Serbia's Sonja Petrovic (L) goes up for a shot during a women's preliminary round Group B match of basketball between Serbia and China at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 12, 2016. Serbia won 80-72. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- European champions Serbia used a strong run in the third quarter to defeat China 80-72 for their first win in Group B of the women's basketball at Rio Olympics on Friday.
Serbia (1-3) will face winless Senegal while China (1-3) to face the unbeaten United States in the last round of the pool play on August 14.
Serbia, which lost to China 85-69 in 2014 World Championships, built up a 24-14 lead in the first quarter, thanks to Ana Dabovic's 11 points during that period, but China scored the first six points in the second quarter and fought back with a 17-6 run to lead 31-30.
Things changed abruptly when both teams came back from break as Serbia scored eight straight points to extend the lead. China called two time-outs in a row, but only witnessing Serbia to pull away as far as 25 points by 66-41.
Serbia won the third quarter 26-9 to lead 66-43 and the match was virtually over before the start of the fourth quarter.
Dabovic led Serbia with 23 points and Sonja Petrovic added 20 points and eight rebounds. Sun Mengran led China with 16 points.
