|
FIBA World Championship
|
Yelena Leuchanka (left) led her side with 24 points in a match where they scored 11 three-pointers and dominated the rebounds (42-15).Group E:
The FIBA World Championship continues for Belarus
Belarus got into their stride quickly. With just over three minutes played they led (8-3) mainly due to converting opportunities caused by Greece turning the ball over.
Despite the turnovers and no inside presence, Greece battled away and were soon in the game with a trey by Evanthia Maltsi and a sole effort by Aikaterina Sotiriou (8-10).
The two teams went on a three-point shooting spree with Maltsi and Dimitra Kalentzou connecting for Greece while Natallia Anufryienka and Tatyana Troina did likewise for Belarus.
Kalentzou scored a lay-up on the quarter buzzer to bring Greece to within 2 points of Belarus (18-20).
Styliani Kaltsidou hit a trey to open the scoring in the second quarter for Greece. This action put them in front for the first time (21-20).
However Belarus went quickly back in front with back to back scores by Anastasiya Verameyenka.
Greece struggled to get into the paint. They were also punished for slack marking which allowed Natallia Marchanka and Troina to score from beyond the arc to extend their lead (30-23) with 13 minutes played.
It went from bad to worse for Greece as Yelena Leuchanka scored 7 consecutive points as Belarus started to run away with the game (37-24) with three minutes remaining until the break.
The pendulum swung dramatically in favour of Greece after Nataliya Trafimava from Belarus was called for an intentional foul on Kaltsidou.
Greece then went on the rampage to finish with a 14-3 run to go into the interval trailing (38-40) after treys by Kaltsidou and Maltsi and heroic defending by all the players on the court.
Then Maltsi hit a trey to open the scoring after the break for Greece to lead briefly.
However with Leuchanka controlling the boards and three-point shooting from Yuliya Dureika and Verameyenka, Belarus went 8 points clear (52-44) with three minutes left in the third quarter.
Greece continued to battle away by trying to get key players in foul problems: Marchanka picked up her 3rd one while Olga Chatzinikolaou provoked Leuchanka into picking up her 4th.
All the same Belarus went into the final quarter ahead (54-49).
The three-point festival continued in the last quarter with Kaltsidou and Trafimava trading shots that got the supporters from both teams on their feet.
The festival from beyond the arc came to an end with Triona and Marina Kress hitting a couple for Belarus to go 9 points clear with six minutes left to play.
Greece battled back and made it a 2-point game with 26 seconds left to play.
Manchanka held her nerve to score what turned out to be the last couple of free throws for Belarus to hang on and win (74-70).
Leuchanka had 24 points for Belarus to lead the scoring. Her team went 11-from-20 from beyond the arc and dominated the rebounds (42-15).
Kaltsidou (above) scored 29 points for Greece.
USA remain unbeaten
The USA and Australia went all out from the tip-off. Lauren Jackson picked up a charging foul with less than 15 seconds on the clock.
Tina Charles opened the scoring for the USA with just 32 seconds played. She scored again from the free-throw line to double the advantage.
Any thoughts of these teams taking it easy was quickly forgotten as they traded basket for basket and foul for foul during the first five minutes with the USA leading (16-13).
The USA became even more aggressive while Australia continued to drop points from the free-throw line as they moved 8 points clear (21-13).
The USA continued to chase after every ball and Sylvia Fowles was on hand to score as her side dominated the first quarter (29-18). Fowles and Charles combined for 18 points.
Fowles scored her 13th point of the match to open the scoring in the second quarter. This was quickly followed by a couple of three-pointers by Diana Taurasi and a couple of points from Tamika Catching.
Australia hit the USA a couple of times with fast breaks but were trailing by 20 points after 14 minutes (23-43).
Sue Bird (right) used her electrifying pace to set up plays for the USA team as they controlled the pace of the game to finish the first half leading (51-33).
The third quarter was an evenly contested match with both teams on the offensive with the USA maintaining the advantage going into the final quarter (72-57).
Australia slowly reduced the deficit but with the game in money-time USA were still leading by 11 points (81-70).
USA ended up winning the game (83-75) with 24 points coming from Taurasi. Fowles and Charles had 15 and 14 points respectively.
For Australia Liz Cambage finished the game with 18 points while Jackson and Belinda Snell had 13 and 11 points each.
France left it to the very last second to get past Canada (49-47). By clicking on this link you can read the match report.
The results on the final day of qualifying are:
Greece 70-74 Belarus
France 49-47 Canada
USA 83-75 Australia
Return to the FIBA World Championship Index index
Group F:
Russia had to wait until the final minutes to blow away Spain to remain unbeaten at the FIBA World Championship.Spain led (60-54) with nine minutes to play. Russia then went on the attack and scored 16 unanswered points to take hold of the game with Becky Hammon and Irina Osipova doing most of the scoring.
Hammon finished the match as top scorer with 27 points.
Japan needed to beat Korea by 4 points to stay in the competition but ended up losing (64-65). Korea's reward for the victory is a quarter-final clash with the USA.
The Czech Republic eliminated Brazil from the competition (84-70).
The final day results from Brno are:
Japan 64-65 Korea
Czech Republic 84-70 Brazil
Russia 76-67 Spain
Return to the FIBA World Championship Index index
Return to FIBA World Championship page
GO Back to the top of the page
FIBA World Championship picture credit:
womensbasketball-in-france.com
FIBA.com
Date created: 29 September 2010
