Day 1 Round-Up - Spain's upset win marks Day One

BANGKOK (FIBA U19 World Championship for Women) - Spain pulled the rug from under twice defending champions the United States' feet with a 90-86 win as the eighth edition of the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women opened in the Thailand capital on Thursday.

All the other games went according to form and fame, albeit in varying manners.

In Group A action, France and Australia opened their campaigns rather comfortably. France outplayed Korea 89-47 and Australia overpowered Argentina 75-51.

Group B witnessed Brazil crushing hosts Thailand 104-45 and former champions Czech Republic rallying from a scratchy first quarter to beat 2008 European U18    Championship winners Lithuania 84-72.

FIBA Asia U18 champions Japan scored a welcome opening game win, with an 85-64 result over Tunisia as Russia woke up just before it was too late to beat Canada 54-46 in Group C.

China's resurgent 86-60 win over African champions Mali, in Group D, closed the proceedings for the opening day. Spain's upset win over the US too had come in Group D.

Spain's triumph, thus, stopped the 18-0 winning run the US were carrying into the Championship.

The last time the US lost a game in FIBA U19 World Championship for Women was when they lost to the then hosts Czech Republic in the semifinals of the 2001 edition at Brno.

A 15-1 run at the end of the first quarter was all that Spain, trained by Lucas Mondelo, needed to pull away. The US did fight back in the third quarter, but the Spaniards, trained by Lucas Mondello were not going to let the opportunity get away.

Leonor Rodriguez converted seven of her eight three-pointer attempts to lead Spain's scoring with 23 points. Marta Tudanca chipped in with 21 points and Marta Xargay Casademont scored 19 points for Spain.

 "The girls were just not afraid of their (the US) reputation. I think the game was half won there itself," Mondelo said.

"We began rather flat and we didn't really recover after that," Owens said.

"We definitely didn't play the way we wanted to. This is a wake up call for all of us," she said.

The US next play China on Friday and Spain take on Mali.

China trailed for the entire first half, but found their saviour in Ding Yuan, who accounted for 11 of her game-high 17 points in the third quarter.

All the 12 Chinese players took to the court, and 11 of them scored.

Aminata Mariko's 16 points was the highest for Mali, but she scored 13 of them in the first half.

Elizabeth Cambage used her 203-cm tall presence to good effect to lead the Australian U19 Gems to their win against Argentina.

Cambage scored a game-high 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds to take the Australians past their South American rivals.

Gems coach Dean Kinsman used 11 of his players for more than ten minutes each "in order to keep the players fresh for the tougher battles ahead."

Rachel Jarry and Gretel Tippett returned 12 points each for Australia.

Andrea Boquette and Ornelia Santana shared the scoring honors for Argentina with 11 points apiece.

France too, like Australia, had no trouble in their opening game against Korea.

Allison Vernerey and Pauline Thizy scored 14 points each as Gregory Halin's girls grew in strength as the game progressed.

Vernerey also collected eight boards.

Kim Gayoung led Korea's scoring with 12 points.

Japan had finished 13th in the 2007 edition at Slovak Republic, but are almost certain for a higher place finish here after their win against Tunisia.

Tunisia looked the physically stronger team, but the Japanese caught them off-guard often, with their speed.

Kana Motayama and Yuka Mamiya - the duo who had played a stellar role when Japan defeated China in the FIBA Asia U18 Championship final last year - led their team's cause.

Motayama returned a game-high 25 points, which included a 5/7 record in three-pointers. And Mamiya scored 18 points.

Inoubli Lilia scored a team-high 18 points and collected a game-high nine rebounds.

Russia found their rhythm only after three quarters, but once they achieved that did not look back, to beat Canada.

Ekaterina Kiryanova was the leading scorer for Russia with 12 points, but the more important role was played by Tatiana Petrushina who scored nine of her 11 points in the fourth quarter.

Canada's Natalie Achonwa had to be content with the scoring honors for the game with 15 points.

Patricia Ribeiro's 24 points including a 13/19 record in field attempts was the highlight of Brazil's win over Thailand.

Leila Zabani chipped in with 15 points as Brazil coach Luiz Tarallo used all the 12 players for at least 5 minutes each.

Pornnutcha Sawatong was the leading scorer for Thailand with 15 points.

Czech Republic took the whole of first quarter to settle down and then powered past Lithuania.

Senior team member Katernia Bartonova and Andrea Sladkova scored 12 points each to support Renata Brezinova's 16 points for the Czechs.

Egle Siksniute took the scoring honors for the game with 21 points.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA