YICHANG, China, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- China displayed dominance throughout to shrug off North America 98-56 in the 2019 Sino-North American Women's International Basketball Challenge here on Sunday.
China dished out 29 assists to North America's five. Wang Siyu and Sun Mengran are China's leading scorers with 11 points apiece. Li Yueru and Han Xu each contributed 10 points.
Dispatching a different starting line-up, the hosts came into contention with two consecutive jumpers from Han Xu. Shao Ting and Li Meng compiled for an 11-0 run for China late in the opening period to establish a 28-18 lead.
Substitutes Gao Song and Li Yueru converted their attempts on second chance into the second quarter to move China further ahead.
China's head coach Xu Limin employed all-round substitution to better experiment the roster with 3:53 remaining. Restraining North America to no shot made beyond the arc before the halftime, China extended advantage to 22 points.
China maintained their quality defense after the restart, as North America just nailed six points in the third quarter and saw themselves down by 34 points heading into the final 10 minutes.
"We made full preparation for this match. It was not about the victory, but how players executed tactics in the match," Xu pointed out.
"Every player showed some characteristics on the court, which boosted our confidence," he added.
Tyler Scaife finished with the game-high 16 points for North America.
"We had a strategy to improve our defense in this game. Despite the result, we did much better. The Chinese team is an organized team who know how to pass and move without the ball," said North America's head coach Albena Branzova-Dimitrova.
China will head to Olympic Asia-Oceania pre-qualifying tournament on Nov. 14-17 in contention for a berth in next February's qualifiers.
