Nan Chen scores 28 as China routs Croatia 83-58 – Olympics Women Basketball Recap
The Chinese Women basketball team continued with their impressive showing at the 2012 London Olympics and won their 2nd match, by routing Croatia 83-58.
The Chinese have surprised the basketball world with their impressive showing this time around, and are currently Group A leaders with two wins from two matches. They had their best game so far on the night, where they outscored them in every quarter of the game.
Nan Chen led the scoring for the game with 28 points and 10 rebounds in just 29 minutes while Sandra Mandir was the leading scorer for the Croatians with 22 points and 5 rebounds.
The Chinese led early in the first quarter but the Croatians came right back, and took the lead for the first time in the game with a three pointer by Mandir, making the score 15-14 to the Croatians with 3:47 left in the period.
It was a close contest throughout the first period, with Croatia responding to every offensive move by China to stay in striking distance. China however scored the final 4 points of the quarter to lead 24-21 at the end of the 1st period.
Leading 28-27 in the second period, the Chinese broke free with 7 straight points. They held on to the margin and led by 39-31 at halftime.
Chen was fired up as she opened the proceedings for the Chinese in the 2nd half with 4 straight points that extended the Chinese lead to 43-31. A couple of minutes later, six straight points by the Chinese stretched the lead to 51-36, the largest till that point as the Chinese slowly started to get away.
Croatia scored the next five points, but what followed was a 9 – 0 Chinese run which was capped by a three point play by Song Gao, stretching their lead to 20, 60-40. The Croatians unable to stop the Chinese offense trailed by 45-64 heading into the final quarter.
After outscoring them 25-14 in the third period, the Chinese continued to dominate in the final period. They outscored The Europeans 19-13 and never allowed them to come back into the game.
Lijie Miao scored 17 points and 10 assists on the night for China, while Song Gao finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
The Croatians were unable to match the exceptional offense of the Chinese, and besides Mandir, Andja Jelavic was the only one with double figure points for the night. She managed 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for Croatia, and attempted to block a Chinese blowout along with teammate Mandir.
China were hot from the two point range, going 34 of 63 for the night. They also scored on all 9 of their free throw attempts, while the Croatians only scored on 1 of 3 attempts. China also outscored the Croatians 43-35 in rebounds, 25-12 in assists and committed 11 turnovers as compared to 23 for Croatia. They were the better team on the night and beat the Croatians in almost all aspects of the game, as they picked up their second straight victory to remain unbeaten in this year’s Olympics.
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