Day eight round-up: It’s Spanish flair Vs. American solidity in final

BANGKOK (FIBA U19 World Championship for Women) - Spain is the only team to defeat the mighty United States in the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women in the last eight years.

The Europeans achieved that rare feat on the opening day of the eighth edition here – a close-shave 90-86 win – and will hope to repeat that feat when they take on the Americans on the morrow in the final.

Both teams have remained unbeaten after that opening game – Spain posting an 8-0 unbeaten run.

Spain and the US both scored rather facile wins in their semifinals on Saturday.

The US posted an 82-51 win over cross-border rivals Canada for their fourth entry into the final in five Championships – the Americans won the gold in 1997, 2005 and 2007 with the interspersing bronze in 2001.

And Spain responded in kind beating Argentina 67-49 to book their maiden entry into the gold medal game. Spain’s best finish yet is a semifinal entry in the 2007 edition at Bratislava.

Argentina and Canada though have a lot to play for in the bronze play-off on Sunday, aiming for their best ever finish. Both have only a ninth-place finish – Argentina in 1997 at Natal and Canada in the last two editions – so far.

Spain left very little to doubt right from the word go, reeling off the first 17 points of the game.

“I think the girls knew the importance of the occasion,” Spain’s assistant coach Esther Herrero said choking on her emotions.

“They were charged up and came out very aggressive,” she added.

Marta Tudanca scored five points in that opening blitz and went on to lead Spain’s scoring with 18 points.

And when Tudanca wasn’t scoring, Spain had another Marta – Xargay Casademont – coming to their rescue.

Xargay Casademont scored all her 13 points in the second half.

Argentina did attempt a fight back in the second quarter with a 12-0 run in the first five minutes, with Agostina Boquete scoring 10 of her game-high 21 points.

But against a charged up opponents who were determined that effort proved too little.

Talking about the final Herrero said: “Let’s not forget we play the Americans. They’ll surely remember we beat them. And it won’t be easy.

“I think we lost to a better team,” Argentina coach Eduardo Pinto said.

“We’ll go all out against them (Canada) tomorrow,” he added.

Skylar Diggins led the American charge early and the US posted a 27-0 run, after Canadian Nicole Clarke’s three-pointer had opened the scoring for the game, and never looked back.

Samantha Prahalis, Kelsey Bone and Nnemkadi Ogwumike all lent shoulder to Diggins in the American rampage as there was nothing that could stop the Americans.

Coach Carol Owens however sounded worried about the way the team turned the ball over especially in the second half.

“I think it was important for the girls to keep the focus on without being carried away by the scoreboard,” Owens said.

“We continued to remind them to concentrate on their game rather than look at the scoreboard,” she added.

Owens used all her 12 players for more than 10 minutes each and 10 of them scored.

The Americans, who led by as many as 37 points settled down for a 32-point win.

Canada who were caught in the early American storm had more trouble as the game progressed.

Mainstay Natalie Achonwa lasted only 7:19 forced to exit with a painful hip injury – leaving her in doubt even for the bronze play-off.

“I think we just didn’t respond to that offensive quality,” said Canada coach Rich Chambers.

“We still have a chance for a medal. So we hope we can take this experience to tomorrow,” he added.

Kayla Alexander was the highest scorer for Canada with 12 points.

5-8 classification

Australia and Russia set up a clash for the fifth place with contrasting wins.

Australia recovered rather well from the morale-shattering loss to Canada overnight and cruised past France 71-53.

Russia dug deep to stave off Lithuania’s late surge and won 65-62.

Elizabeth Cambage was the leader yet again in Australia’s charge with 23 points and eight rebounds.

Medelome Medenou led the scoring for France with 14 points.

Anastasia Logunova of Russia and Giedre Paugaite of Lithuania were the leaders of their side’s challenge. Both scored 14 points.

Brazil claim ninth place

Brazil were stretched into Overtime by the Czech Republic in the play off for the ninth place, but held their own in the extended time and eked out a 75-70 win.

The teams were locked 64-all at the end of the fourth quarter.

Fabiana de Souza returned a double-double for the South Americans – scoring 14 points and collecting 16 rebounds. But it was Tatiane Nacimiento, who scored four crucial points in Overtime, who led the scoring for Brazil with 18 points.

Renata Brazinova also had a double-double, 12 rebounds to go with her game-high 20 points, but it came in a losing cause.

China down Japan, finish 11th

China led through out the game and defeated fellow Asian rivals Japan 76-59 to finish 11th.

Yukine Abe led the scoring for the game with 27 points – converting five of her 13 three-pointer attempts, but finished on the losing side.

Zheng Bowen led the scoring for China with 18 points.

FINAL DAY SCHEDULE

Sunday, 2nd August 2009

Classification
11:15 France v Lithuania (7-8)
13:30 Australia v Russia (5-6)

Finals
15:45 Canada v Argentina (3-4)
18:00 USA v Spain (1-2)

Note: All games to be played in Arena 1. All timings Bangkok local time (GMT+7).

S Mageshwaran
FIBA