WCBA 10/2008 - Beijing 84, Shanghai 81

It looks like Beijing (5-5) is on the verge of getting the sort of team that they want. They didn't need much help from Jennifer Lacy, taking a 17 point lead into the fourth quarter against visiting Shanghai (4-6). Shanghai attempted a fourth-quarter comeback, but it wasn't enough as Beijing won 89-81 at home.

The boxscore is here.

Both teams came out of the chute raring to go, and at the end of the first quarter the score was 34-27. (If you were playing for the Indiana Fever, that might be the final score.) Beijing took a 53-41 lead into halftime and simply made sure to protect their lead. Extending the lead by five in the third quarter essentially sealed the victory.

It was definitely a high scoring game all around. Beijing shot 56 percent from the field and Shanghai shot 48 percent. Rebounding was essentially even, and so were turnovers. Beijing finally managed to have a good day at the free throw line, shooting 13 for 16.

It was the night of the Zhangs in Beijing, with all players with "Zhang" as part of their name scoring in double digits. Zhang Fan led all scorers on both teams wtih 28 points and four assists. Zhang Wei scored 20 points and Zhang Lin scored 16 points for Beijing. Jennifer Lacy would start for Beijing, and score eight points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes of play. She shot 4 for 10 for the game.

For Shanghai, "Feng Yi was" led all players with 18 points and seven rebound, leading in both scoring and rebounding. Wang Jue scored 15 points and Yang Li added 12 points for the visitors.