Japan edge Belgium, China lose to U.S. in Women's Basketball WC

China unsurprisingly lost to title favorites the United States 100-88, while Japan bounced back from their opening loss to upset debutantes Belgium 77-75 through overtime at the 2018 FIBA Women's World Cup here on Sunday.

Diana Taurasi and Tina Charles combined for the first 11 points for the United States, who led 25-20 as the first quarter ran out.

China continued their momentum in the second period, and cut the deficit to one point with 3:10 remaining, but their powerful opponents steadied themselves on the 36-year-old Taurasi's three-pointer, and built a 48-39 lead into the halftime.

Morgan Tuck's three-point play with 7:58 to go also saw China's starting center Li Yueru fouled out. That started a 9-0 run to set the tone for the United States' victory leading 90-73.

Promising Chinese center Han Xu scored 20. Sun Mengran and Li Meng added 16 and 12 respectively.

Breanna Stewart had a game-high 23 points for the United States, including 17 in the third quarter. That was added by Wilson's 20 and Charles' 16.

In the other Group D match, Senegal triumphed 70-69 over Latvia. The United States sit atop with two wins in a row. China and Senegal are behind at 1-1, and will put on head-to-head in Tuesday's final round match.

In Group C, Evelyn Mawuli's three-pointer with 1:02 remaining tied the score at 68-all for Japan, but both sides wasted several ensuing chances of moving in front.

With 0.6 seconds to go, Kim Mestdagh missed the jumper which could be a buzzer beater as the regular time expired.

The neck-to-neck contention continued in overtime, as Himawari Akaho converted one of two free throws to earn Japan a two-point lead. Mestdagh, who scored 23 for Belgium, saw her desperate jumper blocked.

Maki Takada had a game-high 26 points for Japan. Yuki Miyazawa added 21 and finished the game-winning block in overtime.

Hosts Spain beat Puerto Rico 78-53 thanks to Astou Ndour's 22 points, and rank first in the group with two wins from two.

After finishing with 34 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's opener, Liz Cambage once again showed her dominance in paint field, as her 24 points in less than 18 minutes handed Australia an overwhelming 84-43 win over Argentina.

Powering to a 10-0 start after the tip-off, Australia never seemed threatened by Argentina throughout the match.

The other Group B match saw Nigeria down Turkey 74-68. Both teams record 1-1 after two matches.

Canada celebrated their second straight victory after breezing past South Korea 82-63. France got past Greece 75-71.

Canada and France will contend for Group A's top position in their final round duel.