Youth International basketball quarter-finals in Thailand
Argentina, Canada, Spain and the USA make it to the semi-final



Natacha Perzes after eliminating Australia © FIBA

The youth international basketball quarter-finals of the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women in Thailand lived up to expectation with some exciting matches.

For the neutrals the first three matches of the day were good advertisements for youth international basketball.

These matches had excitement, tension, passion and at times good basketball. At the same you could also see that no matter the skill level of certain individuals that it was teenagers playing.

Canada showed that team basketball can still win games. Yet they must have also been happy with the individual performances of Natalie Achonwa who had been quiet during the Qualification Round and Kayla Alexander.



Australia will be left wondering what had happened.

Liz Cambage was the only player from Australia who was really in the game during the defeat against Canada.

The USA showed that they can keep teams out of the paint when required. Despite foul problems to key players they had the maturity to beat France.

Argentina do not have the word beaten in their dictionary. They play till the very last second. They seem to have so many clutch players. During this quarter-final it was the turn of Andrea Boquete to come to the rescue to secure a place in the semi-final.

Spain remain perfect after blowing away Lithuania in the second half to take the last semi-final place.

Canada will play USA in the first semi-final and Argentina will face Spain.

The Czech Republic beat China (78-70) and will face Brazil for ninth place who beat Japan (62-56).

You can read our youth international basketball match summaries by clicking on the links below or scrolling down the page.

Canada end the dreams of Australia

USA keep France out of the paint

Argentina leave it late while Spain cruises


Canada U19 happy after eliminating Australia © FIBA

Canada got past the Australian GEMS

The Canadian team is heavily loaded with players from the NEDA (National Elite Development Academy) programme while most of Australia GEMS come from the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport).

The idea behind both institutions is to develop youth international basketball players at high school age into future top players that will either go on to university sports or become professionals.

During their preparation for this U19 World Championship, both institutions visited France and came away with good results.

Due to the fact that Australia came into the quarter-final undefeated, they had the unofficial title of “favourite“ for this match.

Nathalie Achonwa defending against Australia © FIBACanada put an end to this billing as they raced out to a (6-0) lead with Nathalie Achonwa (left) and Kayla Alexander doing all the scoring.

Australia started to find their way back into the game with Liz Cambage doing her work inside the paint. However Australia were not shooting the ball well and missed a number of shots. So the comeback was slow.

Kelsey Ireland from Australia banged in a trey with just under 3 ½ minutes remaining in the first period (9-10) to bring Australia back to a single point.

Achonwa gave Canada some breathing space with a couple of points. But back to back scores from Cambage put Australia in the lead for the first time.

Elysee Jobin hit her first trey of the game as Canada regained the lead briefly. Rachel Jarry scored seconds later and the two teams finished the first period level (15-15).

Kayla Alexander also defending against Australia © FIBAThe second quarter was not as good technically as the first one. Both coaches had to raise their voices a lot.

Australia went in front from a free-throw from Stephanie Cummings and stayed ahead due to the scoring of Cambage. They held a maximum advantage of 6 points at one stage.

Canada’s success from beyond the arc kept them close on the heals of Australia. However with 27 seconds left in the quarter Canada were back on level terms (27-27).

They then went into the locker room in front as Jennifer Vaughan was left open on the baseline to hit a buzzer-beater three-pointer.

The third period was not pretty with both teams struggling offensively. Cambage scored 7-of-9 points for Australia. Yet the highlight was a second trey by Jobin as Canada went into the final quarter leading (40-35).

They somehow managed to stay in front (47-45) with five minutes remaining in the game.

Alexander (right) had the task of stopping Cambage but Australia drew level through Jarry.

The pace slowed down and the teams took less risks. Canada struggled to get into the paint but worked the ball out to Vaughan who hit a trey.

This trey turned out to be the game winning shot with just under four minutes left to play.

Cambage did manage to score once more for Australia but Canada held on defensively and won the game (50-49).

Rich Chamber, the coach from Canada, was speechless after the game and had nothing to say.

Cambage finished with a game high 26 points and 10 rebounds for Australia while Achonwa led the way for Canada with 16 points.

Canada also hit 6-of-15 from beyond the arc.

Youth International Basketball Box Scores.



USA too strong for France

The USA have come a long way since the first day of the competition and defeated France (88-75) by keeping them out of the paint.

Nnemkadi Ogwumike © FIBAThe USA quickly got into their stride through Nnemkadi Ogwumike (left) who opened the scoring with back to back scores.

However France found their shooting touch. With Laurie Datchy and Maud Medenou firing in from beyond the arc France pushed ahead to lead (22-16) by the end of the first period.

France were highly motivated and despite to the efforts of Ogwumike for the USA they extended their advantage (36-28) with three minutes left to play in the quarter.

The USA did not panic. With Shenise Johnson and Layshia Clarenton finding the way to the basket the two teams went into the locker room tied (36-36).

The Americans made the first move at the start of the second half with Samantha Prahalis starting to impose her authority.

Kelsey Bone caused mayhem as her side moved 8 points clear (48-40) with under three minutes played.

France were on the back foot and unable to get anything going inside the paint. The USA stretched their advantage (63-49) with two minutes left in the quarter.

France had no choice but to shoot from far with three-pointers from Elénore Grossemy and Datchy.

Also Allison Vernerey was coming up with some individual exploits for her side to finish on a 10-0 run to trail (59-63) going into the final period.

The first five minutes of the last quarter was youth international basketball at its best with passion, intensity and suspense.

The ability of the USA to keep France away from the paint to stretch their lead (73-64) with about five minutes left to play was the key in this game.

France tried all they could to bring the score down but started to make errors and the USA punished them each time. They ended up wining by a a comfortable margin (88-75).

Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins led the USA attack with 16 points each. Bone and Johnson also finished in double digits with 12 and 10 points each.

For France Datchy scored 17 points and Medenou finished on 12.

Youth International Basketball Box Scores.


Argentina left it late again while Spain beat Lithuania

After all the excitement and drama of the first two games, Argentina decided that they would wait until overtime before beating Russia (75-67).

Argentina were aggressive throughout the match and led (33-30) at the interval. But then they had a poor third period allowing the Russians to go ahead into the final period (43-39).

Andrea Boquete at the free-throw line against Russia © FIBARussia did not tire in the final period and had one foot in the semi-final.

But with five seconds remaining Andrea Boquete (left) from Argentina hit a couple of free-throws and the game went into overtime.

Boquete then scored the last 5 points for Argentina during overtime for her side to lead (67-63) with just over 30 seconds to play.

Russia scored again but were unable to save the game and Argentina won (67-65) with Boquete scoring 18 points and collecting 10 rebounds.

Youth International Basketball Box Scores.


 Cristina Ouvina © FIBASpain are the current U18 European Champions but finished fifth during the 2008 competition.

Spain play a lot like the senior team. They wait until the third period before taking control of the game.

Spain went into the locker room leading (35-31) against Lithuania. But by the end of the third quarter they had a 15-point lead (54-39) and continued to score during the final period and went on to win by a big margin(79-47).

Cristina Ouvina (right) scored 19 points for Spain. Marta Xargay continued her good show for Spain with 14 points. Leonor Rodriguez and Marta Tudanca scored 12 points each.

Youth International Basketball Box Scores.


The Czech Republic and Brazil miss out from Group E, while Canada qualifies from Group F

All to play for in Group E and USA qualify in Group F

France still in with a chance, the USA beat Canada

France lose again - this time Argentina

Liz Cambage scores 38 points in beating France

France start with a win on day 1

U19 World Championship for Women draw

Return from youth international basketball U19 world Championship for women report to "What's New" page

Return to the Youth International Basketball Index page

Youth international basketball picture credits:

FIBA

Date created: 31 July 2009


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