The reigning silver medalists, France opened the 2016 Rio Olympic basketball tournament with a win over Turkey, 55-39.
Turkey’s Lara Sanders, who plays for the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, hit a baseline jumper to score the first basket of the tournament.
For France, the absence of their best player, point guard Celine Dumerc, was obvious early on as her squad struggled to put points on the board. France scored their first points of the game midway through in the first quarter. Dumerc will miss the Olympics after suffering an ankle injury ahead of the tournament.
Turkey was out in front 16-8 after one period, with their captain Nevriye Yilmaz leading the way with nine points in the opening frame. Late in the first though, France found a bit of a rhythm and was able to carry that momentum over to the second.
France got out to an 11-2 run in the second quarter and took a 19-18 lead with 1:33 left before halftime. A free throw from Bahar Caglar with 1:22 remaining in the second quarter ended a Turkish scoring drought that lasted over five minutes. The two teams entered the locker rooms at halftime with France leading 22-19.
After exchanging dominant quarters in the first half, both teams came out firing in the third. Yilmaz found her stroke again coming out of the break, hitting two threes early in the quarter, the first of which put Turkey back out in front.
Turkey went on a 10-5 run in the third, but France answered, due in part to a big performance from Sarah Michel. Michel knocked down three triples in the quarter, leading France to a 41-35 lead after three.
It was all France in the fourth, where they outscored Turkey 14-4. The effort was there for the Turks, but it ultimately proved futile as they were simply unable to make shots in the final period.
France will play Belarus on Sunday while Turkey will take on Australia.