China vs. Australia final score: Han Xu continues dominant play in 74-60 win

The China women’s national basketball team defeated Australia, 74-60, on Saturday in the semifinals of the 2023 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup in Sydney.

For the entire tournament, New York Liberty center Han Xu has been dominant, getting double double after double double in games where the Chinese were never truly threatened. She scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.

Of course, we are writing about this game because of Washington Mystics guard Li Meng. Li had an actual off night, scoring just 7 points on 2-of-9 shooting.

While China beat the Opals by double digits, the first half was quite competitive, leading 35-32 in the first half. Neither team shot particularly well, 39 percent for China and 38 percent for the Opals. But Australia is the strongest team in FIBA Asia after Japan and Korea, so this match was supposed to be evenly matched on paper.

The Chinese were finally able to break the game open later in the third quarter when they headed into the fourth quarter with a 53-43 lead, in the middle of an 11-0 run.

There is just one more game left for China tomorrow, the Gold Medal game. That will be against Japan at 1 a.m. ET. The recap will not be out until later in the day due to this game happening overnight. Let’s hope that Li doesn’t just get a Gold Medal. Let’s also hope she finishes this tournament on a strong note!