BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Sichuan rode on a dominant first quarter before holding off Inner Mongolia 78-70 at home this evening, tying the best-of-five Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) league title contention at 2-2.
Welcoming back its star center Elizabeth Cambage, who was suspended in Tuesday's Game 3, Sichuan started strongly and outscored Inner Mongolia 26-5 in the first quarter.
The visitor put on its comeback effort afterwards, trimming the deficit to 14 points after three quarters.
Jonquel Jones, who had a monstrous 47-point performance in the previous match, hit a 3-pointer as Inner Mongolia pulled within 64-73 with 3:30 to play, and had another shot from beyond the arc with 1:25 remaining, helping Inner Mongolia cut the deficit within eight points, but it was the closest that it could get.
After Jones missed a 3-pointer going into the final minute, Inner Mongolia found it difficult to mount further comeback.
Cambage shot 10 of 19 to finish with a big double-double of 24 points and 19 rebounds. Wang Siyu scored 19 points, but the other two Sichuan key players, Li Meng and Han Xu, were restrained to eight points apiece.
Jones led Inner Mongolia with 24 points and 13 boards. Zhang Ru and Li Yuan had 11 and 10 points respectively.
The decisive Game 5 will take place on Inner Mongolia's home court on Monday. ■
