体坛英语新闻：PLA claims women's senior basketball title at National Games

BENXI, Liaoning Province, Sep. 9 (Xinhua) -- The People's Liberation Army (PLA) team beat Jiangsu 98-87 here on Monday to claim the women's senior basketball title at 12th National Games of China.

The PLA team went off to a 6-0 lead before Jiangsu cut down the deficit to level at 31-31 in the first quarter.

National team player Chen Nan scored 24 points in the first half as the PLA team dominated in the paint to go up 53-52 at halftime.

Bian Lan, the top scorer of Jiangsu, had to sit out the whole second half on bench due to waist injury. The PLA team took the upper hand in the fourth quarter to expand their lead to 11 points before seizing the victory.

"Both team did a good job. We improved in defence and rebound in the fourth quarter, which lead us to the victory," said Chen Nan.

The bronze medal went to the Heilongjiang team, who beat hosts Liaoning 70-66. National team player Miao Lijie, who is set to retire after the National Games, grabbed game-high 23 points and dished out eight assists.