BEIJING -- The U.S. men's basketball team continued to cruise on Thursday, but the women's squad was stunned at the World University Games.
Juan Dixon of Maryland had 19 points, six
rebounds and five assists to lead the United States men's team to a 118-56
victory over South Africa. However, the U.S. women lost to Canada
68-67 in the preliminary round.
The U.S. women led 67-66 with 1:09 remaining, but Erin Soroko's
basket with one minute left erased Canada's deficit, and the
American team failed to score in the last minute.
Ayana Walker of Louisiana Tech had 14 points, nine rebounds and
three steals for the Americans, who slipped to 1-1.
The Americans beat South Africa 134-37 in their first game.
Canada, which had lost to the Americans by 49 points in an
exhibition game Aug. 14, improved to 2-0 and clinched a berth in
the medal round.
In other games, it was Czech Republic 105, Peru 61; China 119,
Taiwan 65; the Netherlands 68, Mexico 59; Russia 82, Sweden 75;
Brazil 100, Nigeria 35; and Portugal 61, Lithuania 48.
Malvin Ely of Fresno State also scored 19 points, and Lynn Greer
of Temple added 17. Roger Mason of Virginia scored 12.
The Americans led by four points midway through the first
quarter and extended their lead to 38-25 with five minutes
remaining in the first half before breaking the game open.
"Offensively I thought we scored fairly well, but defense was
my biggest concern," coach Jerry Dunn said. "We didn't set the
tone defensively early on. It was not the style of play that I
would like to exhibit."
In other men's games, it was Sweden 97, Mexico 78; Ukraine 84,
Bulgaria 48; Lithuania 124, Lebanon 39; and Russia 100, Hong Kong
46.
Olympic judo champion Yuan Hua provided host China with the
first gold medal of the games when she beat Tsukada Maki of Japan
in the over-78 kilogram final.
World and Olympic swimming champion Yana Klochkova won the
800-meter freestyle in 8:36.37.
In the men's 800 relay, Italy won its first gold medal in a
swimming relay in 42 years, beating the U.S. team with a time of
7:20.34. The Americans took the silver medal in 7:23.62.
Italy last took gold in a relay in the inaugural students games
at Turin, Italy, in 1959.
In women's 1-meter springboard diving, dual world champion Guo
Jingjing scored 309.51 points, 24 points ahead of countrywoman Li
Rongjuan.
Michelle Rogers got Britain's first gold in judo when she beat
Dutch player Claudia Zwiers in the under-78 finals.
In the men's competition, Dennis van der Geest of the
Netherlands upset world champion Russian Alexander Mikhaylin in the
playoff for the over-100 final.
China's Dong Zhaozhi beat teammate Wang Haibin in the final of
the men's foil.
In soccer preliminaries, Brazil beat Uruguay 2-1; Morocco upset
France 2-1; China beat Britain 2-0; the Ukraine defeated Italy 1-0;
South Korea beat Thailand 5-1, Mexico topped Nigeria 5-1; the Czech
Republic defeated Ireland 3-0; and Japan beat Iran 3-1.
China, with a lineup including world and Olympic gymnastics
champions Li Xiaopeng, Xing Aowei and Zheng Lihui, won the men's
team event with 172.150 points.
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