Canada defeats France to lead the group in the World Cup

Nirra Fields scored 17 points and Shay Colley added 11 to lead Canada to a 59-45 win over France at the Women’s Basketball World Cup on Friday.

The victory kept Canada (2-0) as the only undefeated team remaining in its pool.

“It’s great for us,” Canadian guard Kia Nurse said. “Good boost to continue. The first game against Serbia showed what we can do, a great team victory. To do this again with everyone’s contribution is huge.”

In Friday’s other matches, the United States beat Puerto Rico 106-42; China dominated Bosnia and Herzegovina 98-51; Serbia beat Japan 69-64 and Belgium beat South Korea 84-61. Australia beat Mali 118-58.

Canada led 20-17 with three minutes remaining in the second quarter before going 17-0 in the half to take control of the game. Colley scored the last six points of that streak.

The French were down 20 points early in the fourth quarter but used a 10-1 run to close within 11, unable to close the gap any further.

Gabby Williams, who had 23 points in the opening win over Australia, finished with 13 points to lead the French offense.

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USA 106, PUERTO RICO 42

Shakira Austin scored 19 points, Kahleah Copper added 16 and the United States applied a suffocating defense to dominate Puerto Rico.

Alyssa Thomas had 11 points and six steals for the Americans (2-0), which forced Puerto Rico to commit 21 turnovers.

Mya Hollingshed led Puerto Rico in scoring (1-1) with 10 points.

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SERBIA 69, JAPAN 64

Jovana Nogic scored 13 points to lead a five-man Serbian offense to double digits in the win over Japan.

Yvonne Anderson and Kristina Topuzovic each added 12 points for Serbia (1-1), who capitalized on a 24-9 first quarter to take an early lead over the silver medalists at the Tokyo Olympics.

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AUSTRALIA 118, MALI 58

Ezi Magbegor scored 15 points to lead seven in double figures for Australia as they beat Mali.

The African nation took a 10-2 lead before coach Sandy Brondello included Lauren Jackson in the Australian roster (1-1). The Aussies scored the next 17 points, including five from Jackson, to start a game-opening 33-2 run.

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CHINA 98, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 51

Han Xu scored 18 points and Li Meng contributed 17 to help China stay unbeaten with a victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Chinese team beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 48-20 in the second half.

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BELGIUM 84, SOUTH KOREA 61

Hind Ben Abdelkader scored 17 points and Julie Vanloo added 14 to help Belgium record their first win of the tournament, beating South Korea.

Julie Allemand had 13 points and eight assists for Belgium (1-1), which lost to the United States in their opener.

Mona Watkins

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