CAN/FRA - France cruise past Canada and into quarter-finals

RODEZ (FIBA U17 World Championship for Women) - France beat Canada 81-60 to punch their ticket to the quarter-finals of the FIBA U17 World Championship for Women, much to the delight of a roaring crowd in Rodez.

With the win – their third in a row – the hosts finished with a 3-2 mark in Group A, good enough for second place behind the undefeated USA.

The teams were evenly matched early on and they were tied at 22 to end the first quarter.

With the capacity crowd cheering them on, the French then gradually pulled away thanks to good and patient team work. Conversely, Canada struggled offensively as tournament scoring leader Nirra Fields – who finished with 30 points on the night – failing to get much help from her team-mates.

France led 39-35 at the break and they kept adding to their advantage the rest of the way they outscored the visitors 42-25 in the last two periods.

Christelle Diello had a superb all-around performance with 24 points and nine rebounds.

Quotes

Arnaud Guppillotte (France head coach): I was not nervous about the game. We focused on the victory. The atmosphere was amazing. We had never seen anything like that before. This competition has nothing to be jealous of in comparison with professionally- organised tournaments.”

Jacqueline Lavallee (Canada head coach): We lost two players to injury early in the game and that created a lot of difficulties.