Seven months after a stunning 35-point loss to Japan in the Asian Championships final, the Chinese women's basketball team began their journey to Rio Olympics with a comfortbale 74-49 victory over Venezuela in the first match of a three-game warmup series here on Wednesday.
"This is our first game in 2016. Ususally the first game is very scrappy, but we did very well and played nice basketball today," commented China's head coach Tom Maher.
China's veteran center Chen Nan tied a game-high 16 points and 11 boards. Sun Mengxin had 13 points with three 3-pointers.
Placed fifth in last year's American Championships, Venezuela are in Group D with China and Spain for Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in June.
Chen Nan opened the hosts' scoring account with a hook play, and her brilliant assist handed Shao Ting an easy basket. Another post player Sun Mengran began to shine beyond the arc with two consecutive shots. Chen Nan's jumper at the buzzer built a 21-13 lead for China as the first quarter ran out.
Crowds became concerned when Shao Ting injured her elbow in an offensive play and had to go back to bench with 5:45 remaining in the second period.
Chinese players met troubles in offense in front of their opponents' toughness, suffering nine turnovers in the first half, while they still managed to own an 11-point advantage in hand into the locker room thanks to an 8-0 run late in this quarter, capped by Ma Xueya's layup.
Shao Ting finished China's first attack in the second half with a jumper after returning to court, before the hosts led by 23 points with one minute to go in the third quarter on Sun Mengxin's two 3-pointers in a row.
China resisted their opponents' comeback in the final 12 minutes, and Maher gave chances to more players with a 20-point margin in hand.
Roselis Silva had 16 points for Venezuela. Teammates Yvaney Marquez and Yosimar Corrales added 12 and 11 respectively.
"We did well in three-pointers, but very low in our field goal shooting percentage. Overall, I'm satisfied with what our players did," said Venezuela's head coach Oscar Silva.
The second match of this series will be held on Friday.
