OLYW - USA pull away late from Croatia, China and Turkey also record wins

LONDON (Olympics) - The USA, the defending World and Olympic champions, opened their campaign at the 2012 London Games with a win but not before they were put to the test by an impressive Croatia side.

The Americans, winners of the gold medal at every Olympics since 1996, used a run of 16 unanswered points in the final frame to blow the game wide open and register an 81-56 win.

The Croatians however did give them a good scare.

Both teams started off cold with Geno Auriemma's charges taking an 11-4 lead to end a very low-scoring first quarter.

The defending champions were the first to find their shooting range as they went up 21-9 but then conceded a 14-0 run.

Behind the strong inside play of Tina Charles and Candace Parker - the former taking care of the scoring while the later worked the boards - the USA took a 31-28 lead into halftime.

There was no separating the two teams in the third quarter with the gap standing at six, 53-47, heading into the final period.

That is when the Americans made their move and put the game well and truly beyond Croatia's reach.

Earlier in the day, China used a balanced offense to beat Czech Republic 66-57 in the opening game of the Olympic Basketball Tournament.

Zengyu Ma had 16 points to pace four players in double digits for Sun Fengwu's team, which got off to a quick start, scoring eight of the first 10 points and the Czechs played from behind the rest of the way.

"This was a tough game, playing against a team that came in second at the World Championship," said Lijie Miao, who contributed 12 points and eight assists to the winning cause.

"It was a great game and we did a good job playing against a strong team."

For the champions at last year's FIBA Asia Championship for Women, the result gets them off to a good start as they aim to improve on their fourth-place finish at the 2008 Olympics.

The result ranks as an upset as Lubor Blazek's charges are less than two years removed from taking silver at the 2010 FIBA World Championship which they hosted. They also finished fourth at last year's EuroBasket in Poland.

Katerina Elhotova, one of only two players to score in double figures with 13 points, pointed to her team's inability to make things hard on China.

"They (China) made so many easy baskets off of fastbreak. We have to be better on defense," she said.

"We need to work on that for the next game."

In the day's other Group A game, Turkey used a quick start to cruise past Angola 72-50.

The Turks scored the first 10 points of the game and held their opponents scoreless for the opening five minutes as they built a 21-8 first quarter lead.

The Angolans eventually got on the score sheet and got within 35-25 by halftime. But their lack of height combined with a poor shooting performance from three-point range (3 of 15) hindered them.

Turkey's win was all the more special as it came with the country's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in attendance, looking on.

Looking ahead to the team's next game against Czech Republic, forward Kuanitra Holingsvorth was in no doubt about what needs to be improved.

"We need to be quicker around the court as we were very sluggish today," she said.

FIBA