young team and a lot of the players are going through a lot of new experiences, dealing with the press, things like that," she added. "So it is good to get a win in our last game."

Even before the game against Brazil began, Belarus already finished third after Australia and Russia in Group A, one spot ahead of South Korea who edged out Latvia 72-68 earlier Sunday. All of the four are qualified for the next round.

"That doesn't mean much to us," said Marina Kress of Belarus. "We have already reached the quarterfinal."

Micaela Jacinto of Brazil said they learned they "can play like that in every game," adding "we just have to use our head and to relax."

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2008)