|
FIBA U19 World Championship for Women
|
Four teams have already booked a place in the quarter-final of the U19 FIBA World Championship for Women after maintaining their unbeaten record on the first day of the second round action in Chile.
Japan got the day off to an electrifying start hitting 16 three-pointers from 26 attempts in their (97-69) victory against Italy.
Shiori Takade who led the scoring with 31 points hit 8-of-10 from beyond the arc.
Japan took the lead for good on the three-minute mark through Rui Machida (11-9) and had stretched their advantage to 11 points by the end of the first quarter (33-22).
The 2010 U18 FIBA European Champions were unable to stop Japan hitting the three-ball all game long. They themselves hit just 3-from-22 from behind the arc and were were blown off the court.
Machida and Sanae Motokowa added 22 and 17 points towards Japan's victory while Giulia Maffenini led the way for Italy with 17 points.
The USA just edged out China (80-77) in a game they held the lead for 38 minutes. The two teams combined for 21 three-pointers with a success rate at just over 50 percent.
In the USA, time-outs are called differently and the FIBA restrictions on how time-outs are called meant that the USA's coaching staff had to rely on the college experience of Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson during the last minutes in calling the plays.
Both players came up big in the last minutes on the offensive end with the last points.
Hartley was then collect the most important rebound of the game off a three-point miss by China in the closing seconds. She then managed to get down the court before the ball was somehow tipped out of play.
China had 3.7 seconds to save the game and two fouls to give. So they used a time-out to draw up a play. The Chinese failed in stealing the ball off the US players in two attempts and the chance was gone.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (left) led the USA with 19 points while Hartley finished on 18 points. For China Jiayi Zuo led the charge with a game high 23 points.
In the other game in Group E Canada blew Russia away in the first half (44-14) and then paced themselves to victory (66-50). Nirra Fields and Michelle Plouff combined for 29 points in the first half for Canada and finished the match with 22 and 17 points respectively.
The USA and Canada have qualified for the quarter-finals.
Japan 97-69 Italy
USA 80-77 China
Canada 66-50 Russia
U19 FIBA World Championship for Women: Group F
Australia's U19 Women’s basketball team, the Gems, have continued their unbeaten run at the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women, with an (89-46) victory against Chinese Taipei and have qualified for the quarter-final
Tayla Roberts (right) led the way with 18 points while Alexandra Bunton and Carley Mijovic added 11 points and 10 points apiece.
Aimie Clydesdale had a team high 11 rebounds while Rebecca Cole dished out 7 assists. For Chinese Taipei Yu Chun Wei and I-Hsiu Cheng had 15 and 11 points each.
Roberts used her height well in helping her way to 10 first quarter points as Australia took command (20-9). The Gems more or less brought the contest to an end by half time leading (43-22).
Brazil join the Gems in the quarter-final and also remain unbeaten after beating Chili, the hosts (79-56). Damiris Dantas compiled a double-double of 22 points and 18 rebounds while Isabella Romana added 18 points and dished out 5 assists for Brazil. Francisca Rojas led the hosts with 13 points.
France and Spain produced another international youth basketball classic that was decided by a buzzer beater in favour of France (57-55).
It was a hard physical battle from the tip-off with neither side yielding any space. The lead changed several times in an evenly contested first quarter. However a trey by Elisabet Vivas was enough for Spain to edge the first quarter (16-14).
Mariona Ortiz (right) from Spain became the main player for Spain at both ends of the court while Adja Konteh started to find her scoring touch for France.
Despite having the upper hand and a maximum lead of 6 points France had to settle for a 2-point lead going into the interval (26-24).
The two teams continued the physical contest all through the third quarter and players had to work hard to score. Both sides had problems from the free-throw line. But France went into the final quarter with a 1-point lead (41-40) after Konteh split a pair.
The final quarter was European youth basketball at its best and with 90 seconds left to play the teams were still level (51-51).
Valériane Ayayi fired a big three with a minute to play to give France the advantage. Yet Ortiz muscled her way into the paint for an AND-1.
Both teams closed all the gaps so players were forced to create space from nothing. Clarince Djaldi-Tabdi from France drew a foul and then split a pair of free-throws with 25 seconds left to play.
Spain had the chance to go in front with six seconds left to play from the free-throw line after Ayayi fouled Astou Ndour.
Ndour split the pair to bring the teams level (55-55). France quickly inbounded the ball and with the clock running down the ball was in the hands of Hélèna Akmouche (left) who then fired in a mid-distance jumper for the win.
France move above Spain in Group F and are now one win away from qualification for the U19 FIBA World Championship for Women quarter-final.
Konteh led France with 15 points while Djaldi-Tabdi had 10 points and 10 rebounds. For Spain Ortiz scored 21 points.
In the only classification game of the day Argentina beat Egypt (94-73). Egypt's competition is over and they have finished 15th.
Brazil 79-53 Chile
Spain 55-57 France
Chinese Taipei 46-89 Australia
Egypt 73- 94 Argentina
Leave FIBA U19 Championship 2011 page and go to U19 index page
Return to the top of page
U19 FIBA World Championship basketball picture credits:
USA Basketball
FIBA
womensbasketball-in-france.com
Final Round
31 July 2011 USA make it four titles in a row
30 July 2011 Spain and the USA to meet in the final
29 July 2011 Australia, Brazil, Spain and USA still in title race
Qualifying Round
27 July 2011 Brazil hand Australia first defeat
27 July 2011 Canada win North American derby
27 July 2011 Nika Baric and Tjasa Gortnar bow out with Slovenia
26 July 2011 Canada and USA ready for Group E decider
26 July 2011 Australia remain perfect while France beat Brazil
26 July 2011 Canada and USA ready for Group E decider
25 July 2011 Three-point shooting festival - Hélèna Akmouche buzzer beater for France
Preliminary Round
23 July 2011 Australia thump France for group win
22 July 2011 Double blow for Slovenia with Nika Baric injury
21 July 2011 France beat hosts in front of 2000 spectators