Japan suffered its first loss of the Rio 2016 women's basketball tournament Tuesday, going down 76-62 against Turkey, which proved to be too good after getting off to a hot start that even a late Japanese charge could not overcome.
Japan was demolished by forward Lara Sanders, a U.S. native with dual citizenship who finished the game with 36 points — increasing her Rio Olympics-leading scoring average to 21.7 points per game.
Sanders was unstoppable inside, scoring in a multitude of ways in the paint to finish 14 of 18 from the field and 8 of 9 from the charity stripe, in addition to pulling down seven rebounds in 31 minutes, 56 seconds of playing time.