File photo: Basketball payers
China coach Gong Luming is targeting a clean sweep of Nigeria’s D’Tigress in their pre-World Cup exhibition series after Wang Siyu’s four free throws in the closing seconds helped the hosts rally from an eight-point deficit to beat Nigeria 69-65 in Haikou on Sunday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The result, in the second of three warm-up games between both teams ahead of next month’s FIBA Women’s World Cup in Berlin, means D’Tigress have now lost both of their meetings with China, having also fallen 70-67 in their first exhibition game on Friday.
Tang Ziting sank China’s first three-pointer of the contest early in the final period before drilling another effort from beyond the arc to level the score at 54-54, with centre Zhang Ziyu attacking relentlessly in the paint before Wang’s late free throws sealed victory for the home side.
Tang finished with nine points, while the 19-year-old Zhang led all scorers with a double-double of 23 points and 13 rebounds, having been held to just six points in the first half after scoring 24 in Friday’s encounter.
