WCBA 16/2008 - Beijing 84, Jiangsu 79

With only seven more games left in the WCBA regular season, Jiangsu (11-5) hoped to use Beijing (10-6) as an appetizer before heading on Saturday to take on league-leading Liaoning. Instead, Jennifer Lacy's team pulled the welcome mat out from under the visitors' feet, winning 84-79 at home to remain in fourth place.

The translated boxscore is here.

Looking at the quarter to quarter boxscore, it seems like a fairly even game at first - the score was tied after 10 minutes and Beijing took an 45-41 lead into halftime. Beijing came out strong in the third quarter holding Jiangsu to 15 total points, and Jiangsu's rally in the fourth just wasn't enough to come back and win.

Part of the problem, undoubtedly, was that Jiangsu only had seven players earn any minutes. Sometimes, I wonder what's going on. Are Chinese coaches loathe to substitute, or are there unreported injuries?

Beijing won the shooting battle, 44 percent to 41 percent over Jiangsu, and also hit nine 3-point shots. However, Jiangsu killed Beijing in offensive rebounding, 24-14. They made more turnovers than Beijing, but were better at the free throw line - 76 percent vs. 64 percent. It's hard to find a key to the game that gives Beijing the win; I guess you had to be there.

Three of the four "Zhangs" on the Beijing team helped lead the team to victory. Zhang Lin had 19 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Zhang Wei scored 27 points and Zhang Fan scored 18. Zhou Honghua scored 13 points, six rebounds, and six assists.

It would not be a good day for Jennifer Lacy. She shot 2-for-6 and was 1-for-4 from the free throw stripe. She also committed four fouls.

With only seven players playing, four of Jiangsu's players were in double-digits. Xu Song scored 28 points and seven rebounds, and Chen Xiaojia scored 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Wang Xiao-Li would score 10 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double. Ann Strother would score 14 points and four rebounds for Jiangsu.

Only six more games to go in the WCBA regular season....