Turkey women overwhelms Angola 72-50 in Olympic debut

Turkey won its Olympic debut in women’s basketball and spoiled Angola’s with a 72-50 victory over the African nation Saturday.

Tugba Palazoglu led Turkey with 13 points in the Group A matchup. American-born centre Quanitra Hollingsworth and Saziye Ivegin added 10 each. All 12 Turkey players played and all but two scored against overmatched Angola.

Nassecela Mauricio led Angola with 11 points. Turkey shot 50 per cent from three-point range, making half of its 16 attempts.

Angola did not score until 3:20 left in the first quarter after Turkey opened the contest with a 13-0 run.

Turkey, runner-up at the European Championship, led by 10 at halftime and went on a 7-0 run to open a 42-25 lead in the third quarter.

Hollingsworth, who starred at VCU, became naturalized to play for Turkey in May. She was first approached by the Turks to play for them in January.

Courtesy of http://ca.sports.yahoo.com