Gou Tingting (R) of Tianjin Guanlan drives the ball during 1st round match between Shanghai Dahua and Tianjin Guanlan at the 2020-21 Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) league in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, Oct. 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Kun)
CHENGDU, China, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai shook off early sluggishness to overcome Tianjin 88-60 in the Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) league here on Friday.
Shanghai managed to turn a six-point deficit after the first quarter into a 10-point lead at the end of the first half, and never looked back afterwards.
Shanghai coach Milos Paden said that when his side found themselves in early trouble, he simply asked them to do what they did every day in practice.
"Nothing else," he noted. "In every practice, I asked them to fight, play strong defence and play smart in offense. This gave us the result in the second quarter."
Despite being contained in the first quarter, Shanghai guard Peng Szu-Chin gradually paced the game by finishing baskets in consecutive fast breaks in a later period. Peng posted a game-high 22 points.
All 12 Shanghai players in the match list made the scoreboard, with Zhang Zhiting and Li Yingyun scoring 15 and 10 points respectively.
Fueled by Han Ziqi's eight straight points, Tianjin jumped into a 14-5 start, forcing Shanghai into a timeout.
Tianjin rode an early 8-0 spurt to race ahead, and compiled a 25-19 advantage as the first quarter ran out.
After Zhou Yuyan and Ma Yufang quickly erased Shanghai's deficit in the second quarter, Zhang shone on the offensive end, scoring seven points in a row to earn Shanghai their first lead since tip-off. Shanghai outscored Tianjin 24-8 in a 10-minute span to lead 43-33 at half-time.
Shanghai led by as many as 35 points in the final period.
Tianjin coach Liu Hao admitted as a young team, his side have a gap to Shanghai in terms of skill.
Han led Tianjin's charge with 15 points. Gou Tingting added 13.
"We heated up quickly into the game, but failed to do enough on defence and rebounds," said Han.
Shanghai will face Shaanxi on Sunday, while Tianjin's opponents on Monday will be Jiangsu. Enditem
