Canada comfortably defeated China 90 to 68 in each country’s first Group B game of the women’s Olympic basketball tournament. Tamara Tatham led all scorers with 20 points to go along with six rebounds, and Miah-Marie Langlois added 11 points with a trio of three-pointers. In total, Canada drained a remarkable 11 of 16 shots from behind the arc en route to the victory.
UConn guard Kia Nurse went 0-for-6 from the field, but had five points in the game, all from the free throw line.
Canada secured a double-digit lead as the first quarter expired, holding China to just 9 points on 27% shooting from the field.
The offense from both teams picked up in the 2nd quarter as Canada went into the half leading 37-26. Langlois capped off a strong half for Canada as she drained back-to-back threes before the break.
China remained competitive through the third quarter, but could not keep up with the long range shooting of the Canadians in the fourth. Satisfied with her team’s performance, Canadian coach Lisa Thomaidis replaced her starters half way through the final frame.
Xiaojia Chen paced all Chinese scorers with 12 points.
Both Canada and China return to action Monday. Canada will match up against Serbia at 1:15 pm ET, while China will face off against Senegal at 6:45 pm ET.
