China Women Hoopsters Rally to Crown against Italy

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, August 31, 2003

China Women Hoopsters Rally to Crown against Italy

China trailed, sweated and finally won a tough showdown against Italy to crown the women's basketball competition at the 22nd World University Games Saturday.

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China trailed, sweated and finally won a tough showdown against Italy to crown the women's basketball competition at the 22nd World University Games Saturday.

Trailing 63-58 into the last quarter, China overrun their opponents 71-69 by a three-pointer from Chen Luyun with less than five minutes to go.

They went on with a 5-0 run in the following three minutes to lead 76-69, and survived the Italian side's late rally to seal thevictory 81-79.

The more athletic Chinese girls overlasted their Italian rivals23-16 in the fourth and last quarter.

Sui Feifei, who played a key role in the previous matches, still shone on court. She scored a game-high 27 points and grabbedeight rebounds in 40 minutes.

Corno Aldo, head coach of the Italian side, gave full marks to Sui's performance at the Universiade.

"She is really excellent, the best player here. And her performance impressed me most," he said.

Chen Luyun added 16 points for China in 35 minutes and seven seconds.

Laura Macchi hit 24 points to lead the Italian team. Anna Zimerle and Francesca Zara each added 13.

Gong Luming, head coach of the Chinese team, expressed his satisfaction with the result.

"My girls did a very good job to fight back. I'm proud of theirpersistence and composure showed on court," he said.

"The experiences accumulated from the tough game will be of great help to our upcoming journey to the Asian Championships," headded.

The Chinese women basketballers are using the competition as a warmup for the championships to be held next January, in which thetop three teams will clinch the Olympic berths.

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