China goes to top four in Women's Basketball

Tatyana Troina drives for a shot attempt against Sui Feifei. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 19) -- China advanced into the top four by knocking out Belarus 77-62 in the first match of the Olympic Women's Basketball quarterfinal on Tuesday, August 19.

China's Miao Lijie was the game's high scorer with 28 points, making three of her five three-point shots. Her teammate Chen Xiaoli and Belarus' Tatyana Troina scored 15 points apiece.

China led 7-2 soon after the match opened, but it made mistakes on defense and Belarus caught up 7-6 after five minutes passed. China quickly recovered and played into better form, ending the first quarter 19-13. The second quarter saw Belarus commit seven turnovers to China's one. China closed the first half leading 38-25.

Belarus failed to decrease its turnovers in the third quarter, but it did a better job at grabbing rebounds and made a number of skillful shots. China made more turnovers in the latter half of this period. The two teams scored the same 18 points in the third period, closing this quarter 56-43 with China still in the lead. Belarus was unable to make up the 13 point difference in the fourth quarter, and after Song Xiaoyun made a two-pointer in the last two seconds of the match, the game ended 77-62 in China's favor.

China entered the quarterfinal with four wins and one loss in the preliminary round, ranking second in group B. Belarus ranked third in group A, winning two and losing three games.

Now China will advance to the semifinal. "We are excited," said China's center Chen Nan. "After four years, China is going into the semifinals and I'd like to thank the fans for supporting us."