Chinese women's basketball squad sent their fans happy as they secured a much expected second spot in the Olympic preliminary round Group B after thrashing the Czechs 79-63 on Sunday.

China will next play against Belarus, who placed third in Group A, on Tuesday for a ticket for the semifinals.

China's guard Miao Lijie led all scorers with 21 points, hitting seven of 10 field goal attempts, and grabbed three rebounds, followed by her teammate Chen Nan with 18 points.

China jumped out to a quick 18-4 lead with a 9-0 run while playing tough defence to block the shooting of the Czechs who trailed 24-11 by the first quarter.

Keeping the momentum into the second quarter, China continued the effective defence to force the Czechs into a dismal shooting performance, taking the lead at 41-25 at half-time.

As the Czechs still had hard time to find their marks and committed overturns, China prevailed in the second half, stretching the advantage to as many as 22 points and settling at 65-45 by the end of the third quarter before notching up the win in the last one.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2008)