Spain on Monday dominated their second Beijing Olympics basketball preliminary match, routing New Zealand 85-62.
Spain, losing to China 67-64 Saturday, jumped out to a quick 16-5 lead with a 10-0 run early in the game and Maria Lucila Pascua's two points poured in inside paint allowed the Spaniards to stay in a double digits lead by the end of the first quarter.
New Zealand rallied to play tough defence in the second quarter, hitting a 6-0 run to whittle Spain's lead down to six points.
But, with its higher field goal percentage and triple three-pointers in the second quarter, Spain still prevailed, holding on the lead 40-27 at half-time.
New Zealand went on a charge in the third quarter with a 8-0 run, cutting the deficit to nine points. But Spain managed a strong defence to block the fight-back and stayed on the 13 points lead by the end of the third quarter, 60-47.
The Spaniards hit two three-pointers in a row in the fourth quarter and stretched their advantage to as many as 23 points at the end of the game.
New Zealand's Jillian Harmon led all scorers with 22 points and claimed five rebounds.
Spain will next take on Czech Republic on Wednesday while New Zealand, with a 76-72 win over Mali Saturday, will meet China in a round-robin Olympics preliminary match.
Spain qualified for the Beijing Olympic Games at the qualifying tournament in Madrid in June. It is their third participation in an Olympic basketball tournament.
The New Zealand 'Tall Ferns' have competed at the Olympic Games twice before, in 2000 in Sydney and in 2004 in Athens.
(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2008)