Women's water polo Day 2 recap

Women's water polo Day 2 recap

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Game 1 - Russia 14, Brazil 7

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NBC Olympics.com – Russia's women's water polo team had a slight two-goal lead heading into the final quarter of their game against Brazil Thursday morning.

Eight minutes later, that lead had grown to seven as the Russians easily defeated host Brazil 14-7.

Brazil actually scored the first two goals of the game and kept it close early. The score at halftime was 4-4. Both teams beat or matched their goal totals from Game 1 in the first half. In the first game, Russia fell to Australia 14-4 and Brazil fell to Italy 9-3.

It was the third quarter when Russia started to assert their dominance. This dominance was apparent midway through the quarter when Russia had three straight possessions without allowing Brazil to get the ball. The Russians had a shot hit the goalpost and bounce back to regain possession two times in a row. On their third shot attempt, a Brazilian was sent off for an exclusion, and Russia's Elvina Karimova threw it into corner for a 6-4 lead.

Russia outscored Brazil 14-3 in the second half. Evgeniya Ivanova and Ekaterina Prokofyeva led Russia with three goals each. They shot nearly 50 percent on the day, making 14 of their 30 shots. Anna Karnaukh played the final three quarters in goal for Russia, stopping 9 of 13 shot attempts.

The schedule doesn't get any easier for Brazil (0-2). They take on Australia Saturday at 10:40 a.m. Russia (1-1) will face Italy at 9:20 a.m.

Women's water polo coverage cotinues with Australia taking on Italy at 9:20 a.m. ET.