All tournaments crucial for maturing Brazil women's team

RIO DE JANEIRO (FIBA Women's World Championship/2015 FIBA Americas Championship for Women) - Luis Augusto Zanon firmly believes that his Brazil side is on the correct path, one that will see it remain a leading team in international women's basketball.

In charge since March of 2013, Zanon has steered the Brazilians to back-to-back South American Championships for Women titles, a third-place finish at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship for Women and 11th at the 2014 FIBA Women's World Championship.

The aim had been to make it at least to the Quarter-Finals at Turkey 2014 and Brazil, following heavy losses to the Czech Republic and Spain, gave themselves a chance of doing so with a 79-56 drubbing of 2013 Asian champions Japan.

Zanon's side fell behind in the first half of their Qualifications for Quarter-Finals clash with France, however, and never managed to catch up.

They fell, 61-48, with veteran center Erika de Souza the only player to reach double figures in scoring. She had 11 points.

Brazil are No. 7 in the FIBA bwin World Ranking Women.

If Zanon was disappointed that Brazil didn't mount a real challenge for a spot on the podium in Turkey, he is nevertheless upbeat about the team's prospects.

"It is a great pleasure and I am very proud to be the coach of the national team and contribute to the development of these girls," he said.

"We had not only courage, but also the need to start a new project [we he took over].

"It is still a short time to do a review.

We must continue to strengthen the squad -  Zanon

"Hopefully Brazil will mature as a group and be competitive for the major competitions."

The target is now to have strong performances at the 2015 Pan Am Games for Women's Basketball in Toronto (21-25 July) and at the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship for Women in Edmonton (9-16 August).

Each of those tournaments is important for Brazil.

"These girls are gaining maturity," Zanon said.

"All international competitions are important for this."

The decision about granting automatic places to Brazil's men's and women's teams in the Olympic Basketball Tournament will be made during the next FIBA Central Board meeting, which is to be held 18-20 June.

FIBA