ANTWERP - China's women's 3X3 basketball team powered into the last eight at the FIBA World Cup after claiming victories over Lithuania and Germany on Thursday.

The FIBA World Cup is Team China's first international tournament after the Tokyo Olympics, where they finished with a bronze medal. Three of the current team's four players - Wang Lili, Zhang Zhiting and Wan Jiyuan played at Tokyo 2020, while Cao Junwei came in as a replacement for Yang Shuyu, who has been capped for the 5X5 national squad.

Zhang Zhiting bagged game-high nine points to help China defeat Germany 21-10 in their last group match. Debutant Cao contributed six, while Wang and Wan both had three

"We haven't played on the international stage for a long time, so it took time for us to adapt ourselves to the intensity and speed of the high-level matches," said captain Zhang.

The 26-year-old Zhang bagged game-high nine points to help China defeat Germany 21-10 in their last group match. Debutant Cao contributed six, while Wang and Wan both had three.

In earlier action, 29-year-old Wang fired from the outside in the last minute when the score was tied 11-11 to secure a 15-11 win for China over Lithuania.

"We are definitely playing better and better. After the first matchday, all the players are back in their form and get used to the matches," said China's head coach Xu Jiamin.

"We weren't familiar with our two rivals on Tuesday, because they are also newcomers, so our preparations weren't enough. But after the first matchday, we came up with some specific game plans after watching two matches of our today's rivals," Xu added.

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China began its title defense with a win over Romania on Tuesday morning but lost to Japan in the afternoon. With three wins in four matches, China grabbed first place in the group to book a spot in the last eight.

Lithuania and Germany ranked second and third respectively in the group and will compete for quarterfinal spots through playoffs.