Defending champion Beijing beat Bayi 92-57 in the one-sided opener of the Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) league finals here on Saturday.

Prior to the best-of-five finals, Beijing had a whole week to rest while Bayi only completed its semifinal series on Thursday.

The defending champion soon set the tone in the away match by storming to 24-2 in the first quarter. The hosts then tightened their defense to once narrow the gap to the closest eight points, before Beijing led by 40-18 at half break.

After Shao Ting stole for a layup, Beijing extended the lead to over 30 points. And Sun Mengran became the lone attacker for Bayi, but her 16 points were not enough to stop Beijing from celebrating the lop-sided win.

"We were fully prepared for the match, and we still need to look through the match later on and prepare for the possible adjustment of Bayi," said Beijing point guard Zhou Honghua.

Sylvia Fowles had a game-high 25 points and nine rebounds for Beijing, teammates Gao Song added 16 points, Shao Ting had nine points and seven steals.

Game 2 will be played in Beijing on Tuesday. Endit

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