BERLIN — Han Xu had 21 points and 11 rebounds to help China top Puerto Rico 75-72 Wednesday in the qualifying round of the women’s FIBA World Cup. Yang Shuyu scored 15 points and Zhang Ziyu added 13 for China, which will face France in the quarterfinals on Thursday. “We are a young team, but they were No. 2 at Olympic Games,” Han said of the French. “They’re so tough and they are winning games by a lot, but we are not afraid. We just play 100% and hope we can learn a lot from this game.” Two of Han’s New York Liberty teammates — Marine Johannes and Pauline Astier are on France. Han said that: “for one day we aren’t friends. After that we are friends again.” The 7-foot-3 Zhang made five of her six field-goal attempts. With the game tied at 66, Han hit a 3-pointer with 2:56 left to put China up. Luo Xinyu then followed with another 3-pointer a minute later to extend the advantage to six. Puerto Rico cut its deficit to 72-70 on Arella Guirantes’ basket with 25 seconds left. Yang made two free throws eight seconds later which basically sealed the win. Trinity San Antonio had 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to lead Puerto Rico. Imani Stafford-McGee added 16. Puerto Rico had its tournament come to an end, one round earlier than in 2022. China advanced to the quarterfinals for the fourth straight World Cup. They won the silver medal in the 2022 tournament, falling to the U.S. in the gold medal game. Italy and Australia meet in the late game on Wednesday trying to earn the final spot in the quarters where the winner will face Spain. Other quarterfinal matchups on Thursday are the U.S. vs Hungary and Germany will play Belgium. Doug Feinberg, The Associated Press
