Mali shocks Spain in a Women’s Basketball World Cup stunner

BERLIN (AP) — Mali pulled off the first stunner of the Women’s Basketball World Cup by shocking Spain 82-73 on Saturday.

It was only the second win ever in tournament history for the African country, which previously beat Senegal in overtime in the 2010 edition.

Mali was down two at the half, but outscored Spain 31-19 in the third quarter to take the lead. Mali went on a 16-4 run in that period after it was down 45-44 to take command for good. Sika Kone, who finished with 19 points, had two 3-pointers during that game-changing burst. Kone, who plays for the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA, also had 10 rebounds.

Mali (1-1) scored the first five points of the fourth quarter, including another 3-pointer by Kone, to put the game away as Spain could get no closer than nine the rest of the way.

Djeneba N’Diaye also had 19 points for Mali, which is now 2-10 in its World Cup history.

Iyana Martin scored 20 for Spain (1-1), which was one of the top teams in the world.

Other games on Saturday were Nigeria vs Hungary; Germany against Japan and France playing Korea.