体坛英语资讯：China wins four-nation womens basketball tourney

CHANGZHI, China, June 19 -- China beat Australia 80-72 on Sunday night and took the title of the four-nation women's basketball tournament with an unbeaten record.

Earlier on Sunday Brazil defeated New Zealand 73-62 and ranked second when Clarissa Santos scored 16 of her 23 points in the first half and grabbed eight rebounds.

China's Ding Yuan scored 14 points, 11 from the second half, Ma Zengyu had 12, including two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and Ji Yanyan added 10. But six Chinese players scored more than eight points with Zhao Shuang and Yang Banban 9 apiece, center Wei Wei 8.

The home team shot 58 percent on the two-pointer field and 4 of 10 3-pointers, compared to Australia's 45 percent and 2 of 15 from long distance.

"We played good defense overall and shot the ball better than the opponent," Chinese coach Sun Fengwu said. "But we made 15 turnovers including five in the fourth quarter."

It was 39-35 at halftime after Yang Banban hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. China controlled the third quarter with a 21-11 spurt for a 60-46 advantage and Australians never closed up to eight points since.

"We lost mainly because we played bad in the third quarter," said Australia coach Carrie Graf. "China did good job especially at penetrations and shootings."

Abby Bishop hit a game-high 16 points for Australia, who were one-win and two-loss and placed third in the tourney.

Brazil completed a two-win and one-loss, and Zealand were win-less and fourth in the tournament. The four teams will move to Yulin, Shaanxi Province for the second leg of the tournament from June 22-24.