Tenacious Team China gives US tough test

Closely fought contest lights up FIBA World Cup

A gutsy Team China performance forced the United States to dig deep for victory in a highly entertaining FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup game in Sydney on Saturday.

Roared on by a big pro-Chinese crowd of roughly 9,400 fans, the world's best team found it difficult to shake off a tenacious Team China who battled bravely until the final buzzer.

The relatively young Chinese squad, with an average age of 25.5 years old, tied the game at 13-13 before finishing the first quarter trailing 18-13. The US surged to a 44-25 halftime lead but China reduced the gap to 56-47 by the end of the third before eventually losing 77-63.