Spain used a third quarter 12-0 run to hammer the Czech Republic 74-55 for its second victory for women's basketball competition in Group B at the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday.
Anna Montanana topped the Spanish scorers with 20 points, followed by Amaya Valdemoro's 13 and Isabel Sanchez's 10.
Viteckova scored 12 points and Hana Machova tossed in 11 for the Czechs, who recorded 1-2 after three matches played in the preliminary round.
"We knew this game for us was very important if we want to go to the next round," Spanish guard Valdemoro said. "We played hard and I think the intensity level was too high for them. I think we did a great job."
The Spanish, silver medalists at the FIBA European Championships last year, trailed as many as nine points in the first quarter but managed to come back with a narrow 28-27 lead at break and extended to 39-29 on Alba Torrens' jump before finishing the third quarter 58-38.
However, the Czechs fought back in the fourth quarter with a 14-5 spurt on Eva Viteckova's jump with 4:15 minutes to play, closing the margin to 10 points, 53-63. The Spanish recovered with an 11-2 burst to seal the win.
"We lost stupidly. We were always late and we played bad defense. They scored, like, 30 points in the third quarter and that's too much. We couldn't come back after that," said Ivana Vecerova, the Czech center.
The Spaniard shot 10-of-24 (42 percent) to the Czechs' 10-of-27 (37 percent), and outrebounded their opponents 16-14.
Spain, who beat New Zealand before being defeated to China in the opener, will face on the United States, the only unbeaten team in Group B, on Friday.
"It will be very, very difficult for us. I don't know if we have enough (to beat the Americans)," Valdemoro told reports.
The Czechs meet New Zealand in its fourth group game.
(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)