BEIJING, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Belarus put themselves into medal account as they thrashed Latvia 80-57 on Monday in a rematch of the bronze-medal playoff at the European Women's Basketball Championships.

    Playing in their first-ever Olympics, Belarus showed they were much improved in the past year after they beat Latvia 72-63 in the last meeting.

    Yelena Leuchanka had 22 points and Tatyana Troina adding 17 for Belarus, which were better off on every aspect on the court.

    Gunta Basko led Latvia with 19 points and Liene Jansone contributing 16.

    After a 11-4 lead at the beginning, Latvia were beaten up by the taller Belarus and went down to 40-33 towards end of the first half.

    Belarus used a 17-2 run in the third period to make it 57-39 to put themselves into the driving seat before Latvia coming back as closely as 60-52 in the fourth quarter.

    Leuchanka scored seven points to put Belarus back on the track and Belarus led 69-52 with five minutes left on the clock.