After playing catch up for most of the match, Spain got things going in the homestretch on the way to the win.
Megan Gustafson and Leonor Rodriguez shone as Spain opened its Olympic Games Paris 2024 women’s basketball campaign with a thrilling 90-89 overtime win over China at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium on Sunday, July 28 (Philippine time).
Gustafson led the way for World No. 4 Spain with 29 points, including six in the extra period before Rodriguez sealed the win with a split from the foul line.
Rodriguez, who finished with 25 points, fired 11 of her total output in the final five minutes of regulation that allowed the European nation to erase a seven-point deficit and force an overtime.
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Her booming three-pointer with six ticks remaining in the fourth period gave Spain, which was playing catch-up most of the way, the buffer it needed to emerge victorious.
Queral Casas added eight points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
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The win spoiled a 31-point outing by Yueru Li, whose layup with just four seconds left pulled China to within a whisker, 90-89.
But time just was not on the Chinese’s side.
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Li also had 15 rebounds.
Meng Li put up a double-double outing with 13 points and 11 assists, while Mengran Sun chipped in 10 points.