ARG/BEL – Splendid Argentina hold on to edge out Belgium

TOULOUSE (FIBA U17 World Championship for Women) - Argentina survived a late comeback by Belgium to beat them 55-53 in the opening game on Day 2 of the FIBA U17 World Championship for Women in Toulouse.

The Argentinians came out with a lot of energy and raced out to an 18-10 first quarter lead, with Rocio Diaz accounting for eight points as she made several forays into the paint.

The Belgians came back in the second period thanks to a better all-round team effort. They kept the pair of Diaz and Melisa Gretter in check and cut the deficit to three, 29-26, as they headed into the locker room at halftime.

Argentina though regained the initiative right after the break and were back up by seven, 33-26, on another Diaz basket. Daniel Goethals’s girls recovered and took the lead on occasion midway through the period before falling behind again, trailing 46-39 as they headed into the final frame.

Carolina Martinez hit a three-pointer to put Argentina up 49-41 and a victory looked in sight for Eduardo Pinto’s girls before Belgium went on a 12-4 run to tie the game with 1:36 left to play. However, they could not make the go-ahead basket and instead Argentina prevailed by hitting two out of four free-throws in the final minute.

Diaz finished with 20 points.

Quotes

Daniel Goethals (Belgium head coach): I should have the honesty to congratulate the team of Argentina. Their win wasn’t usurped at all. We would have stolen the game if we had won in the end, as we were never able to dominate Argentina.

Eduardo Pinto (Argentina head coach): I have to congratulate the young team of Belgium. I am sure we will confront them later on. Facing them was a reference for us and I believe we are reaching an interesting level. The game could have gone either way but I guess we had more willingness and motivation even though we didn’t dominate.

FIBA/LOC