Group E Review - Americans win but Cambage ‘comes of age’; Belarus beat Greece to advance

OSTRAVA (2010 FIBA World Championship for Women) - The United States beat Australia at a FIBA World Championship for Women for the ninth time in as many tries on Wednesday night to clinch first place in Group E and remain unbeaten in the Czech Republic.
 
Diana Taurasi buried four of eight shots from long range and finished with 24 points as the Americans won 83-75.
 
Geno Auriemma's team dominated on the boards in the first half and led by 24 midway through the second quarter.
 
The Australians managed to cut the deficit to 51-33 by half-time and, led by 19-year-old center Liz Cambage, fought back in the second half but suffered defeat.
 
The reward for the victory would appear to be sweet for the Americans, who will take on Korea in the last eight while Australia must now go up against the host nation, the Czech Republic.
 
The Americans have also avoided a potential Semi-Final with Russia, the team that beat them in Brazil four years ago in the last four.
 
The Russians beat Spain on Wednesday to top Group F and will now be on course to take on Australia in the Semi-Finals.
 
The biggest consequence of the game, however, is that the world now knows that Cambage has truly arrived.
 
Despite facing the toughest competition in international basketball, she was arguably the best player on the court in the second half and ended up with 18 points and seven rebounds.
 
The 6ft 8in starlet also blocked four shots.
 
"The first time we played against them this year, I thought she was really good, and she's young and she's raw and it would appear to me she gets better every practice because she gets better every game,” USA coach Geno Auriemma said.
 
"It doesn't matter who's trying to guard her.
 
"She's going to be unbelievably difficult to play against tomorrow, next week, next month, next year."
 
As for the United States' first half when they built what proved to be an insurmountable lead, Auriemma said: "I think in the first quarter, we came out and did great, offensively and defensively.
 
"I thought the second half was more like I thought the whole game would be. More physical.
 
"We need to go back and look and see how it was one way in one half and one way in the second  half."
 
Graf and Australia were shell-shocked by half-time when the Americans had 51 points.
 
"We got pummeled on the glass in the first half," Graf said.
 
"We made some adjustments at half-time and I thought Liz Cambage came of age today."
 
What did Graf say at the break to her team?
 
"I think I swore," she said.
 
"We were embarrassing on the glass.
 
"We were like little girls playing ladies. That set the tone for the game.
 
"It's un-Australian to do that."
 
Belarus scraped a 74-70 triumph over Greece to win the battle for fourth place in Group E at the FIBA World Championship for Women.
 
The victory sealed a place in the Quarter-Finals for the Belarusians and threw them into a clash with Russia.
 
Yelena Leuchanka had 24 points and 11 rebounds for Belarus.
 
"For our team, it's a big moment to play in the World Championship and move to the next round," Leuchanka said.
 
"We played against a great team and knew it wasn't going to be easy.
 
"I'm just glad at crunch time, we came together."
 
Belarus led by nine four minutes into the fourth quarter but Greece never quit and tried to claw their way back.
 
Two Stella Kaltsidou free-throws and four consecutive points by Dimitra Kalentzou closed the gap to 65-62 with 4:03 remaining.
 
Leuchanka, who had been on the bench in foul trouble, checked back into the game and immediately earned a trip to the line and sank two attempts.
 
With 1:01 to go, after Natallia Marchanka split a pair at the charity stripe, Stella Kaltsidou hit a shot in the lane and then after a Nataliya Trafimava turnover, Kaltsidou drew contact outside the lane and managed to make a jump shot to reduce the arrears to 72-70 with 26 seconds to play.
 
Belarus were able to run the clock down to 10 seconds before Greece fouled Marchanka and she sank both free-throws to ice the victory.
 
After the game, the Belarus players ran across the court and hugged injured teammate Katsiaryna Snytsina, who travelled to the Czech Republic with her parents to support the side.
 
Greece, like Belarus, played in the FIBA World Championship for Women for the first time.
 
"It was a success for us since last season," said Kaltsidou, who had a game-high 29 points.
 
"Now I think our target is getting higher.
 
"It would have been an amazing success if we had qualified for the last eight. We didn't, but we proved to everyone we weren't here by luck."
 
"It was a big experience for us. We've learned a lot."
 
In the second Group E game of the day, France's Celine Dumerc scored at the buzzer for a 49-47 win over Canada.
 
The Canadians had the ball with a chance to win but Teresa Gabriel's pass to Kimberley Smith went out of bounds with four seconds left.
 
France called timeout and when play resumed, they inbounded the ball to Dumerc who drove in and scored.
 
Both teams struggled on offense, especially in the third quarter when France put just six points on the board and Canada only two.
 
Canada coach Allison McNeill said of her team: "We had a tough game against Greece. We said, “What kind of team are we? Are  we going to show up?” I'm really proud of my team for this whole tournament."

Fans of USA, Australia, France and Belarus can see all the Quarter Final action live on FIBATV.com.
 
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