Chinese hoopers challenge USA, South Korea downs BiH

Li's performance impressed US captain Breanna Stewart, as she remembered playing against the No 9 for a long time on court. "She's tough and she just never stopped flying," said Stewart, who had a game-high nine rebounds.

As the US team was just boosted with the return of their WNBA championship trio Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray and A'ja Wilson. Wilson managed 20 points and eight rebounds, while Gray earned 12 points and six rebounds.

Towering US players mounted nine turnovers during the game, ten fewer than China.

"We didn't play quite well in the opening minutes and the last three minutes of the second quarter, but they did really well in the rest of the match and I'm very proud of them," said China head coach Zheng Wei.

Elsewhere on Saturday, South Korea's Kang Lee-seul rocked the stadium with a phenomenal 37 points to lift her team to a 99-66 triumph over Bosnia and Herzegovina, their first victory so far in the tournament.