FIBA U17W - Australia finish fifth, Belgium win again for seventh

AMSTERDAM (2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women) – Australia beat Italy to claim fifth place at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women while Belgium snapped a five-game losing streak to grab seventh place ahead of the Netherlands.

Vanessa Panousis collected 11 points and 13 rebounds while Louise Brown had a double-double of her own with 10 and 10 and Alicia Froling scored 12 points for the Australians who beat the Italians 58-49 to improve on their seventh-place finish at the inaugural U17 tournament in 2010.

Italy, who were weakened without their starting center Elisa Ercoli and small forward Cecilia Zandalasini, finished sixth after not appearing in France 2010.

Elisa Penna paced the Italians with 12 points and nine rebounds while Marzia Tagliamento had 11 points.

In the game for seventh place, Belgium returned to the winning column after five straight losses with a 70-65 victory over hosts Netherlands.

Hind Ben Abdelkader poured in 29 points while An-Katrien Nauwelaers scored 13 points and Kyara Linskens chipped in 4 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks for the Belgians.

The Dutch dropped their last three games to take eighth place despite Isabella Slim collecting 23 points and 8 rebounds, Klaziena Guijt hitting for 15 points and Emese Hof adding 2 points and 11 rebounds.

FIBA