China and France advance to fifth-place game

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LA LAGUNA, Spain — China will face France in the fifth-place game at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.

The Chinese team rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to beat Canada 76-71 in the consolation bracket on Saturday. For China, which is the youngest team in the tournament, a chance to play for fifth is big for the future of the team.

Li Meng scored 18 points and Han Xu had 12 for China.

Canada, which was coming off a disappointing quarterfinal loss to Spain, had another rough fourth quarter. The Canadians gave up the first 19 points to Spain in the quarterfinals after leading by three heading into that final period. Against China, Canada led 62-58 going into the final period.

Kia Nurse scored 18 points to lead Canada.

Canada will play Nigeria in the seventh place contest. Nigeria lost to France 84-62 in the first game of the day.

The US plays Belgium and Australia faces Spain in the semifinal games later Saturday.

AP