Turkey 76, Japan 62

Turkey was in great form this afternoon. Their strong defense almost took Japan out of the game, and they led 24-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Japan rallied a bit and finally began to find the basket about halfway into the second quarter.

Japan came out strong after the halftime break and cut the margin to eight points midway through the fourth quarter. But Turkey kept up its attack and held on to their lead and ended with a 76-62 victory.

Lara Sanders was almost unstoppable. She scored 36 points on 14 of 18 from the field and 8 of 9 from the free throw line. (Sanders, who goes by the name LaToya in the United States, has played basketball in Turkey for seven seasons since graduating from North Carolina.)

Seb played fifteen minutes of good defense and sank one of Turkey's six three-pointers.

More:

• Game report: Sanders puts on clinic, lifts Turkey to maiden victory
  
• Statistics
  
• Photos
  

Next: Turkey vs Belarus on Thursday August 11 at 8:15 am PT. Belarus currently stands at 4th in Group A, and Turkey is 5th, so this is pretty much a must-win game for both teams. Watch it on NBC basketball channel OLYBKHD or live stream.