HU JINGCHEN XINHUA SYDNEY China defeated France 85 -- 71 in Sydney on Thursday to advance to the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup semifinals for the first time in almost three decades.
Five Chinese players hit double digits in scoring, led by Li Meng's 23 points. Huang Sijing helped with 18.
The last time that China reached the same stage was in 1994 when they finished runners-up at the FIBA World Championship for Women.
China has lost each of its previous three quarter-final games at the quadrennial tournament, in 2002, 2014 and 2018 while showing its determination to shatter this unfriendly record from the start in Thursday's game.
We need to get the better of ourselves in this game, as we have been in the quarter-finals a number of times, but we didn't make it. "We are all desperate to win today, and everyone played very well," said China's head coach Zheng Wei.
On September 29, 2022, Yang Liwei left of China goes for a lay-up during the quarter-finals match between China and France at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 in Sydney, Australia. HU JINGCHEN XINHUA After athletic Gabby Williams helped France race to a 12 -- 6 lead, China responded with an 18 -- 3 surge to turn the tides, with Li Meng contributing 12 points down the stretch. France scored five late points, including Mamignan Toure's buzzer-beating 3 pointer, to tie the first quarter at 25 -- 25.
China kept imposing pressure on opponents in the second quarter with six points in a row en route to a 50 -- 39 halftime margin. After consecutive baskets from top performer Huang, who scored 12 points, three rebounds, four assists and hit 67 percent of the field by the end of the game, the whole team tuned up with a perfect collaboration.
France rode on a 12 -- 2 scoring run to trim the deficit to one point midway through the third quarter, but China steadied itself through Han Xu's three-point play and Li Yuan continued her scoring output after coming off the bench, helping China lead 66 -- 58 heading into the final frame.
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In the last period, HU JINGCHEN XINHUA Han was unstoppable in the paint, and China effectively sealed the victory as Huang buried a 3 pointer with 1: 26 to play.
We had some ups and downs at the beginning, but that wouldn't last for the whole game. The coach told us to stick to our style throughout the game, so we started to play at our own pace later on, said Huang.
HU JINGCHEN XINHUA Zheng said that Sydney, where China won the silver medal in the 1994 edition of the tournament, is a blessed land for the team, and it feels great to play here as fans gave the team a lot of motivation.
She said that as long as we have been at this stage, we will try to play better in the following games.
China will face Australia on Friday for a final berth, which defeated Belgium 86 -- 69 later on Thursday.