China News Service, Xi'an, February 11 (Reporter Zhang Yichen) "I'm sorry, we played a very bad game during the Chinese New Year." Chinese women's basketball coach Zheng Wei said bluntly after the game on the 10th.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the Chinese women's basketball team ushered in its second opponent, the French women's basketball team, in the 2024 FIBA Olympic Women's Basketball Qualifying Tournament. After four quarters of competition, the Chinese team lost to the French team 50:82.
The picture shows Chinese women’s basketball player Li Yueru holding the ball and attacking. Photo by Zhang Yichen
Since its establishment in 1936, the French women's basketball team has achieved many successes in Europe and the world. They won the championship at the 2009 Women's Basketball European Championship, and won the 2012 London Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The silver and bronze medals showed strong strength. Currently, the French women's basketball team ranks fourth in the latest FIBA (International Basketball Federation) world rankings.
In fact, although the French team has locked up a seat in the Olympic Games through its status as the host nation, the team's head coach Don Payne still assembled the strongest lineup to compete in Xi'an.
Facing a strong opponent, the Chinese women's basketball team sent a starting lineup composed of Han Xu, Yang Liwei, Li Meng, Wang Siyu, and Huang Sijing to deal with the opponent. After the opening, both sides showed strength and hardness on the defensive end. Under fierce physical confrontation, the game once fell into a stalemate. Then the French team took the lead in adjusting and hit shots from the outside one after another. After the first quarter, the Chinese team fell behind 10:17.
In the second quarter, the Chinese team performed sluggishly on both offense and defense. On the other hand, the French team's core player Johannes felt hot and hit consecutive three-pointers from the bottom corner. The Chinese team faced adversity and failed to make effective adjustments. Before halftime, although Li Meng hit a long-range three-pointer, the French team had widened the point difference to 20 points.
In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again. The Chinese team was still struggling, while the French team became more and more courageous. In the end, the Chinese women's basketball team lost to the French team 50:82. Throughout the game, Gabby Williams, who contributed 17 points and 7 rebounds to the French team, won the best player award of the game. For the Chinese women's basketball team, Li Meng scored a game-high 21 points, but no other teammate scored more than 10 points.
"The Chinese women's basketball team is a very strong team, but we brought the game into a rhythm we are familiar with. Whether it is the sharing of the ball or the timing of the shot, we grasped it just right. This is why we were able to win." So says Bea Williams.
"This defeat also sounded the alarm for our team in time. We will play more against strong European and American teams in the future and accumulate experience through high-quality games." Zheng Wei looked at the technical statistics table in her hand after the game and said frankly, China The women's basketball team is a team that emphasizes teamwork. The average number of assists per game is usually more than 20, but today there were only 14 assists and 22 turnovers. These are all worth summarizing.
Zheng Wei said: "How to boost the morale of the whole team in a short period of time is a test for our coaching staff, but excellent teams can always find ways to solve such problems. I hope the Chinese Women's Basketball Team is such a team ."(over)