HAIKOU, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Wang Siyu made four free throws in the closing seconds as China rallied from an eight-point deficit in the third quarter to beat Nigeria 69-65 in their second warmup game for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup on Sunday.
Tang Ziting made China's first 3-pointer of the game early in the fourth quarter before another shot from beyond the arc tied the score at 54-54. Towering center Zhang Ziyu continued to attack the basket before Wang's clutch free throws sealed China's victory.
Tang made both of China's 3-pointers from 12 attempts, finishing with nine points. Zhang led China with a double-double of 23 points and 13 rebounds.
In a fiercely contested first half that featured 11 lead changes, Nigeria relied on its physical defense to stay in contention, with the score tied at 33-33 at halftime.
Zhang, who scored 24 points in Friday's 70-67 victory, was held to six in the first half.
Nigeria made five 3-pointers in the third quarter to take a 54-46 lead into the final period.
China committed 19 turnovers, five more than Nigeria.
"As seven of their players competed at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, it was a good test for our young team," China coach Gong Luming said. "We need to build chemistry and draw experience from these games. We need to connect well against such high-pressure defense. Compared with the first game, we improved our rebounding today, but our turnovers were still high. We hope to improve that in the next game."
The two sides, who have qualified for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup to be held in Berlin in September, will play their final warmup game in Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province, on Wednesday.
"I'm anxious for the third game because it's really hard to beat a team three times in a row. It will be a chance for us to fix what we did wrong in the first and second games. The third game will be different," said Nigeria guard Ezinne Kalu, who had a team-high 13 points. ■
