BANGKOK (FIBA U19 World Championship for Women) - Argentina stunned France with their flair and Spain snatched an Overtime victory over a spirited China as the curtain came down on the preliminary round of the FIBA U19 World Championship on Saturday.
Spain’s 77-75 Group D win in the first Overtime game of this championship, thus put the current European U18 champions as one of the three teams – along with Australia (Group A) and Russia (Group C) – to carry forward an unbeaten 3-0 record into the eight-final round.
Argentina used an all-round attack to pip France 60-58 in Group A before Australia cruised past Korea 99-41.
Korea will now play hosts Thailand, the fourth place finishers of Group B, in the minor placing classification.
Thailand lost 45-97 and Lithuania defeated Brazil 69-65 in Group B.
The other game for 13-16 places will African rivals Mali and Tunisia against each other.
Tunisia lost 41-93 to Russia in Group C. Canada defeated Japan 73-51 in the other game of the day in this group.
And Mali went down without a whimper 38-100 to twice defending champions the United States in Group D.
Lu Wen had a game-high of 24 points for China – also collecting nine rebounds – but missed one of the two free-throws with the scores tied at 69 and seven seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Spain sighed in relief, gleefully accepted the Overtime opportunity and Marta Xargay Casademont and Marta Tudanca converted four free-throws each in Overtime to keep Spain undefeated.
Xargay Casademont also had 24 points for the game, with four of them coming at the crucial time.
Kelly Faris was the highest scorer for the US as the Americans handed down the African champions the largest margin of defeat in the Championship.
Eleven of the 12 Americans played, and all of them scored. Taber Spani and Destiny Williams each scored 11 points to go with Shenise Johnson’s 12.
Aissata Djibo was the highest scorer for Mali with 18 points.
Agostina Burani was the leader of Argentina’s win over France. She pulled down six rebounds to add value to her 13 points. Debora Gonzalez chipped in with 11 points as Omelia Santana and Andrea Boquete contributed 10 points apiece.
The South Americans led by as many as 11 points midway through the fourth quarter before warding off a late rearguard action by France.
Allison Vernerey was back in form for France with a team-high 12 points and nine rebounds.
Elizabeth Cambage was utilized for less than the game’s duration but that was good enough for the 203-cm centre to return a 15-points- six-rebounds record for Australia.
Alice Kunek, coming off the bench often for Cambage also scored 15 points, but the honour of game-high scoring went to Rachel Jarry
Lee Jeonghyun’s 12 points ploughed a lonely furrow for Korea.
Neither Canada nor Russia had any trouble in finishing off their games in Group C with a win.
Russia faced their least challenging game yet, against Tunisia.
Tatiana who had led Russia’s scoring in the first two games – with an average of 13PPG – did not even take to the court as Anna Ostroukhova and Yana Panevina took care of the scoring with 13 points each.
Support came in the form of the 11 points Anastasiya Shilova and Veronika Derosheva scored.
Lilia Inoubli fought another lonely battle for Tunisia with a game-high 18 points, but finished on the losing side yet again.
Michelle Plouffe was the star in Canada’s win against Japan with 14 points as Natalie Achonwa recorded a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Taryn Wicijowski chipped in with 12 points.
Japanese Yuka Mamiya led the scoring for the game with 15 points and Yukine Abe scored 12.
Lithuania defeated Brazil but the margin of victory was not good enough to stop the South Americans from taking the top position in Group B.
Lithuania, Brazil and the Czech Republic all ended their preliminary round with a 2-1 record. Brazil finished ahead of the Czechs and Lithuania – in that order – by virtue of better goal average.
Lithuania led throughout, and by 12 points going into the changing rooms, but Brazil fought back especially in the fourth quarter to keep the margin of defeat down.
Lithuanian Marina Solopova spent the longest time on court and was the most hardworking player and deservingly led the scoring for the game with a staggering 31 points.
Gabriele Gutkauskaite contributed 12 points.
Tatiane Nacimento was the highest scorer for Brazil with 15 points and Leila Zabani had 12 points.
Czech Republic had a comfortable outing against Thailand.
Renata Brazinova came off the bench and led the scoring for the game with 19 points and
Katerina Zavazalova chipped in with 15 points.
Charinee Napasri was the highest scorer for Thailand as the hosts turned the ball over 23 times.
The eight-final round comprising six teams each in two pools will start on Monday, after Sunday’s day of rest, as the fourth placed team will play off for the 13-16 positions.
Eight-final schedule :
Monday, 27th July 2009
Classification
11:00 Korea v Thailand A1
13:00 Tunisia v Mali A2
Group E
15:15 Czech Republic v Argentina A1
17:30 Lithuania v Australia A1
19:45 Brazil v France A1
Group F
15:15 USA v Canada A2
17:30 China v Russia A2
19:45 Spain v Japan A2
Tuesday, 28th July 2009
Classification
11:00 Loser 25 v Loser 26 A1
13:00 Winner 25 v Winner 26 A2
Group E
15:15 Australia v Czech Republic A1
17:30 France v Lithuania A1
19:45 Argentina v Brazil A1
Group F
15:15 Russia v USA A2
17:30 Japan v China A2
19:45 Canada v Spain A2
Wednesday, 29th July 2009
Group E
13:00 Czech Republic v France A1
15:15 Lithuania v Argentina A1
17:30 Brazil v Australia A1
Group F
13:00 USA v Japan A2
15:15 China v Canada A2
17:30 Spain v Russia A2
Note: All timings Bangkok local time (GMT+7). A1 & A2 denote Arena 1 and 2.
S Mageshwaran
FIBA
