Tammy Sutton-Brown of Markham, Ont., scored 15 points as Canada beat Senegal 65-64 in its opener at the FIBA women's world basketball championships Tuesday in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

It is Canada's first appearance in the tournament in 12 years.

Kimberley-Anne Smith fouls Astou Ndiaye of Senegal in Tuesday's win.
(Victor R. Caivano/Associated Press)

Kim Smith of Mission, B.C., added 12 points for Canada, and Kitchener, Ont., native Chelsea Aubry had a game-high 10 rebounds.

"It was a bit of a struggle, but we managed to pull it out and we're pretty excited about it," Smith said.

Canada had an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter before Brown fouled out with 3:41 remaining in the game.

Senegal pressured and closed the gap when Mame Diouf nailed a three-pointer to make it 65-64 with 39 seconds remaining.

A Smith turnover gave Senegal a chance to win, but Canada defended the lead by forcing Senegal's Aya Traore into a hurried three-pointer that fell short.

"We made a really good defensive stop to win the game," Canadian head coach Allison McNeill said. "We had a couple turnovers at the end, but our defence really held strong,"

In other action Tuesday, Sue Bird scored 20 points to lead the two-time defending champion United States to a 119-72 victory over China and Spain beat South Korea 87-57.

In Barueri, Brazil it was: France 62, Czech Republic 58; Cuba 75, Taiwan 20; and Russia 84, Nigeria 50.

At San Paolo, the 15th-ranked Canada needed a win against No. 18 Senegal, because the competition only gets tougher from this point.

"This was one we had to get," McNeill said. "But we also knew they are a very athletic team, they have quite a few players that play professionally in France.

"I don't think we expected to be that tight. When we were up, we felt fairly confident."

Canada takes on Lithuania

The Canadians meet No. 12-ranked Lithuania on Wednesday, then wrap up preliminary round action Thursday against Australia, ranked third in the world and one of the favourites to win the tournament.

The top three teams in each of the four pools in the 16-country tournament advance to the next round robin.

The Lithuanian team almost didn't make it to the tournament, which would have been a huge boost to the Canadians.

Lithuania was stranded in French Guyana for three days because of fears of yellow fever.

If Lithuania didn't make it in time for Wednesday's game, the team would have been disqualified and Canada would have automatically advanced.

Brazil's government cleared Lithuania to enter the country Tuesday, although not in time for the team's opener against Australia.

Lithuania had to forfeit the game.

Canada finished seventh at the world championships in its last appearance in 1994 in Australia.

The Canadians won bronze at the world tournament in 1979 and 1986.