The Chinese women's basketball team beat a visiting New Zealand 71-67 in a pre-Olympic friendly game in Ningbo of Southeast China on Wednesday, avenging a loss in the Athens Olympics four years ago.
Chen Xiaoli scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Chinese girls, who lost by two points to the Kiwis and disqualified for the top-eight contend in the 2004 Athens Games, where the New Zealand advanced to the quarterfinals.
China took the lead in the first quarter at 20-15 and never relinquished it. However, The host were actually outscored by New Zealand in the second (11-13) and the fourth quarter (20-25).
China were forced to a half of 24 turnovers during the two quarters compared with New Zealand's total of 14.
"Our players were too hurry during the game," Chinese coach Tom Mahar said. "But I totally understand because it was our first game after four weeks trainning camp.
"Otherwise, the centers of New Zealand played better than ours, though they are smaller to us. Anyway, we won the game which is our first time the team gathered since four weeks gao," Mahar added.
China opened the third quarter with a 11-0 run that put China to a 42-28 advantage. But New Zealand closed the gap with a 10-0 spur in the fourth quarter. Miao Lijie and Song Xiaoyun, who scored 14 and 10 points each, finished two free-throw points respectively to give China a 70-65 lead and clinch the victory.
Aneka Karr and Lisa Wallbutton each scored 14 points for New Zealand.
Both teams will take part in the Good Luck Beijing tournament - the official Olympic test event - from April 19-24 when the tournament will also be played by Cuba, South Korea, the United States and Australia.
(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2008)