China beats Portugal in women's basketball preliminary round

CHENGDU, July 28 (Xinhua) -- China's women's basketball team took its first victory at the Chengdu Universiade after routing Portugal 83-63 in a preliminary round Group D match on Friday.

Led by coach Li Sunnan, the Chinese side with an average age of 23.3 started strong shortly after the tip-off, while the Portuguese team with an average age of 24 fought back with an 8-0 run. Even though the Chinese star center Han Xu made all three shots, Portugal closed the first quarter with a 27-24 lead.

The intense first half saw 11 lead changes, and the turning point came in the last minutes of the second quarter as China suddenly burst with a 9-0 run, ending the half-match with 48-38.

Unstoppable China kept a 62% field goal shooting percentage by the end of the third quarter and enlarged the gap to 18 points. The match turned into junk time in the fourth quarter as China sent on subs.

Han led China with 24 points, and Zhang Jingyi added 13. On Portugal's side, forward Maianca Umabano took 17 points, and Teresa Faustino added 8.

China will face Poland in Group D on July 30.