WHITEFISH — Whitefish native Nicole Heavirland and the Team USA women's sevens rugby team opened the Olympics with a 28-14 win over China in their first game in Tokyo on Wednesday night.
Heavirland started the contest and scored four points after going 2 for 2 on conversions. China scored first before the U.S. tied it 7-7 heading into halftime. After trailing 7-0 early, Team USA scored 28 unanswered points en route to the win.
Team USA is in Pool C and will play their second game on Thursday night against Japan. They will follow that up with a match against Australia on Friday morning.
This is the second time that sevens rugby has made its way to the Olympics, the first being in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Heavirland was an alternate for that team before making the roster earlier this summer.
