|
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Serbia won the first-ever Olympic medal in the women's basketball as the European champions beat France 70-63 in the bronze medal match of the Rio Olympic Games here on Saturday.
Serbia, which played their first Olympics in Rio, had a 4-4 win-loss record after losing their first three games in their six-team group.
Jelena Milovanovic led Serbia with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Serbia had an 11-point lead in the first quarter, but let France, led by Endy Miyem's 18 points, claw back to tie it on 27-all at the break.
Trailing 40-37 in the third quarter, Serbia used an 18-2 run to make it 55-42 for good. Serbia had six steals and three 3-pointers during that span while France made only one field goal in five minutes.
France, the silver medalists at the 2012 London Games, came all out for a turnaround in the fourth quarter, but the best they could do was to cut the gap into 10 points.
The United States will face Spain for the gold medal later.
