Jess McCormack, who will be enrolling at UConn following the Olympics after transferring from Washington, had six points and four rebounds but New Zealand lost to China 80-63 to drop to 1-2 in pool play. Considering that New Zealand ends round robin play against the powerful U.S. squad, Friday's game against the Czech Republic appears to be an elimination game in Pool B.

The U.S. is 2-0 heading into the upcoming game against Mali. Spain and China are both 2-1 but both have games remaining with winless Mali meaning three of the four Pool B spots in the elimination round seem to be spoken for. The Czech Republic and New Zealand's Tall Ferns are both 1-2. If the Czech Republic were the beat China (not out of the realm of possibility) things could get interesting but a win would give McCormack and the Tall Ferns the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Czechs. The game is 9 a.m. Friday Beijing time which is 9 p.m. Thursday in Connecticut.

Former UConn star Svetlana Abrosimova had a team-high 10 rebounds to go with seven points ands two steals as Russia improved to 3-0 in Pool A with a 71-65 win over Belarus. Although Russia has struggled in each game, 3-0 is still 3-0 and it looks likely that Russia and Australia's game on Sunday at 11:15 a.m. (Beijing time) would be for the Pool A title and the reward of having to avoid the U.S. in the semifinals.