Chinese Women's Basketball team earns third convincing victory against Cuba

(BEIJING, July 8) –- The Chinese Women's Basketball team swept their friendly three-game series with Cuba with an 86-75 victory on June 7 in Dongguan, Guangdong province.

China started strongly on both ends of the court, finishing the first quarter with a 30-17 lead after a 3-point buzz-beater from Bian Lan. The Cubans tightened their defense in the second quarter, going on a 6-0 run in the first three minutes and closing to within nine points by the half.

After the break, Chinese center Chen Nan went to work in the paint. She scored six in the third quarter to help the Chinese extend the lead to 14 points. Cuba rallied in the fourth with 25 points but China sealed the deal at the free throw line, winning the game by 11 points.

China's coach, Tom Maher, said that this was the team's best performance in the series. He expressed concern about the team's depth, as Ye Li, Ren Lei and Sui Feifei were all still unavailable and said that the Chinese players were too passive on the court, losing many physical contests.

On August 2, Team China will start their final warm-up series before the Olympic Games at the FIBA Diamond Ball Tournament for Women in Haining, Zhejiang province. They will face Australia, Latvia, Mali, Russia and the defending Olympic champions from the USA.