CHN/BEL - China come from behind to take bronze

TOULOUSE (FIBA U17 World Championship for Women) – The virtuous 2009 Asian U16 champions China beat European U17 vice-champions Belgium 85-73 to take the bronze medal in the first-ever FIBA U17 World Championship for Women.

Playing in front of 1,750 people in Toulouse's Palais des Sports, the Chinese got revenge against the opponent that beat them in Group B of the Preliminary Round.

Early on, China’s Liwei Yang and Meng Li looked to be caught up in a three-point shooting contest with Belgium’s Lien Delmulle and Hanne Mestdagh with all four players recording one make.

China led by the slimmest of margins, 26-25, at the end of the first quarter.

Belgium captain Julie Vanloo and Emma Meesseman helped their side get back in front and open a seven-point lead in the second period, before Wang Guizhi’s girls rallied back, cutting the deficit to five, 46-41, at the break.

In the third quarter, Vanloo and her team stretched their lead to double-digits and were up by as many as 12 at one point point.

However, China fought back thanks to the scoring punch of Dong Yu and Mengxin Sun and had the game knotted at 62 going into the final frame.

China rode that momentum to go on an 11-2 spurt for a 73-64 advantage. They were then helped by the fact that Daniel Goethals’s key players Meesseman and Vanloo fouled out within a minute of each other.

Despite the best attempts of Ann Schyvens and Harriet Nawezhi to spearhead one final Belgian run, Mengxin Sun and Liwei Yang hi timely three-pointers to seal the deal for China.

Yu finished had game-highs of 29 points and 13 rebounds in the winning cause.

Vanloo had a team-best 23 points for Belgium.

Quotes

Daniel Goethals (Belgium head coach): Congratulations to China. Yesterday’s defeat (against France) was very hard on our players. Today, like yesterday, we felt we didn’t have all the respect from the referees. Finishing in the top four is a miracle but we wanted more and that is why we’re disappointed. It’s hard right now. We need time to take some distance. I am one of the happiest coaches in the world and I am very proud of these girls. At halftime, I drew a picture of the world, with a small dot on it. It was us, the village of diehard people. We were against the whole world and defending ourselves. Like in the Belgian comic books Asterix and Obelix. At the head of the village, there was a big fat guy, Obelix – me. We drank magic potion, but it didn’t pay off today.

Daphne Van Dessel (Belgium assistant coach): What remains above all is a lot of pride. Thank you to Dan for his amazing coaching and to the whole staff for their outstanding job.

Wang Guizhi (China head coach): This was not a case of getting revenge. We didn't think about it that way. The players had the right attitude. All they wanted was to take that third place. Belgium don’t have big players but they are technically very good. We managed to contain their play in the half court and to grab some rebounds. I must say that Belgium have a very good coach.

FIBA/LOC