DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer

ISTANBUL (AP) — Miranda Ayim scored 12 points to lead Canada to a 55-40 win over France in the classification round of the women’s world championship on Saturday.

Canada (3-3) will face China for fifth place. That would be the Canadians best finish in the world championship since coming in third in 1986.

France, which was the silver medalists at the 2012 London Olympics, will play Serbia for seventh place.

Canada led 15-8 after the first quarter before taking control in the second. The Canadians scored the first 15 points of the second quarter to blow the game open. Ayim had four points during the game-changing spurt.

France won the preliminary pool game between the teams by four points.

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CHINA 85, SERBIA 69

Shao Ting scored 24 points to lead China to a win over Serbia.

The Chinese star, who is averaging 12.3 points a game, was 10 of 16 from the field in the victory. China (3-3) advanced to the fifth place game and a victory over Canada would give the country its best finish since the 1994 worlds. That year China came in second.

Serbia (3-3) will play France for seventh place. Milica Dabovic scored 12 points to lead Serbia, which is playing in its first world championship.

China lost the preliminary pool game between the teams by two points.

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