FIBA U17 World Championship
USA gave France a hard time

France started well and led early on (7-4) after a long range shoot from Jodie Cornelie (in picture).

The USA soaked up the French pressure and finished the first quarter with a 10-0 run to lead (22-12) by the end of the first quarter.

France came storming back at the start of the second quarter. They trailed by just 3 points after a shot from the land of many from Olivia Epoupa (19-22).

Elizabeth Williams and Breanna Stewart made sure the Americans stayed in front in an evenly contested second quarter going into the interval ahead (31-28).

After the break the USA stepped up another gear and started to dominate France physically as they opened up an 18-point lead going into the final quarter.

The USA ended up winning (70-45) and their coach Babara Nelson was more than happy final outcome.

Steward led the USA attack with 13 points while Margaux Galliou-Loko led France with 9 points.

The rest of the news from day 1

Gretel Tippett is an Australian that loves to play basketball in France. She toured in France with the Australian gems in 2008 and 2009. She broke the hearts of Spain in their opening match with what turned out to be the game winning shot for Australia (58-57).

In the other matches in Group B, Belgium had an easy victory against Mali (80-27) and China powered past Argentina (72-54).

France are playing in Group A and were the second European nation to fall to the North Americans.

Canada edged out Turkey (82-73) while Russia had a big win against Japan (93-68).

The preliminary matches continue during the weekend with a rest day on Monday.

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