FRA - Daily review (Day 3)

TOULOUSE/RODEZ (2010 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women) – France gave their fans in Rodez something to cheer about by getting the better of Russia, while Belgium came from behind to edge out Spain in a rematch of the 2009 U16 European Championship final.

Les Bleus held on to beat Russia 56-53 for their first win of the tournament, thereby keeping alive their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of the competition.

The home side led for much of the game but the visitors threatened often and silenced the crowd when they took a 53-52 lead on Ksenia Tikhonenko’s basket with 2:28 left to play.

However, the French held their composure and caught some breaks as the Russians had some defensive lapses and committed questionable fouls which essentially cost them the game.

Zainabe Diallo had 14 points to lead all scorers.

Meanwhile, Belgium outscored Spain 20-7 in the fourth quarter to take a 55-54 win and get a measure of revenge against the team they lost to in the final of last year’s U16 European Championship.

Spain were quickest out of the gates and led 19-11 at the end of the opening period. They stayed in control until the end of the third quarter when their advantage was 47-35.

But Daniel Goethals’s girls finally clicked once they clamped down on defense. That seemed to give them confidence at the other end.

The Belgians were within 47-44 with six minutes to go and when Julie Vanloo scored in the lane with 50 seconds remaining, they had their first lead of the game, 53-51.

The captain then hit a pair of free-throws and Spain made a three-pointer in the closing seconds for the final score.

Vanloo finished with 16 points and Emma Meesseman added 14 to go along with eight rebounds.

Earlier in the day, Australia outclassed Argentina to take a 77-57 victory.

A day after losing to China, the Aussies scoring the game’s first nine points and held a 25-8 lead by the end of the first quarter.

They maintained control and went into the locker room at halftime up 41-27.

The break didn’t do the Argentineans much good as they were behind 64-39 by the end of the third period and battling foul trouble.

Peter Lonergan's girls didn't let up in the fourth quarter and got a step closer to securing their quarter-final berth.

Gretel Tippett led all scorers with 21 points.

In a game featuring neighbouring countries, the USA had no pity for Canada, beating them 114-57.

The game was close early on with Canada trailing 28-20 after the first period. But the USA soon broke the game wide open as they scored at will, from behind the three-point line and in the paint.

They also did a great job defensively of keeping scoring machine Nirra Fields in check, limiting her to just 17 points. Unfortunately for Canada, none of their players were able to fill her void.

Kaleena Lewis had 21 points and Jewell Loyd added 19 points.

In the day’s other games, China dispatched Mali 103-54 to join the USA in being the only teams with perfect 3-0 records. They also became the third team in the tournament to cross the 100 point mark.

Whang Guizhi’s charges raced out to a 31-14 lead by the end of the first quarter and never looked back. They made 12 of their 25 three-point attempts and out-rebounded the Malians 55-26.

Meng Li had 18 points and seven rebounds to lead a balanced offense.

Japan, the other Asian representatives in the tournament, were also triumphant on the day, seeing off Turkey 80-60 behind a combined 37 points and 21 rebounds by the pair of Moeko Nagaoka and Yuki Miyazawa.

The win saw them improve to 2-1 in Group A and in a good position to reach the last eight.

The game was tight in the first half, with the Turks down three, 24-21, at the end of the first quarter and still within striking distance at halftime, 46-36.

But Japan used a 15-5 third quarter run to bump their advantage to 65-47 and put the game out of reach for good.

FIBA/LOC