By Angelica Medina
LILLE, France (Reuters) - Spain survived a nail-biting finish against Puerto Rico to win 63-62 and Serbia downed China 81-59 in the second round of Group A women's basketball at the Pierre Mauroy stadium on Wednesday.
Spain and Serbia, who will meet in the final pool game on Saturday, both earned a place in the quarter-finals in Paris.
Spain's Olympic debutant Megan Gustafson turned in another stellar performance with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Trailing by five points at the break, the Puerto Ricans found their stride in the third quarter, taking an impressive 19-point lead and limiting the European side to just five points.
But the pressure proved too much for the Puerto Ricans in the final quarter and, after missing a couple of crucial points, Laura Gil sealed the victory for Spain with a free shot after being fouled with one second left.
"It was a very tough match, after what we experienced against China. In the third quarter they defended a lot and we had shots that just didn't go in," said Spanish guard Queralt Casas. "But the important thing is to win, even by a point, now we are thinking about Serbia."
In the other group match, Serbia defeated China thanks to a brilliant combination of 12 points from Tina Krajisnik and 15 from Yvonne Anderson.
The strength of the European team was clear from the start as they opened up a six-point lead in the first quarter. China, however, rallied before the break and levelled the score at 22.
But the team, who had Chinese Basketball Association president and former NBA Houston Rockets player Yao Ming supporting on the bench, could not withstand the Serbs' second-half surge.
China and Puerto Rico have one last hope of making it through when they meet on Saturday - if they can pick up enough points to finish in the top two third-placed teams of the group stage.
The United States face South Sudan and Serbia take on Puerto Rico in men's Group C later on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Lille, editing by Christian Radnedge)
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