SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Spain (AP) — The Latest on the FIBA Women's World Cup Day 3 (all times local):
11 a.m.
The crowds for the opening two days of play at the FIBA Women's World Cup have been strong with games taking place over the weekend.
With the final day of the preliminary round on a Tuesday, the local organizing committee brought in school kids to fill the stands for the early 11 a.m. tip. They made flags and signs to support the two teams and also brought in drums, creating a festive atmosphere. Usually camp and school days in the WNBA have the kids cheering for the home team. Here, with the kids equally divided, both sides had loud support.
The Puerto Rico and Japan players looked up in the stands, smiling and waving before the game at their new supporters.
About the only glitch was the kids making noise during the national anthems.
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10 a.m.
In a matchup of unbeaten teams, Canada and France will cap the third day of preliminary round play at the FIBA Women's World Cup on Tuesday.
The winner of that game will secure first place in Group A and potentially avoid playing the U.S. until the gold medal game if both teams advance that far.
Canada was ousted from the Olympics in the quarterfinals by France in 2016.
Other games on Tuesday include U.S.-Latvia; Japan-Puerto Rico; Australia-Turkey; South Korea-Greece; Senegal-China; Argentina-Nigeria and Belgium-Spain.
The U.S., Australia and Spain have pretty much already wrapped up the top seeds in the other groups.
Senegal and Nigeria are trying to become the first two African teams ever to advance out of pool play. On Sunday, they became the first to ever win a preliminary round game.
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