FIBA U19W - Canada, Brazil star on Day Six and put contenders on notice

PUERTO MONTT (2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women) - Canada has defeated the USA in a world championship for the first time in 36 years, in the process keeping their unbeaten record alive and taking first place in Group E at the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women in Chile.

Michelle Plouffe's 24 points and 8 rebounds headlined a determined team performance, as the Canadians never give up the lead and pull away for their 64-52 result. Ariel Massengale led the way for the USA with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals.

Canada coach Rich Chambers said his team carried out their plan to near perfection. "We didn't want the US to get in transition and we didn't want the US to score off our miscues, and we had to keep them off the offensive boards, and I thought we did a very good job of that," he said.

Brazil produced the best second half performance of the tournament so far, outscoring Australia 45-18 to record a 75-47 victory and steal first place in Group F from the previously undefeated Australians.

Damiris Dantas was superb again with 24 points and 16 rebounds, while Tassia Carcavalli scored 20. Rebecca Allen scored 14 points for Australia, who committed a tournament-high 29 turnovers.

Brazil coach Luis Cicchetto was delighted after the win, admitting he didn't expect to claim first place. "I wanted it, but yesterday we lost by too much. I didn't expect such a big difference because the Australian team is very good and very tall," he said.

"My tactic was to run, and put pressure on the ball so it was difficult for the Australian players to pass the ball inside, and I think it worked very well."
 
Brazil will face Russia, who stormed back from 14 points behind at half time to steamroll Italy and take fourth spot in Group E. Alexandra Stolyar led the way with 21 points and Ksenia Tikhonenko pulled in an amazing 22 rebounds.

For Italy, Giulia Maffenini was gallant with 20 points, 14 of them after half time. Italy coach Giovanni Lucchesi gave credit to Russia. "We could not find a solution," he said. "We played against a team that played very well, and maybe a little experience was needed."

China ended their disappointed Eight Finals campaign with an 87-59 win over Japan, who had one eye firmly on the Quarter Finals. Xueya Ma was dominant inside for China with 24 points and 19 rebounds, as was Xi Yang with 18 points and 16 rebounds.

Japan coach Eiki Umezaki explained his team's performance. "My players are very, very tired. Tomorrow training will be just shooting, nothing else," he said.

France had a comfortable 74-57 victory over a hard working Chinese Taipei, led by 16 points from Helena Akmouche. Wei-Lin Wang scored 11 points for Chinese Taipei.

Spain warmed up for the Quarter Finals with an 83-48 win over Chile, centre Astou Ndour doing the most damage against the undersized hosts with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The Quarter-Finals of the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women will be played on Friday, 29 July in Puerto Montt, and will see Canada vs Spain, USA vs France, Australia vs Japan and Brazil vs Russia.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA