CHN/ARG - China's height and accuracy too much for Argentina

TOULOUSE (FIBA U17 World Championship for Women) - China beat Argentina 72-54 in the Palais de Sports in Toulouse in the opening game of the FIBA U17 World Championship for Women.

Hongy ang Cui was the game's top scorer with 15 points.

The height advantage and three-point shooting of the Chinese players against the speed of the Argentinians made for a game of different tactics from the two teams.

Wang Guizhi's girls led 21-11 at the end of the first quarter thanks to some dead-eye shooting on offense and their length proved too much for their opponents at the other end.

The second period started more evenly but again the Chinese took control with Rocio Diaz keeping Argentina in the game with her darting ventures under the basket.

China led 38-21 at the break.

Diaz had the hot hand to start the third quarter and got her team back to within 14. Some entertaining end-to-end action followed but the Chinese machine again swung into action for a 59-35 advantage heading into the final frame.

The action continued at a quick pace in the final 10 minutes for a final score of 72-54.

Quotes

Wang Guizhi (China head coach): "All of us were very impressed by the scale of the event. We were surprised by the contact among the players. We weren’t very fast today, because of the defense of Argentina. All we want is to improve but it was an interesting first game.”

Eduardo Pinto (Argentina head coach): "The game was decided at the end of the first quarter. The difference was in the rebounding category and the fact that our centre (Diana Cabrera) had three fouls whistled against her very quickly in the game. This changed a lot the whole game of our team."

FIBA