Olympic Basketball: Russia survives Canadian scare

London - Russia’s women’s basketball team narrowly avoided a shock defeat to underdogs Canada in their opening match Saturday, storming back in the fourth quarter for a 58-53 win at the Olympics.

Midway through the final quarter, the Russians seemed destined for a surprise thrashing when they were 10 points down, but closed the gap by 2.30 and took the lead 30 seconds later.

The Russians, with naturalised American Becky Hammon their top scorer on 14 points, held on for the win in a final quarter they took 21-10.

Hammon was the focus on Russia’s effort, her teammate Alyona Danilochkina said.

“The team was trying to achieve their goals through Becky. We scored a number of three-point shots, including one from myself, and a couple from under the basket, and maybe that gave us the chance to come back,” she said.

The other teams in Group B are France, Britain, Australia and Brazil, with all teams playing each other in the group stage.

–IANS/RIA Novosti

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