All three teams from Asia crashed out of the quarter-finals of the Athens Olympic women's basketball after Japan lost a win-or-die game 93-91 to Greece in Athens on August 22.

Ryoko Yano, who made eight three-pointers in 12 tries to finish with 28 points, missed a chance to sent the Japanese into the top eight as she missed a shot from beyond the arch at the buzzer.

Evanthia Maltsi scored game-high 33 points to lead Greece to its second win and a fourth finish in the preliminary group A. The host will play group B winner the United States in Wednesday's quarter-finals.

The Asian runner-up was 87-85 up after Taeko Oyama made one of two free throws with 1:28 to go. However, Evanthia Maltsi had a three-point play and scored two in the paint to give the host a 91- 87 lead 55 seconds from the end.

Yano made a three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining to cut it to 91-90, but Anastasia Kostaki answered with two free throws to make it 93-90.

Kaori Kusuda made one free throw with 4.6 seconds to go and Mutsuko Nagata grabbed the rebound of the second, allowing Yano a last try which bounced off the rim.

The Japanese, who had an average height of just 1.76-meter, shot 15-for-25 from the three-pointer area, but the taller Greeks dominated inside by scoring 56 points in the paint.

Asian champion China and South Korea had lost their hopes for the quarter-finals before Sunday's final-round preliminaries.

Japan and China will play in the 9th-10th decider on Tuesday in a rematch of the Asian championship final, won by China, in January.

Following are results of the preliminaries of the Athens Olympic women's basketball tournament on August 22 (half-time score in bracket):

Group A:

Russia bt Nigeria 93-58 (43-31)

Greece bt Japan 93-91 (47-41)

Australia bt Brazil 84-66 (40-35)

Group B:

Czech Republic bt New Zealand 74-57 (40-20)

United States bt China 100-62 (52-32)

Spain bt South Korea 64-61 (29-27)

Following are the final group standings of the preliminaries of the Athens Olympic women's basketball tournament (tabulated

under team, matches played, won, lost, points and ranking):

Group A:

Australia

5 5 0 10 1

Russia

5 4 1 9 2

Brazil

5 3 2 8 3

Greece

5 2 3 7 4

Japan

5 1 4 6 5

Nigeria

5 0 5 5 6

Group B:

United States

5 5 0 10 1

Spain

5 4 1 9 2

Czech Republic

5 3 2 8 3

New Zealand

5 2 3 7 4

China

5 1 4 6 5

South Korea

5 0 5 5 6

Top four finishers from each group went into quarter-finals.