FIBA 3-on-3 @ Youth Olympic Games - Day Seven (Girls' Quarters)

SINGAPORE (Youth Olympic Games) - Bom dia!

It's time for the quarter-finals and for more exciting action (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc92ffngjLU) on the court!

The major surprise is the failure of Italy to qualify for the knock-out stages. The Dotto twins seemed very determined to clinch a medal here in Singapore and now are going instead to the consolidation rounds.  Only Germany qualified surprisingly for the next round from Europe. Asia has with Japan, Korea and China three contenders for the title.

Canada - Germany 33-15

As Kaylee Halvorson described it perfectly in her interview with me, Team Canada knows how to score in the paint and they did so in the beginning of the game and never looked back. Germany's inside team (Alexandra Hoffgen and Felicitas Grasshoff) found no answer how to stop Kaylee Kilpatrick from scoring and after a 19-12 half-time lead, the Canadian girls quickly pulled away to close the game with 30 seconds to go. With this loss, Europe has no team in the girls' competition remaining.

The complete box score can be found here.

United States - Korea 34- 10 (picture)

Anything but the gold medal for the U.S. girls would be a huge disappointment. The smaller Koreans tried to score from outside. When they failed to do so in the second part, the game went down the drain for them.  The disadvantage under the boards was a major factor as Amber Henson and Kiah Stokes practiced a bit for tomorrow's semi-final while the Koreans looked quite helpless to stop such domination next to the rim.

The complete box score can be found here.

China - Japan 26-23

The tete-a-tete between the top two teams from Asia went exactly the way many expected it. To the joy of the guy sitting behind me during the game (He came up with some strange guttural sounds which irritated a couple of people, not only me), the Chinese had the better ending in this one, after trailing with one at the break. Misato Kuma, the Japanese point guard, impressed me a lot with her quick drives to the hoop, but Xueya Ma found her game back in the second period after committing a couple of turnovers in the first one and led China to the semis with two crucial free-throws just at the very end.

The complete box score can be found here.

Australia - Brazil 23-20

Happiness on the one side, tristesse on the other, that's what's describes the situation after the game the most. The Brazilians were led by their top-scorer Isabela, who found a way to score inside against the bulky Australian girls who turned to Mikhaela Donnelly at this point in the game to put them up with three at the break (10-7).
Erika came up big with a field-goal, a block and a made three-pointer to change the flow of the game as Brazil wanted to win badly. Australia answered with a three and Hannah Kaser even netted in two free-throws for a 19-15 with 1.45 minutes remaining to play. It was Erika again, who pulled another three out of the hat, while Kaser directly dashed the hopes of the South Americans by clicking in from the perimeter (22-18). Tiny guard Stephanie brought the Brazilian girls within distance again but Olivia Bontempelli converted one of two from the charity stripe and Australia goes for the medals tomorrow in this exciting 3-on-3 tournament!

The complete box score can be found here.

Semi-final pairings:
Canada - China
USA - Australia

My daily favorite: If you are bored of your usual hamburger, then you must go for this burger right in front of the *scape youth center (Our venue of the 3-on-3 tournament)!

Results of the consolidation round:
Vanuatu - Singapore 10-26 (Edgell 6 - Ng 11)
Thailand - Chile 24-13 (Maihom 10 - D. Garcia 5)
Russia - Angola 28-14 (Kozochkina 10 - Afonso 8)
Belarus - Ivory Coast 33-7 (Baklaha 11 - Ouattara 3)
Czech Republic - France 24-29 (Mervinska 13 - Sbahi 10)
Italy - Mali 29-18 (Masoni 10 - Konate 8)